Mark Teixeira Signing Reactions

FIRST!

Even if the O's countered y in the world would he wanna be stuck there for eight yrs (no offense to you orioles fans)but the yankees hava chance to win a WS every year

Damnit didn't mean to hit post that early. Was trying to switch tabs to skip a song on Pandora. Mouse/computer fail.

Elaborating,

Teixiera was a bad signing for the Yankees.

The thing about the Sox is though, is that he doesn't represent nearly as much of an improvement over Lowell (Youk moves to 3B) as he does over Swisher/Cabrera (assuming Swisher moves to the OF and Melky is benched b/c of this).

Let's put it this way.
Posada needs 1B/DH because its stupid to take his bat out of the lineup and he can't catch every day(probably shouldn't be catching, period).

Jeter might need 1B/DH, especially if he becomes even worse defensively as a SS. And, as he ages, he'll probably be moved off SS.

A-Rod might need 1B/DH because of aging. He's really really good now, but IDK how that defense will age through that contract.

Teixeira has 1B locked up, and may need DH by the latter stages of his contract.

Now, how many 1B/DH spots are there?

Although, he's a bad signing regardless if his defense declines. And, since the contract is paying him for defense (unlike Giambi --- Teixeira's true value is very vested in defense, he's far inferior to Giambi in his prime with the bat).

Nice pass on the part of Boston with tex and saving the $$$ required. Give Bay a 3-4 year contract now, take a quick look at Holliday next year if the Sox brass feel like talking to Boras much anymore for awhile and explore the market for pitching like peavy and look for a salary steal for the surplus of top pitching prospects that they currently have an over abundance of 9if that is possible) and let all talk of impact positional players go away for 2009. Lood for a veteran catcher to go along with Kotteras (out of options) to be the catching duo in 2009 (unless texas and Arizona get real with demands) and look at Baldelli and maybe old friend Gabe Kapler as the 4th OF option, then be done with off season moves.

The Sox team is still not going to fall off from 95 wins or so and will more than likely be in the playoffs again, do not fret Sox fans.. What is the odds of beckett having such a dismal year again? Or none of Bowden, masterson, or Buch not living up to promise as the 5th starter? The Sox brass will also probably make a stealth move now on a DL candidate 5th starter (like Penny perhaps) and Byrd could even come back if penny is not returned.

This team is proven to work together and is as good as anyone in the east, we will have to wait and see in the case of the yankees, more question marks than ortiz's wrist and Lowel's hip on that team with Wang and Burnet, plus Matsui, Damon, Posada being DL bound last couple of years.

keep a sharp eye out for Tampa winning the crown once again.

"isn't this borderline tampering again? basically what i'm reading is that boras and teix knew they were going to go with ny right from the getgo and played the other teams to make sure the yankees didn't overspend on teixeira. Thats what i'm reading. and that my friends, is tampering."

Yeah, but remember that Teixeira didn't HAVE to listen to offers from other teams if he only wanted to be a Yankee. Getting other teams involved was a way to make sure the Yankees DID overspend.

Listening to offers from other teams and using them as leverage is not tampering. It is only tampering if a team has exclusive negotiating rights to a player (i.e. before he hits free agency, when he's under contract/control of a certain team, etc.). Teixeira was a free agent, so no team had the rights to him.

Fellow members of the Nation-

How do you feel the Red Sox should respond. The Sox brass is smart enough that they are not going to panic. However, they must see what the rest of us are seeing and that is the tipping of the balance of power that existed in the East in the direction of a Yankee jugernaut. Personally, I would like them to pursue Sheets for something like 3/39 (does that sound realistic?)

Also, I am curious to see if the MLB considers a salary cap or some reform to the current luxury tax system after this offseason. It looks as though the Yankees will spend more money than the other 29 teams combined (no i am not exaggerating).

Spector's question needs to be restated. It's not a question of whether Tex is really a $20mm (or $22.5mm) player... it's a question of whether he's worth $31.5mm. The Yankees were already at the payroll level for 2009 when the luxury tax kicks in, which means every dollar they pay Tex costs them a buck-forty.

But no, simply as a player, he's not worth it. They're paying a premium in order to keep him out of Boston. Whether that makes him worth the money won't be known until October.

With all the money being thrown out there in a supposed down economy, there will be no way the A's extend Matt Holliday.

He will most likely be traded at the trade deadline hopefully for a good, young left infield bat.

Oakland is stacked with pitching, and doesn't need any more.

I know that in the late eighties Oakland was outbidding the Yankees for free agents under the Haas ownership, and the A's were the Rays of the early seventies.

