Mark Teixeira Rumors: Thursday

Just sign with the red sox already.

This might sound a little too simple, but if every offer that we hear of is at $20 million a year, shouldn't the first team to go higher than an average salary of $20 million to get him?

Manny Ramirez was getting $20 million in his deal with the Red Sox, and he opted out because he thought he could do better. Six years from now, Teixeria could be underpaid at $20 million a season. Boras should be getting him something like 6 years/$140 million.

"he would be a fool to go to the orioles or the nats. It would be like being back in a rangers uniform. red sox need to ante up."

You mean the way that AJ Burnett would be a fool to sign with the Braves when he can play for the Yankees?

i hope he signs with the Nats.

The Braves are infinitely better than the Orioles or Nationals. That's not comparable.

yeah I know your right about that but just feeling bad about teams that try to sign big time players just to have major markets swoop in and gobble them up. But sure I'd love to see Tex back in a Angels jersey, well maybe the Nats can get Manny lol

if the yanks sign tex along with burnett and lowe, i will not watch baseball ever again.

Seeing him sign with the Nats or O's is like watching Miguel Tejada sign with the O's and A-Rod the Rangers.. just why?

I love Tex and am a Yankee fan but I think if Boston gets him it'll be good for the rivalry that seems to have died out over the last 2 seasons..

I bet they are just saying the Yanks are interested to drive up his price.. I don't see us making a hard push for him.. but prove me wrong Cash

Get it done Cash!

Why would baseball even be fun to watch?

I like how several media outlets have the Red Sox as the frontrunners to get Tex and they haven't even made an offer yet.

Didn't we find out during the Soriano signing that California teams are unable by law to offer contracts beyond 7 years? I seem to remember this from the Soriano contract from 2 years ago -- the Cubs offered 8 years, which the Dodgers could not legally match.

"Do you really think that if they get tex they wont have room for burnett as well? Lets face it, they can get whoever they want and spend as much as they want and MLB wont say a damn thing."

MLB cant say a thing. The MLBPA is one of the strongest unions in the country, MLB can go on record as much as they want, but unless there is union buy in on a cap, it makes no difference.

"The Braves are infinitely better than the Orioles or Nationals. That's not comparable."

Really? What is your definition of "infinitely better". The Braves I know of were ONCE an infinitely better team than most, but that hasn't been so much the case recently.

Sign Tex, you'll have world series number 27.

half billion? really?
come on now fapelbon, dont turn on us, you stayed very intelegent yesterday in the discussions, dont ruin it.

i know what you meant,
no need to pull out your websters...
but just dont get crazy

Daphne,

The Braves last won the division in 2005 and finished 3rd in the division in 2006 and 2007 with a winning record in 2007.

Baltimore hasn't finished better than 4th in their division since 2004 and hasn't finished with a winning record since 1997.

Montreal hasn't finished better than 4th since 2002 and hasn't finished with a winning record since 2003.

Do you really not see a huge difference there?

As a Yankee fan you would rather have this guy go to the Red Sox?! I love the rivalry as much as the next guy, but Tex going to the Red Sox would be a Devastating blow to us. We lost Abreu & Giambi. How are we going to match the production lost? I am not saying I want them back, but we were terrible hitting in the Clutch. Tex would be that kind of guy who could fill up that huge hole. Plus the only reason the red Sox lost this year is because they didn't have that kind of guy. Even with our Better pitching staff, if we couldn't give them run support. We are going to lose

I'm sorry, but an 8-10 year deal isn't very smart for ANY team. You just don't know what your needs will be that far ahead of time, or what kind of player you'll have at the end of the deal. See Helton, Todd.

The Rockies would love to trade Atkins, but can't, because they don't know what they'll have out of Helton.

I cannot understand how a mid-market team like Washington or Baltimore can put that much payroll into one guy. You might put some butts in seats, but not for long if the team doesn't win. One player alone won't do that. Didn't Baltimore learn their lesson with Tejada?

The Yankees got themselves into trouble by collecting a bunch of big name, no heart players at the cost of a core of gritty ballplayers. I'm glad to see they've learned their lesson.

Vincent: We had a discussion on blog yesterday. If you look at both the AL East and NL East, do you honestly think that Tex wants to sign for doormats. Both divisions are strong in their respective leagues. Personally, the rich will get richer. It bascially Tex's choice.

