A day after Red Sox owner John Henry strongly suggested that he’d hit his limit with his latest bid for free-agent star first baseman Mark Teixeira, Teixiera’s agent Scott Boras was back in dialogue with the Yankees and Angels, people familiar with the talks told SI.com.
Yankees people were thought on Friday to be debating the merits of Teixeira vs. Manny Ramirez, Boras’ other available slugging superstar, and there may be a split vote in the pinstripe hierarchy.
Some have suggested the Yankees are merely monitoring the Teixeira situation since he’s Boston’s top priority, and there’s no concrete evidence they’ve outbid the Red Sox yet. Although, the sides were believed to be discussing parameters on Friday, and the Yankees also know that if they steal Teixeira from Boston they’ve clinched the winter in a landslide.Discussing parameters? Really?
For a player that a lot of Yankees' writers are saying they have no chance of signing they're apparently showing a ton of interest.
A lot of fans - including myself - think the Yankees need a bat, and from this it would seem that the Yankees themselves agree.
16 Comments:
It’ll be a lot more fun to Have Manny and his dreadlocks on this team.
Heyman is full of BS.
The Yanks are not in on Teixeira and by all accounts have never even made an offer to him.
They were perfectly content with letting him sign with the Red Sox the other night when they thought his price tag was $20M/yr.
So they certainly aren't in it now that the price appears to have risen to near $25M/yr.
Heyman does have a rep as a Boras shill, but the Yankees need Teixeira every bit as much as Boston, if not more given their respective runs scored in 2008.
Manny's bat would also fill the void, at least short term, but he is more suited to be a DH than an OFer, however, the Yankees already have Matsui there, and would probably like to use the DH to rest Damon and Posada, who may have to DH full-time in the not to distant future if his shoulder becomes a chronic problem, or merely as a result of aging.
With Damon and Matsui's contracts coming off the books in a year, and only Matt Holiday as a possible top tier FA of need following the upcoming season, signing Teixeira should be a priority.
Rich: "Heyman does have a rep as a Boras shill, but the Yankees need Teixeira every bit as much as Boston, if not more given their respective runs scored in 2008."
Two problems with your statement.
1) Boston plays in Fenway. Automatically a big boost in run produciton.
2) Yankees had key injuries to Matsui and Posada, both of whom batted over .300 and drove in over 100 runs in 2007. On top of that, they suffered a down year from Cano, and year that, while still good, wasn't A-Rod's best. Top that off with both A-Rod and Jeter missing around 3+ weeks of the season, and a CF position that produced little-to-no offense, and there's your problem.
2009 should hopefully have a healthy Matsui and Posada, better production from Cano, more production from your CF, a full season of Nady, and potentially increased production from Alex. The loss of Abreu will be the only real impact, as Swisher is virtually a wash with what you could have expected from Giambi, minus a bit of OBP and a bit of HRs, but a minor upgrade of defense.
Even though it would be great to add a Tex or Manny type bat to the lineup, I think the team is more than capable of putting up significantly higher run totals in 2009.
When looking at Boston, they're dealing with aging players in Ortiz, Drew, and Wakefield, they still have no starting catcher, they still have an awful all around bullpen outside of the closer, and I don't think they can expect the same performance out of Lester and Matsuzaka next season. While they might be good, it will be incredibly hard to top what they did in 2008. The same is true for Pedroia. Surely he'll be good again, but to match 2008 is going to be very difficult.
Not to mention the Yankees added CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, and hopefully more starts out of Joba this upcoming season, not to mention hopefully having Wang for a full season.
The Yankees won 89 games last year, and finished 2nd in the wild card race behind the Red Sox. I don't it's a stretch to say they're vastly improved over 2008, both due to the impossible rash of injuries they faced (Wang, Posada, Matsui) in addition to the key signgings of CC and AJ.
If this team stays healthy overall, they should easily make the playoffs, and are far from "needing" another hitter just because they scored a lot less runs than the Red Sox in 2008.
How you can't see that this is just Boras trying to drive up the price is beyond me.
At least it seems like the situation will shake down soon.
One thing to keep in mind is that Boras looks out for Boras. So, knowing that the he has to get both Manny and Teixeira signed, he would be very smart to have the Red Sox sign Tex, thus forcing the Yankees into the Manny game. To Boras, its a package. He will NEVER let the Yankees sign Tex, because then he loses all his Manny leverage. In Boras' world, best case is getting a $200MM, 8 year deal for Teixeira with the Sox and having the Yankees come in with a 3 year, $60-$65MM contract for Manny. In a scenario where the Yankees sign Teixeira, he loses the Sox money (obviously Manny isn't going back to Boston). Bottom line, Greg, DONT GET YOUR HOPES UP ON TEX. I have given up.
OK.... sure... he will never let the Yanks sign Tex...
I rather have Tex. Manny is too much of a goofball and will be a distraction on the team.
If they need to clear some salary to get him then they should. Trade Matsui maybe the dodgers would be interested or angels, or mariners he is on his last year so i'm sure some team would pick him up. Having A-Rod and Tex batting 3 and 4 would be deadly. Also Tex is a huge defensive upgrade.
People talk about Jorge is going to move to 1st thats why the yankees cant sign him well Jorge could move to the DH position in the future if he cant catch.
Tex signing with the Yanks doesn't ruin the Manny leverage. In that case, Manny will be bid on by both LA teams and will get his payday. Either way Manny is in a good position.
R.J.,
You maybe right. I just know Boras likes having the Yanks around for as long as possible. I PRAY I AM WRONG AND THE YANKS GET TEX...
Greg,
Do you believe we've been running our sites for a year already? Wow, it feels like I just started it.
Yankeeboy98,
I know, time really does fly.
R.J.,
I agree, I also wouldn't put it past a team like the Nationals going after Manny. They desperately need a big name to put people in the seats.
And about this Heyman being a Boras shill stuff, that might be true, but one thing I will say for him is that on Thursday when everyone else basically had him signed with the Red Sox he was the one writer who said "hold up, this isn't done yet." He's on the ball a lot of the time. Then again he's wrong a lot too. Let's just see what happens.
For some strange reason I think they're going to end up signing him. I dunno, maybe I'm crazy.
- Jim
pinstripes,
1) Irrespective of any park effects, in 2007, the Yankees scored 968 runs while Boston scored 867. In 2006 the Yankees scored 930 runs while Boston scored 820.
2) Granted there were injuries and down years (although Ortiz was hurt in 2008 and Ellsbury may have had a down year), but Posada will be 39 in 2009; he could have problems catching 100 games which would put Molina’s bat in the lineup more and force a tough choice as to who will DH (a potential problem with signing Manny); and he almost certainly won’t have the year he had in 2007.
Damon tied a career high in OPS+ and it’s hard to know whether Nady will revert to his career mean, although his OPS+ wasn’t particularly great with the Yankees.
After two knee surgeries, how durable will Matsui be?
Both Abreu and Giambi are now gone in all probability.
Lastly, as a pitching first team, it would make sense to improve the defense (Cash told Francesa that defense will be a priority as older players come off the payroll). Adding Teixeira would do that.
As good as Tampa now is, I don't think making the playoffs is a certainty given the current composition of the offense.
Tex in that infield is sick. Tex, Cano, Jeter and ARod. Are you kidding me? If the Yankees sign Tex, every AL team might as well give up.
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