With the way that teams are spending money these days, I don't see how a franchise can win it all without being one of these models.

i think maybe the word tampering was not the right choice?

how can someone on the open free agent market be guilty of tampering with teams bidding on him?

if you mean to imply that they frauded those teams, that's another thing... but i agree with austin. they got all the best offers, showed them to the yankees, and came up with a final number. they did it with beltran too, only this time the yankees didn't pass

The estimated cost of this new stadium is $1.5 billion. Result: Steinbrenner won’t have to pay any luxury tax money to those poorer teams that are now beating up on his rich players.

the $12 mil differential between the Yankees' offer and that of the Red Sox works out to $1.5 mil per year.. the Red Sox lost out on Teixeira on what is a small expense to a club the size of Boston

Nelson Muntz: ha ha!

"the business is going"

"Fellow members of the Nation-

How do you feel the Red Sox should respond."

What johns said, pretty much.

I do not like the Nation one bit, but I don't think the Sox should respond at all.

Their team is still better hollistically (cough defense cough cough). I try to add depth onto the club in terms of a 4th OF/bench bat, and maybe bring in someone to compete with Buchholz/Bowden for Spot #5. And, maybe an additional bullpen arm. Besides that, talk extension with Beckett, Lester, Youk, and Bay, and if major injuries ensue, fix it at the deadline.

I think the AL East will beat itself up, with dominance of outside teams being the key to winning the division.

"With all the money being thrown out there in a supposed down economy, there will be no way the A's extend Matt Holliday.

He will most likely be traded at the trade deadline hopefully for a good, young left infield bat. "

Yeap. No way the A's try to sign Holliday, and even if they tried, Matt hits the FA market. And, that's the kind of contract that can cripple a team like the A's(even if 1B/DH are cautiously not filled with long term contracts, which they won't be). Which is why it was good that the Nats/O's didn't get him.

The market is still a buyer's market. It's the good players getting the contracts, not the Zitos, Silvas, etc. of the world. It'll evolve into even more of a buyer's market as the non-elite guys start getting signed.

"There is a chance the Mets trade for Holliday if they're right there with the Phillies in late July. How do the Oakland fans feel about Daniel Murphy? It would suck to lose him, but to get Holliday at the deadline would almost certainly put us over the top. And even if we can't afford him in the offseason, we have two backup options in Vladimir Guerrero and Jason Bay."

Holliday for a package built around Murphy (Beane's going to want multiple pieces) at the deadline? Umm, as an A's fan, YES.

Or, if you want to do the deal now, fork over whatever would need to be added to Murphy to make it equal in value to Street/Smith/Gonzalez and its done.

Murphy can play in LF/1B (depending on Barton) if Chavez is healthy, and when he gets hurt, move to 3B.

well one less team to "pilfer" Ryan Howard from my Phils in 2012.

isn't this borderline tampering again? basically what i'm reading is that boras and teix knew they were going to go with ny right from the getgo and played the other teams to make sure the yankees didn't overspend on teixeira. Thats what i'm reading. and that my friends, is tampering.
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How in the world is that tampering? Cashman was completely quite about this and never said anything publicly. They made an offer a while ago and pulled it off the table. This is a free market, more so than any other. Boston could've offered more, the Angels could of offered more and the Yanks could've passed. It's just the way it played out. And it looks as if NY was where Tex wanted to go all along. I read somehwere that Tex had problems with Boston before stemming from when he was a college player. Maybe that had something to do with it?

Hal Steinbrenner denies Ramirez deal

The Yankees still have to pay the luxury tax. The amount was just announced yesterday i believe but i dont have the figures.

Also the Yanks didnt pay out of their pocket for the stadium. The city and a bunch of tax breaks paid for the stadium. There was a big story on OTL about how the Yanks barely spent anything for the stadium.

"The absolute FIRST QUESTION YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF, how much do you invest in your team? $100/yr? 300/yr? 800/yrs? I spend FIVE FIGURES/YR, close to 10-15k."

"we have 26 championships to prove it, with absolute PRIDE. NEW YORK THE FINANCIAL CAPITAL OF THE WORLD and it keeps moving. BIZNITCH."

I am seeing a definite correlation between trust-fund babies and mental retardation. Perhaps the parents should divert less allowance to the Yankees, and more to making sure the paint on the crib isn't lead-based?

the red sox fans must be shaking there knees right now because the yanks are back. with arod, tex, cc, aj. they are unstoppable. this is almost a guarantee to the postseason for the yankees

i still think the yankees should persue holiday next year. if they do then this is rediculisly incredible

Damon CF
Jeter SS
Holiday LF
Rodriguez 3B
Texeria 1B
Nady RF
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
Posada C

chicubs25,

i believe the yanks did pay $800+ million but did get $400+ million in tax breaks but i'm not 100% sure.

oh and exactly what is BIZNITCH? sounds like he just crapped on his computer. Oh and the proper english is "BUILT" as in:

I LOVE THE NEW YORK YANKEES AND WOULD SPEND ENDLESS $ just to spend time at the best stadium ever builT. WITH A "T"

I guess they don't have good schools in NYC. Too busy spending them on 27 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. Yes i'm counting this coming year's that everyone's decided they've won already.

melonis rex:

Daniel Murphy isn't even a realistic centerpiece.

