MVN: Most Valuable Network

Those who hastily wrote off an October 24th report from SI.com's Jon Heyman -- in which it was suggested that the Texas Rangers were one of three teams gearing up to pursue free agent closer Brian Fuentes -- as pure, unadulterated nonsense may now be forced to reverse course, as it seems there was more to those internal rumblings than we dared to believe:

The Mets, Rangers, Indians and Cardinals are expected to be among the biggest players for star free-agent closer Brian Fuentes, according to people familiar with his situation.

The Mets, who lost their closer Billy Wagner for the season and are badly in need of relief help, are expected to make a play for the left-handed Fuentes, who will benefit from a small supply of available relievers as well as great demand. Francisco Rodriguez is the top closer available, but the Mets appear to be concerned about K-Rod's asking price of $75 million over five years.

Fuentes, 33, may be an excellent fallback candidate for several teams. It has been speculated that he should receive a three-year deal in the range of $36 million to $39 million, but in this environment, that may be the baseline. Fuentes went 1-5 with 30 saves and a 2.73 ERA and he struck out 82 batters while walking only 22 and allowing 47 hits in 62 2/3 innings with the Rockies.

It's worth noting that Heyman projected the Rangers to ink Rodriguez to a five-year, $75 million deal on Sunday afternoon, which I suppose either (a) implies that there is a prevailing sense around the game that Texas intends to fervently pursue a front-line closer this off-season, or (b) suggests that Heyman doesn't really have a clue with regard to the Rangers' winter plans. You can take your pick and choose what you want to believe, but where there's smoke, there's usually fire.

Back on October 23rd, general manager Jon Daniels remarked that the one specific area of the Major League roster he was intending to address via free agency was the bullpen, indicating that he was acutely aware of the "historical risks of multi-year deals in that area" and was far more intrigued by the possibility of a short-term deal (ala Eddie Guardado).

The Rangers have already committed roughly $55 million to their 2009 payroll, which does not include the pre-arbitration and arbitration-eligible players that collectively comprise more than two-thirds of the 25-man roster. If we take Daniels' September 30th assertion that next year's payroll "will be similar to where it was this year" at face value, even a fairly backloaded three-year contract for Fuentes would probably ratchet up the guaranteed 2009 payroll to approximately $65 million -- or just $3-4 million off the club's Opening Day 2008 payroll of $68,239,551.

Additionally, agent Rick Thurman -- who represents Fuentes as part of the Beverly Hills Sports Council -- said that the Rockies had openly acknowledged the fact that they would not be able to meet their closer's asking price, which could ultimately approach the four-year, $45.5 million bounty Francisco Cordero netted from the Reds last November.

As far as what I honestly think about the possibility of Fuentes donning a Rangers uniform next season, I'll repeat my October 24th opinion on the issue:

Texas could certainly benefit from a bolstered bullpen (heck, what team couldn't?), but ask yourself a question: is this really the best way to utilize scarce monetary resources? Is the addition of one really good late-inning reliever -- one that's already getting on up there in age, and one that was worth less than an extra half-win than Eddie Guardado in 2008 -- going to push this team that much closer to contention?

Teams lining up to court Fuentes will almost certainly overvalue the remarkable relief campaign he enjoyed in 2008, which was punctuated by career highs in the following statistical departments: strikeouts-to-walks ratio (3.73), homers per nine innings ratio (0.43), WHIP (1.10) and fielding-independent ERA (2.24).

His standing as a 'Type A' free agent would fortunately not cost the Rangers their valuable 14th-overall pick in the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft (indeed, that pick is protected), but if Texas were to eventually sign Fuentes, it would cost them their second-round pick, and the Rockies would also receive a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds as supplemental compensation.

Yes, folks, welcome to the hot stove season -- the most wonderful time of the year.