Now that the Angels have emphatically stated that they are no longer interested in Mark Teixeira, our candidates for who is the big liar have dwindled to just one, really - Scott Boras. The Orioles and Nats almost certainly have not raised their initial offers since the three big money players, the Angels, Red Sox, and Yankees, have all displayed differing levels of public indifference. Boras can no longer pretend that a big offer is floating out there from the Angels, and unless the Yankees make a push or an unknown team suddenly jumps in, the Sox can have him for their initial offer.
The problem is that Boras cannot let him go there for the initial offer. He cannot let John Henry publicly call his bluff and get away with it. In times of trouble with the Sox, Boras typically turns to the Yankees to bail him out. I suspect that is the pot he'll be stirring now.
In my initial post, I said Boras would have to either sign or float a cover story by today. That was before the Angels emphatically eroded his leverage. Now the only correct play is to cool the whole thing off til after the holidays, so that it won't look as bad if Teix does sign with the Red Sox in the $180M zone.
December 22, 2008
Mark Teixeira - Okay, So Boras Was Lying
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12 Responses:
I'm still torn on whether I want him on the Nats or not. On the one hand, he could be a cornerstone for years ahead. On the other hand, I look at how the Caps were built, and it certainly did not include signings like Texeira.
I like how Peter King compared signing with the "Washington National" to a prison sentence in MMQB today.
Boras is a scumbag of the highest order.
I think it will be interesting to see if anyone ends up wanting him at the original asking price. With only two teams in the running as it appears, I think Tex and Boras are starting to reek of desperation. So either Tex signs with one of them or a better team can sneak in a lower bid and give Tex something to compete for.
Regardless, I think Boras is definitely ruining baseball, especially regarding the asking prices of some of the players he represents. But at the same time, teams that are spending at the top of the payrolls are just as easily responsible. I don't really want to get off topic but I noticed that according to the salary info on ESPN, the top 10 and the remaining 20 spend almost the same combined. Absurd.
I think Boras has been playing teams off each other for about a decade now, and he failed to account for the market this time around. The Angels and Red Sox are not playing along anymore, and as a result Boras is having to rely on Baltimore and Washington to ratchet up the market. It's just not going to happen, and Orioles owner Peter Angelos wins either way. He owns TV rights to the Nats and the O's.
That being said, he now signs with Boston in mid-January for whatever they originally offered.
I'd think BoSox should be sitting pretty happy with what they've got. Sure they might love to have him but if they don't need him, their only incentive to take him is to stop someone else from having him.
I think he'd consider Boston only because the Orioles and the Nats just aren't as competitive. But if the BoSox offer isn't as high as the other two, perhaps another team tries to sneak in here late in the game. How certain would you be of him going to Boston? I think it's about 45% right now. Someone else might try to sneak in there just as a bid or Tex might decide to stay closer to home (Maryland?).
I love the fact that Oriole fans are so hypocritical as they are going to switch allegiances to the Yankees if Teix signs with the Red Sox because they will be mad that he signed outside of Baltimore and they will want to root for a team that has a snowball's chance in hell of beating the Sox because they will be so mad at Teix.
I am highly qualified to assert an idiotic, asinine, illogical statement on behalf of other fans because I have access to the internet.
Jeremy makes a great point on how the caps were built. Yet, even the caps have Ovechkin (ie: a big name superstar). Granted, he was through the draft. This signing would be more like Jaromir Jagr (great player on bad team). Like Jeremy, I too am torn on whether I want him on the Nats. But I think that the Nats realize that they need a big name draw to get people to the ballpark. Washington is not a big baseball town and there is too much to do in the summertime for people to watch a bad team with no big name draws.
Jason,
Do you think the economy plays any role in determining whether any of the teams stick to their original offer? Even sports teams are being affected by the economy. Do you think this is just one of those years when agents have no choice but to just take the best offer available?
Also, about the Peter King Nats. Well, one might have said that about the Tigers in 2003. Three years later, they were in the World Series.
Nikhil
Nikhil, the economy only serves as justification for the Nats and O's to not raise their bids. Baltimore is a blue collar city and Washington is easily led to believe that national circumstances exist at home. That's the only explanation for the housing market going bad in D.C.
Ben, I'm embarrassed on your behalf. That was a tenuous link, and you know you could have caught me in something hypocritical if you had just been more patient.
And no Washington fan is ever qualified to comment on fans switching allegiances. You lost that privilege forever when you lost your second baseball franchise and built your football stadium in Maryland.
"No, seriously, we love that Washington baseball franchise. We just choose not to show up, watch them on TV, or listen to them on the radio."
I will admit that it was nice of D.C. to move the Bullets/Wizards and Caps back into the District to balance it out.
Whether or not my post was clever is hardly the point. The point is you are a big poopy head, and you succeed in your goal of annoying the hell out of me when you say stupid things.
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