Zito visits Rangers

[mets2k]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP)-- Barry Zito met Thursday with the Texas Rangers, the team that failed to sign the ace left-hander after drafting him in 1998.

Zito and his agent, Scott Boras, visited with Rangers general manager Jon Daniels.

A year after the Rangers drafted Zito in the third round, Oakland made him a first-round pick in 1999 out of college. Zito went 102-63 in 222 starts for the Athletics the past seven seasons and won the AL Cy Young Award in 2002. He finished 16-10 with a 3.83 ERA in 34 starts this year, then became a free agent.

[kfkorn]

One side doesn't want to talk about $100 million. The other side probably wants to talk about that and much more. The negotiations are only now starting to get interesting and intense.

General manager Jon Daniels declined to get into a step-by-step description of the negotiations, but sources said the Rangers are not going anywhere near the six-year, $102 million deal that Zito is supposed to get from them or somebody else. The word around the Winter Meetings is that owner Tom Hicks is overly eager to sign Zito, but Daniels indicated the club intends to be prudent.

Rangers won't go too high on Zito