pulling a Lerner
The Lerners' offer was in December and very competative with the winning bid, which was from the team Teixeira (assuming you mean Teixeira) wanted to play for all along. The Marlins offer was short of an offer that's been known for, what, 7 months - from Pujols's current franchise That's a whole lot easier to do. It's impossible to rationally suggest the Nationals offer intentionally undercut the Yankees, which could not have been known to them at the time. This is a total apples and oranges situation.
I'm not defending the Lerners. I think Mark Lerner might be more ill-advised than he is cheap, which is scarier in the long run. I just don't think it's hard to believe they really wanted Teixeira and were sincere and going after him. I think that's what all signs point to as the logical conclusion. It doesn't mean they're spend-crazy, it doesn't mean they're good owners. It just means they really wanted Teixeira just like they really (apparently) wanted Werth.