Mark Teixeira Rumors: Tuesday

WOW things are heating up early TIM

"Tex is believed to be seeking more than $21MM per year, closer to Alex Rodriguez's $27.5MM per year."

My my, someone is full of themself.

"Tex is believed to be seeking more than $21MM per year"

So am I, who isn't?

finally...

So, how much is Pujols worth? 35 Millions a year?

So, how much is Pujols worth? 35 Millions a year?

Exactly... if Arod is worth $30M a year....

"So, how much is Pujols worth? 35 Millions a year?"

If Tex is "worth" ~25 million AAV then YES...

21.5M a year, that's a joke! What would that make him the second highest paid position player. Joke, Joke, Joke!

Actually JedStyle, due to Teixeira's time in Atlanta he would not be a 10-5 candidate in 5 years.

Anybody know the ETA of Lars Anderson? What are the sox going to do with him if they sign Teixeira?

As I said yesterday, the best fit for him is in Boston. He can go to a winning team and he won't have to be "the guy". Plus Boston really needs to add a bat to give Ortiz some protection: http://www.ontheblack.com/2008/12/15/teixeira-should-go-to-boston/

Pujols is worth 35 to 40 million per year by most estimates. That number includes him being one of the most valuable defensive players in baseball.

It's very possible that Tex could be worth $27.5. If he consistently was producing OPS over 1.000, then maybe. I'm skeptical though. A reasonable projection would be an OPS around .900. Plus on that long a contract, he'll be declining towards the end of it.

$20M sounds about right, and if you really want him and have to go to $22M a year, then I guess you have to do it.

Lets remember Ortiz is signed until 2010 with an option for 2011.

Lar Anderson would probably be a 2010 September call-up.

Basically, the 8 years to Teixeira is fine because the Sox can alternate Teixeira/Anderson at 1B/DH starting as soon as 2011 or in 2012 to ensure their 8 year investment stays healthy over the life of the contract.

I think the Manny situation would have been a lot different if the Sox could have had him alternate DH/LF on a consistent basis for the later half of his long term contract.

Redsox = Evil Empire II.

yaz.doyle, Everybody in here is comparing this offer with A-rod contract and you had to bring up the CC deal like we haven't heard enough of it. The Yankees and t he Sox are the same teams, they are developing young talent and at the same time signing good veteran players. Some teams can only do one.

Red Sox trying to buy another championship...

So if the Sox sign Tex, they have to trade Lowell, right?

Assuming you project Lowell to have, say, an .840 OPS, and Tex a .900, how much do you really gain?

I'm not too familiar with their defense, but I think Lowell is better than Youkilis at 3B, and obviously Tex is better than Youkilis at 1B. But those improvements probably come close to canceling each other out.

So is it really worth the huge money and long committment for an incremental ~.060 gain in OPS? I'm not so sure.

Sure, Tex would make any team but the Cardinals better, but it seems like the Sox are not really adressing a major need here.

What do Boston fans think?

Yaz...just ony "tiny" error in your line of thinking...CC is NOT represented by Boras, so Boras cannot push him to do anything.

According to ESPN we are going to know real soon.......

"Red Sox trying to buy another championship..."

Are the Angels trying to buy a championship too?

i hate it when fans complain about teams that spend money, dont get mad at other teams just because your owners never pony up money or because other teams can always offer more, fire your executives, but nobody likes a whiner

So when is the ESPN report that the Yankees are preparing to make an offer coming out?

touche yankgirly touche.

anyone else getting the feeling this deal is being paired with variteks.

announcement for both at the end of this week...i hope

"Assuming you project Lowell to have, say, an .840 OPS, and Tex a .900, how much do you really gain?"

Even if Lowell is healthy his projection is for .800 or less in OPS and tex has been over .950 in 3 of the last 4 years. So .150+ points in OPS is worth that change. Besides most of that value is a change in OBP which has been found to be 3 times as valuable as SLG.

wOBA for Lowell is .347 projection for 2009 and Tex is projected at .412. There is a huge difference just on offense alone.

Also Youk has a 13.9 UZR/150 at 3B, so he is just as good, although there maybe an adjustment phase.