As mentioned by chicubs25, F-Mart would be a logical place to start, however, the A's don't need Pelfrey.

The A's in house pitching staff options should be ready to rock and roll in the next 2-3 years, so i would guess they are going to look for position players that are at least resonably close to MLB ready.

Fans:
Oh yeah I almost forgot maybe Swisher, Hughes, Melacon and Austin to the Pods for Peavy? If the Bosux push for him you know the yanks are right there. Yes, the Redsux have more home grown talent but the yanks will make them add some extra players in to get Peavy while mortgaging their future.

Sorry mstrchef13:
Okay, Hughes, Swisher and Ramirez for Guthrie and then we'll sign him to a long term deal. I'm just thinking in your best interest.

yanksrule

i can guarantee half of those predictions wont play out. every guy would have to play all 162 and be at their prime for those to be a possiblity. i agree the yanks will dominate for a while to come but not with those numbers.

yanksrule: you're throwing salt on the wound (shhh!). :)

So now the Brewers owner wants to talk about a salary cap? Give me a break! This should have been talked about years ago.

Baseball needs a strike, just like Hockey. That will force a salary cap into baseball just like all the other sports.

A salary cap for the Yankees is like holding up a cross in front of a vampire.

i like how yanksrule has jeter batting 10 points higher than his career avg, not to mention the fact that his BA has dropped sharply each of the last 3 years. plus 90 RBI's? he has hit more than that only twice in his career. but lets nevermind his offensive decline each of the last 3 years, lets just credit him with a break out year at the ripe age of 35!

lineman42,

its close but holiday is an all around better player than crawford except speed. holiday bats over .300 has over 30HR and over 110 RBIs

I think I speak for most Red Sox fans when I say that the Yankees are obviously a better team, but we feel good about our chances. The Red Sox are still going to be a very good team next year, even though their payroll might only be half of the Yankees payroll.

Also, Alex please dont say "us yankees fans and red sox fans can talk all we want"

Please dont compare the Red Sox and Yankees. The Red Sox payroll may not even be top 5 this year.

Typical crap I expected to hear...

mstrchef13,

"us yankees fans and red sox fans can talk all we want becasue we got GMs that can get big time players. we can also go way above a .500 record insyead of like 2 or 3 games over so win and then you can start talkin bout us"

You don't have GMs that can get you bigtime players. Get a f-ing clue. You have MONEY. That's the only thing you have that the rest of the league doesn't. An unending supply of CASH. You're probably not old enough to remember back when the Yankees didn't have more money than anyone else. Back before Steinbrenner and even in his early years, the Yankees sucked. What made them better? CASH. Not quality GMs, not homegrown talent. CASH and lots of it. If you had to live one season rooting for Kansas City or Pittsburgh or Florida or Toronto, you'd see. But of course, you don't need to because you're a YANKEES fan, and that makes everything ok. Shut up already. Karma goes around and comes around, and the Yankees will get theirs.

mstrchef13: The Yanks have always had plenty of money but insted of signing them we would raid the teams of Kansas City, etc for their up and coming players.

So now the Brewers owner wants to talk about a salary cap? Give me a break! This should have been talked about years ago.

Baseball needs a strike, just like Hockey. That will force a salary cap into baseball just like all the other sports.

A salary cap for the Yankees is like holding up a cross in front of a vampire.
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Here's why I have issue with the Brews owner. He complains about not having money to spend but yet offers CC 100 mil. And then when he loses out on CC he tells his GM the money can't be allocated for any other players. Why? Why not make the trade with the Yanks for Cameron, take that 10 mil, the 10 mil from Gagne's expired contract and CC's 100 mil and use that to pick up:

Sheets = 2/26 = 13 per
Randy = 1/9 = 9 per
Burrell = 3/36 = 12 per
Fuentes = 3/30 = 10 per

That a total of 101 mil and 24 mil over last year's budget (or 4 mil more if you added CC).

Why is he pocketing the money and why are Brews fan's not outraged?

YanksFan: "The Yanks, Rays and Boston will all compete for the title next year."

Bullshiat. It's over. The Yankees have bought themselves a championship. Congratulations. The only competition is for the wild card.

"Did you ever hear of protection in a lineup? Jeter will see more fastballs because he is less of a threat to homer, hence higher average. Watch and learn my friend."

Dear Sweet Lord Baby Jesus. By your logic, they should sign a platoon of quadriplegics. Zero threat to homer = 1.000 batting average?

