"Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik likes keeping things close to the vest, to the point where he declined to say Monday whether his team is in pursuit of free agent Prince Fielder as the Winter Meetings opened at the Hilton Anatole hotel.

Without naming names, however, Zduriencik seemed to acknowledge that he's talking with agent Scott Boras about the slugging first baseman.

"I don't think I can go down that road yet," Zduriencik said Monday evening when asked what he could say about interest in Fielder. "I've had discussions with some prominent agents. We've discussed their clients as well as our organizational needs. That's pretty much all I can say right now." "