Not to mention anyone who offered 8/160 (angels) with all the player protections shud hardly be calling the red sox evil empire 2. Especially considering had u signed teix at that price u wud have a higher payroll than us... Yea we r evil as hell

"if he continues to hit 200 points more a year in post season average than a-rod than thats cool"

Tex has played exactly 1 post season series. In Arod's first 4 games of the post season he hit rather well too.
Shane Spencer hit .500 in his first post season, maybe he should have been paid 21 mil a year too.

Here is an interesting thought of the day:

IF and its still a big IF, the Sox were to reach the World Series.....would the Red Sox ever actually sit Teixeira to play Ortiz at 1B?

With Lowell/Teixeira/Youkilis the Sox can rotate Lowell/Youkilis if they want although Youk plays more then adequate defense.

During the season, with Lowell/Youk/Teixeira the Sox can rotate these 3 and provide extra days off to all of them, ensuring they all stay healthy all year.

Point is....we all assume the Sox are trading Lowell if they sign Teixeira, but I think it at least needs to be considered that the Sox would listen to offers for Ortiz.

Ortiz is a great hitter, has meant a ton to the franchise, but if they can get the best deal to help them win now/future by moving Ortiz, Theo has shown in the past he will make the deal.

Ortiz is signed for a reasonable contract, has a team option for 2011 making him appealing to virtually every other AL team. The question is whether or not he would waive his 10/5 rights to allow a trade.

Really? Youkilis is better at 3B than Lowell? I didn't know that. (that's not sarcasm).

Looking at the Sox, they're in a tough spot, because there is no obvious place to upgrade. Guys like Ellsbury, Lowrie, Drew are either young with some potential and considerable value, or untradable.

Wakefield is a bargain, but at some point you need to go for performance over cost savings, and with Masterson/Buchholz, you know it's not likely they'll be amazing, but you have to give them a chance to pitch.

Catcher is the obvious place to upgrade, but there are no upgrades available, short of trying to blow the Braves or Dodgers away with some offer, which doesn't make sense.

Still, getting a McCann offers more of an incremental upgrade than Tex, I'd think. In pure dollar terms, and this is way out there, they could have tried something like (roughly) Buchholz, Lugo, $18M, and another top prospect for McCann, then sign Lowe/Burnett. Their rotation would be improved, their offense would be better than if they sign Tex, they'd spend less money over the next 4/5 years, AND have no long-term commitment to Tex.

What do you think about that?

Ortiz would stay on the bench in a World Series, it was an easier decision in the past to play him since he was better then the options at 1B.

It hit me a few days ago. If they sign Tex, they will have
1B: Tex
3B: Youk
DH: Ortiz

In two years I believe Ortiz becomes a free agent. This is the ETA of 1B power hitting prospect Lars Anderson. This could result in the sox parting ways with Ortiz, and sliding Lars Anderson into Ortiz's role, except he can actually play 1B, and backup TEX unlike Ortiz.

That would also no longer make is necessary to have a Sean Casey 1B backup on the team, as Anderson would fill in that position.

Let's face it, Anderson is a prospect due to his hitting, not his fielding. If he can get hit 3-4 at bats everygame, who cares if he even plays the field.

Point definitely taken about the OBP difference between Lowell and Tex. Also I've neglected to consider the cost of Lowell. What is he at - $13M per year? He probably actually has negative value right now.

So yeah, as long as the Sox are ok with the long-term commitment, then signing Tex could make sense.

BoBo, I sure hope your not refering to Brian McCann and coming to Boston with If your are that is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard.... Boston would have to give up soooooooo much to get him from ATL.... I think you need to be a little more realistic, like resigning Varitek...

"i hate it when fans complain about teams that spend money, dont get mad at other teams just because your owners never pony up money or because other teams can always offer more, fire your executives, but nobody likes a whiner."

Lol! You sound like a Yankee fan.

bobo,

I don't feel the Sox necessarily NEED to trade Lowell. They were in the same situation a few years back with too many corner IF/DH types....they were just much cheaper.

As far as the difference in Lowell and Tex is, who as an opposing team would you fear more? The Sox didn't have that "fear factor" in the playoffs which over the better part of this decade had come from Manny.

