The Evil Empire has Signed Mark Teixeira

ESPN’s Buster Olney is reporting that the Yankees have signed Mark Teixeira to an 8 year deal worth $180 million dollars.

It pains me that Mark Teixeira has not signed with the Mets but it hurts even more to know that he’ll be playing for the Yankees, where he’ll be a constant reminder of what could’ve been. Let’s hope Omar has a plan.

Happy Tex Day!

The Mark Teixeira Hot Stove is on overdrive today. Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors has links to all of today’s Mark Teixeira news and rumors.

What it boils down to is that teams including the Red Sox have made offers to Mark Teixeira capping at around 8 years and $180 million. So it seems that within the next week Teixeira will be cutting the list down to a couple of teams to let them make their final offers before he decides.

With the Angels signing Juan Rivera, they now have 5 outfielders, making any further outfielder signings unlikely. They still need to add a bat to protect Vladimir Guerrero, so if they do not end up signing Teixeira, the Angels may have to look into trading for a first baseman or they can promote Kendry Morales to play first  base. I still believe this will come down to the Angels or the Mets. Either way, it’ll be interesting to follow this story and see how it effects the Mets.

Olney on Teixeira

ESPN’s Buster Olney discusses why the Nationals and Orioles shouldn’t be pursuing Mark Teixeira, adding “They should not be bidding. They should call Scott Boras, the agent for Teixeira, three minutes ago and tell him — like someone who accidentally raises his hand at an auction — Look, sorry for the misunderstanding, but we made a mistake. We really didn’t mean to make that $160 million offer.”

This is pretty much what I’ve written before about these two teams. It just does not make sense for them to go after Mark Teixeira; they have a long way to become a winning team. Frankly, if I were a Nationals or Orioles fan, I’d want the team to build from the ground up the way the Rays and Brewers have.

It may well be that the Nationals and Orioles will not get into a bidding war for Mark Teixeira and the Red Sox and Yankees are only “in” to keep each other away. So this might be the perfect situation for the Angels or a mystery team (hopefully the Mets) to come in and sign Teixeira.

Angels Make Eight Year Offer

Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times reports, “The Angels have offered an eight-year contract to Mark Teixeira” and it is believed to be worth around $160 million.” The Orioles have offered a seven-year contract worth $140-$150 million, while the Nationals have offered eight-years and $160 million. The Yankees and Red Sox are also rumored to be in the mix but there have been no reports of an offer being made from either team.

I’m interested to know what the Red Sox and Yankees have offered, if they have.  The Angels, Orioles and Nationals all need a First Baseman, while the Red Sox and Yankees have some options beyond 2009.

With the trades of Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith and Scott Schoeneweis and the addition of Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz, Omar Minaya may be done tinkering with the bullpen and likely will begin to focus on acquiring one or two starting pitchers. Then we will hopefully see the Mets get in the mix for Mark Teixeira or another bat for the lineup.

Teixeira Rumors: Day Three of Winter Meetings

Here’s MLBTradeRumors.com’s, Mark Teixeira rumors for today.

1. Mike DiGiovanni of the L.A. Times discusses the current market for Mark Teixeira, saying “The Boston Red Sox have emerged as front-runners, and the Washington Nationals, who appear willing to offer eight years and $160 million, could make the most lucrative bid.”
2. Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post says, “there doesn’t appear to be much chance of Mark Teixeira signing a contract on the premises of the Bellagio Hotel.”
3. Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated believes Mark Teixeira will get his 10 year $200 million contract.
4. Jose Mota of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Nationals have offered Mark Teixeira a 7 year $150 million contract.
5. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports, “Teixeira, according to two major-league sources, would prefer to be on the east coast for family reasons.”

Things seem to be heating up, especially after the Yankees reported signing of C.C. Sabathia. That the Angels are pursuing Teixeira hard is not surprising, however it has not been reported that they have made an offer. It makes sense that Scott Boras would be trying to push Teixeira to Boston so that the other Big Market teams can pursue Manny Ramirez. As I’ve said, since the Mets are an East Coast winning team it makes sense that Teixeira and the Mets could be working on something. It hasn’t been reported, but I do believe that Omar Minaya is working behind the scenes to trade Carlos Delgado and sign Teixeira.

Teixeira Rumors: Day Two of Winter Meetings

Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com has posted today’s Mark Teixeira rumors.

1. Gordon Edes, of Yahoo! Sports, spoke with several club execs who believe Mark Teixeira will sign with the Red Sox, because, “they want him. They have a good relationship with [agent Scott] Boras, and in the end, they have the dollars to make it happen.”
2. Jon Heyman, of Sports Illustrated, reports that “word is gathering that the Red Sox are one of the most aggressive pursuers of Mark Teixeira, with several executives predicting he may wind up there.”
3. Tim Brown, of Yahoo! Sports, says the Angels would be willing to go up to a seven year contract for Mark Teixeira to keep him in L.A.
4. Ken Rosenthal, of Fox Sports, has learned that the Angels may not be the high bidder on Mark Teixeira and that some insiders believe the Nationals will offer him a deal close to his 10 year $200 million asking price.

The optomist in me is remembering the reports circulating the Johan Santana trade at last year’s winter meetings. The Red Sox and Yankees were the front runners back then, but Omar Minaya played the waiting game and got the prize for the right price.

However, not hearing the Mets as a possibility is a little worrisome. In the end though, there are many reasons why Mark Teixeira does not fit with the Red Sox, Yankees, Nationals, Angels or Orioles and would fit perfectly with the Mets. So until I hear otherwise, I’ll remain optimistic that the Mets will sign Mark Teixeira.

 

Great in-depth article on Mark Teixeira

I was scouring the net for news on Mark Teixeira and found this amazing article on Mark Teixeira discussing the market for Tex and Tex’s history as a Boras client.

A couple of positive tidbits out of here:

1. Teixeira wants to play for a winning team (that rules out the Orioles and Nationals)
2. Teixeira has described himself as an East Coast guy (goodbye Angels)
3. After going over the economics of the contract, Boras says there are 10 teams that still fit the criteria (one of them could be the Mets)

Teixeira Declines Arbitration

SI’s Jon Heyman passes on that only Darren Oliver and David Weathers accepted arbitration. This means that Mark Teixeira has declined arbitration.

No surprise here, but good news nonetheless. We are one step closer to possibly signing Mark Teixeira. Let’s hope the next bit of news we here on this front is that Omar Minaya is meeting with Scott Boras to discuss Teixeira.

Pros and Cons of Orioles signing Teixeira

Steve Melewski of MASN Online discusses the pros and cons of the Baltimore Orioles signing Mark Teixeira.

The Pros include an improved lineup, increase in ticket sales, and having a “Baltimore kid leading the Baltimore Orioles.” The Cons include the inability to then address pitching needs, the injury factor, and team chemistry.

Like the Nationals, I don’t think the Orioles are going to sign Teixeira. Although, there’s the home town thing, Teixeira will go to the team that offers the most money. It’s very doubtful that the Orioles would make an offer large enough that will convince Teixeira to sign on a team that may not win for a long time.

Davidoff on Teixeira

Newsday’s Ken Davidoff believes the Yanks will not go after Mark Teixeira if they are able to sign C.C. Sabathia.

If the Yankees sign Sabathia, they’ll probably just try to sign one more pitcher like Lowe or Pettitte.  Even the Yankees would be unable to afford Sabathia’s $160 million contract and Teixeira’s reported $200 million contract.