Tex and the Nats...

[Nat of the Living Dead]

if this was just for show - on the lerners part - i'll be angry.  hopefully if boston ups our offer, we do them one better.

That's an awful lot of money "for show." Running such a risk of having the target accept the "just for show" money doesn't seem like a wise business move on the Lerners, especially since that is what they've made their bread and butter doing.

If your not satisfied now, your not ever going to be satisfied.

[MrMadison]

does anyone trust Colin Cowherd?  I don't.

but on his radio show today he said the following:

According to Colin Cowherd:

Nats Offer: 10 yrs 200 million
O's Offer: 9 yrs 180 million

no offer yet from the Sox

I took this from the comments section on MLBTR, so it isn't worth much.  i'm just reporting any little thing I find here.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

does anyone trust Colin Cowherd?  I don't.

but on his radio show today he said the following:

I took this from the comments section on MLBTR, so it isn't worth much.  i'm just reporting any little thing I find here.

Who the hell calls themselves Colin Cowherd?

I don't really believe those numbers or the Red Sox haven't offered anything yet. Boras did say he had offers from all frontrunning parties.

[houston-nat]

LA is talking to Plan B's for 1B right now. foremost of which is Raul Ibanez. according to MLBTR.

I hope we've made contact with Dunn, or we've been working on a "just in case" trade.

Joe Koshansky was probably their best idea for the "just in case" trade.

[hammondsnats]

That's an awful lot of money "for show." Running such a risk of having the target accept the "just for show" money doesn't seem like a wise business move on the Lerners, especially since that is what they've made their bread and butter doing.

If your not satisfied now, your not ever going to be satisfied.

You know what I meant.  If they knew the red sox had the upper hand going in and then went ahead and made that offer, just so it could "please" our fanbase/team.  I don't think that's what they are doing, but I'm saying if it were the avenue, than that would be troubling. 

Look i'm happy that we're in the sweepstakes and i'm not trying to get my hopes up.  It's a step in the right direction, but like I said it would suck to come this far and lose out on a player who doesn't come around very often and could really be a welcome change to this club.  Let's cross our fingers, say our prayers, and all be good little boys and girls for santa so we can get teixeira for Christmas Day.

And I'm a fan of Cowherd.  You either love him or hate him.  I wouldn't put too much stock in his numbers when it comes to baseball free agents though.

[MrMadison]

Who the hell calls themselves Colin Cowherd?

blame his mother. that's the guy's name.

[MrMadison]

Joe Koshansky was probably their best idea for the "just in case" trade.

Koshansky is a stud though.  I wouldn't be overly upset with that.

[Minty Fresh]

Koshansky is a minor league stud though.  I wouldn't be overly upset confident with that.

Fixed.

[MrMadison]

Fixed.

nobody is a major league stud instantly. gotta be a minor league one first.

[houston-nat]

Koshansky is a stud though.  I wouldn't be overly upset with that.

Good analysis of Koshansky: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/04/blocked-prospec.html
Some of the comments are interesting as well. All very sobering - he sounds a lot like a prototypical minor league stud. Former teammate of Zim, by the way.

[MrMadison]

Red Sox (rumored offer -- Unknown): The Red Sox ship hasn't sprung any leaks when it comes to details of their offer for Teixeira, but people around baseball are still calling them the favorites to land the free-agent first baseman. According to FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, a major league source and a rival GM both believed the Sox were making progress toward signing Teixeira. While Teixeira is seeking a 10-year deal, all indications point to the Red Sox being more comfortable with something in the 6-8 year range. The Globe's Nick Cafardo reported today that, according to a Red Sox official, there was nothing imminent on Teixeira. The Herald's Sean McAdam reported today that, according to a source with knowledge of situation, the Sox were struggling with the idea of offering Teixeira an eight-year contract. Alternatively, McAdam reports, the Sox were debating an offer that might not be as long but would instead have a higher average annual value. SI.com's Jon Heyman doesn't think the Red Sox are currently the high bidder for Teixeira, though he still considers them the favorites. The Globe's Amalie Benjamin brought up an interesting point about opt-out clauses, which the Sox don't seem to be open to. From Benjamin: "One piece that might not be part of a Mark Teixeira deal for the Sox would be an opt-out clause. Though it seems to be the hot item in recent deals, [Theo] Epstein didn't mince words in describing his distaste for such clauses. The Sox also have a policy against no-trades in contracts. 'We'd be strongly opposed to it,' he said."

 # Nationals (rumored offer -- eight years, $160 million-$180 million): There are conflicting reports as to the exact value of the Nationals' offer, but any way you slice it that's a heck of a lot of dinero, especially coming from a franchise that lost 102 games last season and hasn't posted a winning record since 2002. GM Jim Bowden confirmed the team has made an offer to Teixeira, and told the Washington Times that signing Teixeira is the team's No. 1 priority. SI.com's Jon Heyman believes the Nats would be willing to go as high as 10 years, $200 million, which is the bar Boras set earlier this offseason.