I am watching, and eagerly await the fruits of your prophecy...

Ok yanks fans,
What has money bought you this century...nothing so bringing in more and more players ups your chances but fro everyone to think that this season is already a wrap you must be crazy...Boston and Tampa are still going to compete and as an orioles fan at this point its become a fan of the other 29 organizations including the o's because the odds for a championship are prolly about the same, but I guarantee you that someone will get hurt and the poor old yankees will be struggling and I just pray that a season like the last happens again remember mussina left baltimore for that championship, no hard feeling we still love ya moose but its bitter sweet to know he didnt get it, and the fact that your throwing all this money out that makes it even better to c you fail..

I follow you up on that the marlins way of doing things is resulting in the same amount of championships so who is the genius the gm of that club

Spending money on FA has nothing to do w/ regards to a reason why you win or don't win. Spending money on the wrong players has been the problem. Nothing is ever guaranteed for any team but I'd rather go to war with Tex, CC and AJ vs Pavano, Giambi, etc (even though I was a fan of Abreu's play).

Yeah I'll take your word as you know your team better but the reality is that there were maybe 5 teams in baseball that could've signed CC, AJ and Tex. It just so happens we had perfecr storm this year w/ close to 90 mil coming off the books. But there are still many, many good less expensive options out there for more conservative teams. I mean Abreu vs Tex isn't a HUGE difference in terms of actual production and if a small market team needs a bat he could really, really help. And no I'm not comparing the 2 players just saying that 10 mil might get you close to what 22.5 mil does in terms on power prod, just on a smaller 2 to 3 year deal.

*you're

Very true Yanksfan. Although I don't like what the Yanks are doing spending so much money. That is the system in place however. Thankfully, we've been able to draft well. Tex hurts since we lose the 1st rounder.

Yea there are good options out there. Hopefully Melvin will make some moves in the new year. Its too bad the Cameron trade is on the backburner since that'd help with signing at least Fuentes. He'll probably end up with the Angels though =/

BoSox fan here, and I cannot see a downside to the Yanks' signings this offseason. Clearly, they HAVE the dough so why not use it? It isn't our money (as fans) and they will be raising prices on tix, etc, regardless of the product (ask any Rangers fan in Dallas). I think they should go "all out" and I respect the bombers for doing so.

Do I think my team will be ok? maybe -- but it'll take some luck and some things panning out (e.g. lowell and papi both healthy). If those do, I'd still stack my team against the bombers. Do I think the Orioles will be ok? No, not for awhile. These are the times in which we live, unfortunate or not. I promise you all we will still see excellent and unpredictable baseball.

even as an orioles fan knowing mcphail is moving us in the right direction this does def set up a very very interesting AL east for this year and lets just play ball

Boston Belongs to Me:
Don't be surprised if the yanks sign manny too! lineup scores 1000+ runs.

Red Sox knew last week that Yankees were in on this, they knew impossible to go into bidding war with them. They withdrew, Angels must have known, and I'm sure the other teams knew too. Yes, I still believe that Yankees will sign Ramirez.
The problem I see compare to football is this, you have to penalize the draft, even if they were not signed, because this just makes the Yankees stronger. Some kind of window if not signed within 365 days, pick is lost and move on. Another one is it should go year after year, Angels and Brewers should not be picking in the second round, if not this year maybe next but they should be getting a 1st. round pick. Good pick by the Yankees, some thoughts here.

I know their's obviously a lot of flap from non-NY fans and owners, but PLEASE keep in mind. They lost a starting LF (Abreu), starting 1b/DH (Giambi) and 2 or 3 SP (Mussina, Povano and possibly Pettite) this winter. Had those contracts not expired all at the same time then who knows if we would be in position to sign 3 big FA's. All we did is replace the same money we spent on those 5 players and spent them on 3 of the best players this year. In fact, even with adding Swisher and whatever salary increases in store for 09 by players already under contract we are still slightly under our 2008 payroll. I can't understand why that's so hard to understand? I could see if we went on signed superfluous pieces or went past way last years payroll, but that's not the case. Even with those signings nothing is guaranteed, we still have play 162 games (see Tigers). Let the games begin.

The only thing that's somewhat unfair about the system is the FA compensation set up. While each team (Angels, Brews and Blue Jays) still get a sandwhich pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds, the Brews and the Blue Jays will not be able to pick inside the top 26 because the #1 pick of the Yankees goes to the Angels. But even with the comp picks all it means is that insted of picking @ #26 they'll probably pick somewhere between 30-45, so it's not so bad.

really? Dice K is 51 Mil not 100

I guess the Yankees feel the best strategy is to sign every decent player on the free agent market so that other teams won't get them. Maybe one day they can get back to growing their players from ground up rather than buying their team. They just bore me.