Defense....Youk worked his ass off to be an elite Gold Glove caliper first baseman since his move across the diamond. He has great work ethic it seems and I don't think it would be too much of a drop off from Lowell who is now getting into his mid-30's.

So all in all, as a Sox fan....I say sign him. It may go against what we have been doing as far as free agents over the past few years but if they continue to produce young talent like they have then "overpaying" one player should even out.

I would love to see Yankee-Red Sox play 162 games per year against eachother. ESPN would always have something to talk about and they could have their own little championship. Those of us that are interested in one of the other baseball teams could get actual media coverage and compete with payrolls under $100 mil.

"Lars anderson will take over as dh when ready. I can't link post cause I'm on phone, but will get that for u wen I get home. Theo and francona have both spoken of him a dh"

Isn't Lars supposed to start playing some corner OF some his upcoming season and didn't he play a few games this past season to attempt to learn it some also? Would give some flexability if he could become a corner OF if Sox do sign Tex and have 2, when Anderson projects into a Tex type player.

Got to agree with Lowell being superior 3b over Youk, his range may have slipped a tad, but the guy is a vacuum cleaner at 3b...

I can't imagine the Braves trading McCann after trading their best minor league catcher in Tyler Flowers for Vazquez. They would definitely get some nice players by dealing McCann, but put themselves in the same situation that the Sox are in.

Ken Rosenthal will be on the weei in boston after 12:00 pm eastern.

I'm sorry all I want to say here is Tex is not worth more than 20 a year...all your paying for is defense in the first half, and an amazing bat with defense the second half...until he can stay his 2nd half form for the whole year he does not deserve more than 20-21 at most, def not A-Rod money...

"there has not been any chatter of him playing a corner OF position. the red sox are chock full of corner outfielders in the minor leagues."

Thanks for the info on Lars, thought read that they were planning on turning him into a corner OF.

The only top corner OF prospects currently above AA are Reddick, Daeges and Kalish. Is there someone that is flying under the Radar? I miss it since they had a "A" ball team here in Winter Haven all those years ago and more sources...

Will this increase the price on Dunn? I can see the Angels going for Dunn if they miss on Tex

people who think tex isnt worth 20-23 million a year are crazy, with inflation in five years, and when pujols signs a contract second to the size of the nation debt, its not gonna be considered much. people thought the manny rameriz deal looked crazy for its time, it was amazing for the team, which is why he hated it so badly

"it is conceivable that if tex is getting 25MM per he could actually be underpaid in years 5-8 of the deal. "

You're not factoring in he'll be at age 33-37 through those years and likely be in the declining phase of his career where he'll be a middle of the road 1B and hence be egregiously overpaid.

johns - che-hsuan lin is very highly regarded and i've heard positive things about jason place as well.

EWS1532

no i dont personally think so, boras knew the sox where the ultimate target because of the hard one the team has for him. this is the biggest deal or is going to be an insult to boras for him trying to jerk the team around with the price tag. either way, this offer is the match to the gasoline

The Sox can pay Tex 25 mil easy!

Kramerica Industries

correct, thank you for helping me explain it

Since when did Ravech become an expert on anything? He reads a teleprompter.

FWIW, between 2004-2008, Youkilis has played 154 games at 3rd and made 14 errors total. Lowell played 154 games in 2007 and made 15 errors. I think Youk can handle the hot corner just fine. If you recall, he is a converted 3rd baseman.

04F - you and i are in agreement that we think tex will wind up with the sox but i dont think its a big secret that boras wants to get in john henry's wallet on this one.

bobo - the reason the sox wanted to trade manny had nothing to do with his performance and everything to do with his character.

i suppose its possible tex goes crazy like manny but its unlikely. the manny ramirez we all know and love, i think (i hope), is a character we will all see once in a lifetime.

"

Karl Ravech obviously failed math.

“If you’re looking at eight years, $180 million, you’re north of $18 million a year"

Go ahead Karl...we'll give you another chance to do that problem. 180 over 8 years is 22.5 numbskull."

North means greater than. 22.5>18. Good job critiquing a true statement.