SURPRISE, Ariz. - Normally media-shy Rangers co-owner and Co-chairman of the Board Ray Davis met with the media Wednesday to address a number of topics as the spring training schedule was set to begin.

Among them:

On ownership's willingness to add payroll to sign Ian Desmond earlier this week: "It was a matter of need and Jon Daniels and Thad Levine finding a way to do things creatively. They came to us and proposed a creative deal. For me, this is a process where nobody other than the baseball people make the player decision. My only role is an economic one. They have a plan and decision they make long before they come to me."

On whether the Rangers could still make an in-season move to improve the team: "We always want to operate the team in a fiscally responsible manner; we won't go crazy. But we always want to have flexibility."

On his decision to put extra protective netting up over the dugouts at Globe Life Park: "It was really the right decision. It's not a matter of legality or liability. It comes back to right and wrong. We talked about whether we waited a year, but I would have been sitting there for a year worrying and if one person's grandchild had gotten hurt, I would have never forgiven myself."

Davis said the Rangers are working on a workaround that would allow fans to still get the usual access to players before games. The Rangers are investigating pinning up the dugout nets, if that is feasible, so that fans can still get down to the dugout areas to interact with players.

On drops to oil and energy stocks impacting how the energy-centric ownership business conducts baseball business: "It does not at all.We are not going to move the Rangers payroll around based on the price of oil."

Davis did acknowledge that the club is "operating in the black." Full-season season ticket equivalencies are up to about 16,600. The club's full-season base in 2015 was below 16,000.