Well word has come from the top that the Sox are no longer in on Mark Teixeira. Can't say I'm surprised. I don't trust any rumor I hear about the Red Sox being in on a big time free agent or some kind of big time trade. It seems that Theo Epstein has thoroughly proven that his M.O. is to try and drive up the price on other competitors and then bail out as soon as the other side comes to the table for real.
In all honesty I never thought he would fit into their plans anyway. They have a stud first baseman in the system in Lars Anderson and there is no way they would have been able to trade Mike Lowell, unless they gave him away for free. Sure he would have made their lineup great again, but you don't need a ridiculous lineup to win. You just need pitching to keep the hitters down while you put up three or four runs. Everyone would want a lineup of all-stars but it just doesn't work. The Yankees have proven that.
Anyway, this just proves that Theo is a shadowy guy and you can't really trust any rumors you hear about who the Red Sox are in on. The only time they actually ended up being a high bidder trying to acquire a big name was the Matsuzaka Sweepstakes. The Santana deal was a myth and now, so is the Teixeira contract.
6 comments:
I disagree. I think the Red Sox decide beforehand what price they are willing to pay, and never move from that. With Dice-K that price ended up being a lot more than everyone else, but sometimes it is a lot less. Besides, I would hardly say that calling Scott Boras' bluff is a shadowy move.
I was hoping against hope that they would get Tex. Though he wouldn't 'fit' in the lineup that would be a nice problem to have. I bet they will still try to bolster the pitching in some way. Although signing Lowe for example would be weird. They wouldn't pay him in '04 and their going to pay him now that he's five years older? Doesn't make sense.
Also, Why would Theo want to tip his hand anyway?
I think the sox reported offer of 8 years $180 million would be the highest offer and boras is bluffing. John Henry is now calling this bluff. Why else would he call ESPN to say they are out of the running? Something is up, and I would believe the Red Sox before I believed Boras
Other sources are saying the Sox offer is nowhere near $180 million. Given the current economy, this might finally be the year Boras really gets screwed on one of his big guys.
Getting screwed is all relative, I guess. So he gets $17 or $18 million instead of $20 million. Poor Scotty.
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