# Orioles (rumored offer -- seven years, $140 million-$150 million): Another serious offer from another team that hasn't posted a winning record in years. Orioles president Andy McPhail told the Baltimore Sun he is against offering Teixeira 10 years and $200 million. MacPhail told the Sun that his club was "handicapped" if the most important factor for Teixeira was winning immediately.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2008/12/where_the_conte.html

there is a little bit of hope here still.

[MrMadison]

"The word around the Bellagio Hotel is that the O's offer is well behind the other contenders in the Mark Teixeira derby, though MacPhail was not conceding anything."

from OH

[houston-nat]

Two more interesting posts from Orioles Hangout:

I am going to come right on out and say it.

This insider info stuff is amusing and I have no problem with it being posted - I enjoy reading it, so kudos to Belkast and Bigbird both. But let's face the facts - any insider information is going to have a pretty severe time delay attached to it unless it is coming for a very high up place - and I really doubt that it is. Why would someone high up in management risk their job by giving up sensitive information on, what it seems at times, an hourly basis? It is madness to think that would happen. Really guys, think about it. Do you think some mass email goes out to all Orioles employees every time something of interest happens? The only people who know what is going on for sure are Andy and a very select few around him.

And:

Ok, just spoke with my guy. He's hearing we are no longer involved with Tex.

[sportsfan882]

These morons from OH do not know what the freak they are talking about.

Way more delusional than most here.

[hammondsnats]

Peter Gammons was just on Sportscenter.  While I like Gammons, he usually just reports positive news for Red Sox, he said the Nats are dead serious about getting Teix and that the buzz is that those there are pretty impressed with their aggressiveness in pursuit of Teix and that they really are trying to get better.  When asked where he thought Teixeira would land, he couldn't answer, he said way too hard to tell.

Still a lot of hope ladies and gentlemen.

[CJames0569]

Peter Gammons was just on Sportscenter.  While I like Gammons, he usually just reports positive news for Red Sox, he said the Nats are dead serious about getting Teix and that the buzz is that those there are pretty impressed with their aggressiveness in pursuit of Teix and that they really are trying to get better.  When asked where he thought Teixeira would land, he couldn't answer, he said way too hard to tell.

Still a lot of hope ladies and gentlemen.

Damn I'm trying not to get too excited, I've been bracing myself for disappointment

[houston-nat]

These morons from OH do not know what the freak they are talking about.

Way more delusional than most here.

You may be right:

I went to bed last night hearing that Angelos was getting involved and that the Tex deal was "in the bag."

Haw haw!

[KnorrForYourMoney]

When we don't get Teixeira, ESPN's amnesia will kick in and they'll just start publishing more "NATIONALS DISASTER" stories about how this team isn't trying to get better.

[CJames0569]

The question is say we sign Tex and win this bidding war, does the free agent spending stop there? Or do you think that we will have made a commitment to winning and will be forced to add a SP or two?

[HalfSmokes]

Peter Gammons was just on Sportscenter.  While I like Gammons, he usually just reports positive news for Red Sox, he said the Nats are dead serious about getting Teix and that the buzz is that those there are pretty impressed with their aggressiveness in pursuit of Teix and that they really are trying to get better.  When asked where he thought Teixeira would land, he couldn't answer, he said way too hard to tell.

Still a lot of hope ladies and gentlemen.

Just the fact that we're offering a $ 160 million deal is changing how I feel about the FO/Ownership

[HalfSmokes]

The question is say we sign Tex and win this bidding war, does the free agent spending stop there? Or do you think that we will have made a commitment to winning and will be forced to add a SP or two?

Who? Burnett will be out of the budget and there is noone else on the list who isn't either over the hill or just plain bad. I think Sheets for a short term deal would be nice, but I don't think Teix is about next year- Remember if the 'plan' has us being competitive 3-4 years from now, Teix will still be in his prime and would fit into that well.

[hammondsnats]

When we don't get Teixeira, ESPN's amnesia will kick in and they'll just start publishing more "NATIONALS DISASTER" stories about how this team isn't trying to get better.

hahahahaha

[DPMOmaha]

Who? Burnett will be out of the budget and there is noone else on the list who isn't either over the hill or just plain bad. I think Sheets for a short term deal would be nice, but I don't think Teix is about next year- Remember if the 'plan' has us being competitive 3-4 years from now, Teix will still be in his prime and would fit into that well.

I thought the plan a year or two ago was to be competitive in 3-4 years.  If that's the case we should be about there in about a year or two right?

Confused yet?

[houston-nat]

I thought the plan a year or two ago was to be competitive in 3-4 years.  If that's the case we should be about there in about a year or two right?

Confused yet?

With Teixeira, serious improvement by Milledge and Zimmerman, and a lot of good luck, we can be competitive next year. But the odds are not good that even 2 of those 3 things will happen.

[tomterp]

These morons from OH do not know what the freak they are talking about.

Way more delusional than most here.

 

I like that.  We're more delusional than most, but the Orioles fans are even more delusional.