Personally, I'd like to sign with the Halos.

Yankees fans: How do you like your 2009 season seat prices this year? Yikes!

new york entering the sweepstakes...they can outbid anyone no doubt but it depends if tex wants to stay closer to home or go for the money. If they make him an offer he cant refuse, just give the yankkes the world series already.

with a possible rotation of

CC
Wang
Burnett
Chamberlain
Lowe

and a lineup of
LF: damon
CF: cameron (if rumor is true)
RF:Swisher
SS: jeter
3b: a-rod
2b: cano
1b: tex
c: posada
dh:manny ramirez??

can anyone out pitch/slug this team?

its great to see people who arent yankee fans get pissed off at the money being spent as if its theirs... the yankees lost abreu, giambi, and mussina to name only a few, why is it so unfair that they decide to replace them. its not like they stock the bench with 100 million dollar players

jp: Sabathia and Texeira are not replacements for Abreu, Giambi and Mussina, they're massive upgrades.

beweav44: That's why we play the games. The Yankees can field an all-star lineup every year. In the end, it's still 8 years and counting since their last WS title.

Keep the drought going!

According to Colin Cowherd:

Nats Offer: 10 yrs 200 million
O's Offer: 9 yrs 180 million

BoSox: less (?)

Teix will probably take less to go to the BoSox.

He didn't name any sources, and I certainly hadn't heard those numbers until today. Is there something I don't know?

Correction: the blog says the Nats WILL take Terrell Young, not that they have taken him (the Rule 5 draft hasn't started yet)

Please Angels ... just don't do it. 7/160 is way too much for Tex. Let him toil in Washington if all he cares about is money.

The Yankees have "re-entered" the sweepstakes?

I am not one to care about the Yankees spending money freely but if they truly are in on Teixeira and considering Burnett too; well thats just down right mind-boggling that anyone has this much money.

As a fan of the game first, I'd like to see MLB implement rules regarding payroll increases as they correlate to ticket price increases.

I think investing in your club to try and win is fine ownerrship(s) aren't passing on disproportionate amounts of the added cost onto the fans.

Not sure how it would get done, but I think at some point MLB is going to need to step in and implement some kind of elements which remind the common fan that they still care about them too.

Afterall, "the stone age didn't end because they ran out of stones."

bozbot,

Yankees did shed some payroll as Mussina/Pettite/Giambi and Abreu are all gone; however they are in theory discussing replacing each of these salaries with greater salaries.

Obviously a lot would have to come to pass with the Yanks landing all these free agents.

However, I guess my comments were more out of pure frustration for baseball as a whole and not specifically targeted at the Yankees.

I really don't mind when teams spend money but I think the numbers being discussed this offseason for so many players is simply bad for the game.

Can you imagine the Nationals spending $180 million on Teixeira and then having to raise their ticket prices by 10%-20% when they will still (by most arguments) be fielding a losing product for the next few years?

The Red Sox have been raising their ticket prices disproportionately as well ever since they won in 2004. Their payroll has not gone up drastically at all since then yet prices are inflating at a rate that far outweighs normal day-day inflation and outweighs payroll increases.

To put it simply: this offseason has the potential to be bad for baseball as it appears the increases in player salaries is spiking larger then usual, yet the common fan is struggling at the same time.

I would hate to see fans become disenchanted with the game; because that is not good for anyone.

The Red Sox will offer 8 years, $180MM.

Don't forget about Scott who's a decent hitter, and Montanez, who might become a great hitter as well. Even Mora isn't that bad. If we get tex then we can get roberts and markakis to sign extentions too. Then we can focus on Starting pitching

Yankees need a 1B, they need a bat, they need a defensive upgrade. Tex solves all these. Make it happen Cashman.

Ya O's fan, I think we're kidding ourselves by saying Montanez might become a "great hitter" or that Mora isn't bad, but we would have the core pieces of a good lineup that we can build around with some low key free agents and some decent prospects. I am worried that this would put to much stock on our pitching prospects though... we wouldn't have the money to pursue any real pitchers if we do get Tex by some stroke of luck.

Yes, PLEASE take Konerko off our hands.

and I'm sure the Konerko/Ibanez/Dye rumors are ALL speculation from writers... it's not the Angels style to tell people what they're doing, which is why we haven't heard of an offer for Teixeira.
They go about things very quietly in Anaheim...

