"The Texas Rangers' interest in Prince Fielder is high enough that a handful of club officials met with the free-agent slugger in a face-to-face meeting at a Dallas-area hotel Friday.

Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan said Saturday at Rangers FanFest that the club's meeting with Fielder and agent Scott Boras was "very preliminary."

Ryan was asked by a young fan as part of a Q&A at FanFest at the Arlington Convention Center what he thought about the meeting.

"We met Prince yesterday and his agent Scott Boras to try to get a true feel for where they are at this point in time in his free agency to see if we thought there might be something there that would work for the Texas Rangers," Ryan said. "It's very preliminary and it's very early in any type of negotiation process. It was an initial meeting that we had."

The club is exploring all possibilities to improve and Fielder is likely a backup option should a deal with Yu Darvish fall through, a source said."