BadVlad -

so would I, and i think he's probably high on their list.

"Cash dont let the red sox's get tex. We need him more then them, so get him.But this just proves the red sox's are just like the yankees in buying all their players. Red sox's dont need a first basement so they deicde to get him just to make their team better."

Wait, so the Yankees swooping in last minute and attempting to blow even other large market teams out of the water to sign literally every single one of the big name free agents of this offseason makes the Red Sox and Yankees similar?

If anything, it would solidify the fact that the Yankees spend WAY too much money if they can bring themselves to top the kind of offers being talked about for Tex while signing guys like Sabathia, Lowe and Burnett at the same time. We're talking somewhere in the neighborhood of potentially making over half a billion dollars in commitments in one offseason in a down economy. That is beyond excessive.

That said, I don't buy it. All inside of one day we've got reports that:

A. "Sources" say the Yankees have seriously reentered the bidding.
B. Boras is spreading BS in the media in an attempt to drive up the bidding price.

If those two things aren't related, I will be genuinely surprised.

Nevermind, I must have missed sometihng

Boras want to milk every penny from these teams.

JT89, a lot of people think the Yanks only need pitching, but they actually need hitting right now. Last year their offence wasn't very good and they need to bring someone who will replace Abreu's and Giambi's #s. Their ERA in 08 was better than in 07. Injuries and an inconsistent offence screw their season, but they still won 89.

A few years back the miss on Beltran, I don't think they should do the same thing againg with Tex. who will hot behind A-rod? they need another hitter.

"if the red sox's were to sign Tex, because you add his 22 million a year and then you resign Tek your looking at around a $160 million dollar payroll."

not sure about your estimate. Tex just replace manny's 20 million option money to a first approximation.

"0bsessions,
The part of my post was supposed to be if the red sox's were to sign Tex, because you add his 22 million a year and then you resign Tek your looking at around a $160 million dollar payroll. The yankees wont be far from that this year."

Ah, then you're missing a lot of info on this. The Sox had a 2008 payroll of $133 million, over $70 million less than that of the Yankees, and that includes Manny's shed salary. All told, between Manny, Schilling, Timlin and various others clearing off the payroll, the Sox shed a hair under $40 million from the books. They've also shed Crisp's contract. Right now, as they are currently made up, the Sox have a payroll of $95 million dollars (Most recent breakdown here: http://www.sonsofsamhorn.net/wiki/index.php/Red_Sox_Contract_Status).

If they sign Teixeira to an 8 year, $160 million dollar contract and Tek to a two year, $15 million contract (Which is probably easily the best he'll do), that still only brings them to $130, which is what the Yankees were at even before they signed Sabathia, after all their free agents were cut from the salary estimates. If all estimates and presumptions are true, they'll land Burnett at $85 for five and Lowe at about $60 for four, which puts that a full $50 million over the Sox for next season, which is less than they were over the Sox last year, but still a pretty sizable difference. If they sign Tex and the Sox don't, that puts the difference between the Yankees and the Sox at about $90 million dollars, which is more than over half of the MLB's total payrolls.

tolo316: "I like how several media outlets have the Red Sox as the frontrunners to get Tex and they haven't even made an offer yet."

How do you know? Theo has fewer leaks than the CIA.

DominicanYanks: "Yanks are going to need a bailout after this on."

They already have a bailout. The city is paying for part of the stadium and MLB has stopped making them pay the luxury tax.

Little Bear you are right. I actually read about it in the newspaper.

yanks12025: "But this just proves the red sox's are just like the yankees in buying all their players."

How so? Since Theo has been GM, the Sox have only awarded two FA contracts that exceed $40 million over the life of the contract. The Yankees may beat that this week alone.

It dont matter how big a contract is. Buying players means how many players you buy compared to how many home grown players that you put out their.

DC, that's one horrible looking team. Tex is the "one of these doesn't belong".

Bowden set my Reds back several years, and now he's done it to the Nats too. How many crappy OF's can one team collect? It looks like all the crappy RB's on my fantasy football team!

If Olsen is your #2, have fun trying to lose less than 100 in 09.

yanks1225: "It dont matter how big a contract is."

So, really, getting a backup catcher for a $400K, one year contract is the same as getting an ace pitcher for $161 million for 7 years. Glad you cleared that up for me.