The worst possible outcome

[Enjoy Terror]

The injuries to Wang and Ortiz were critical for the Rays to take advantage of the AL East.

Think of how many games the Yankees would have won with Wang pitching instead of Ponson. Or how many games Ortiz would have put in the bag for the Sox at full health.

[Guest Sailor Jerry]

One reason would be that I might just help keep the ticket prices down to point where individuals and families could afford to go to games without taking out a home equity line.

Ticket prices are to team payroll what Stanley nickels are to Shrute bucks. And anyone who thinks otherwise is being played by billionaire liars.

[Fan4Life]

Also, I'm a fan of the Orioles. Any player, especially one that's from the area that would take less money to play in Boston or New York would be instantly despised by me. For you to say you would "understand" is pretty pitiful in my estimation.

I'm going to ask the owner of this site to give you another Rep Bird.

[LookitsPuck]

The injuries to Wang and Ortiz were critical for the Rays to take advantage of the AL East.

And the Rays didn't have their fair share of injuries? Come on, man. Let's give credit where it is due.

[Guest Sailor Jerry]

The injuries to Wang and Ortiz were critical for the Rays to take advantage of the AL East.

But injuries to Longoria, Crawford, Percival, and Baldelli were no big deals? Seriously?

Again, it goes back to making smart decisions.

[Travis McGee]

We don't know if there was a first offer or a second offer.

I hope you get my point. There is nothing going on right now with these negotiations that isn't about the money. If it was just about winning or playing for the home town the deal would be done some time ago and the Teixeira family would be still comfortable for GENERATIONS to come.

[Tony-OH]

Tex can win here, but not without additional improvements, changes, and some much enhanced player development from within. Problem as I see it, is that Tex may not see that he can win here.

So you are saying the Orioles are broke and that's why Tex won't sign here? I would disagree. I don't think the O's are that far away is we can get a prime bat like Teixeira especially with the players like Wieters, Arrieta, Matusz and Tillman on the horizon.

Tell you what though, I agree with the posters that say it will come down to the almighty dollar. I believe Tex is going to go to whoever gives him the most money, regardless of hometown, winning, etc.

[Pedro Cerrano]

So you are saying the Orioles are broke and that's why Tex won't sign here? I would disagree. I don't think the O's are that far away is we can get a prime bat like Teixeira especially with the players like Wieters, Arrieta, Matusz and Tillman on the horizon.

Tell you what though, I agree with the posters that say it will come down to the almighty dollar. I believe Tex is going to go to whoever gives him the most money, regardless of hometown, winning, etc.

I'm inclined to agree (I know I keep flip-flopping).

The problem is, I'm not necessarily sure we will have the highest dollar amount on the table when all is said and done.

Because BB and Belkast have such differing opinions from their sources, I'm taking the "wait and see" approach.

[LookitsPuck]

Also, I'm a fan of the Orioles. Any player, especially one that's from the area that would take less money to play in Boston or New York would be instantly despised by me. For you to say you would "understand" is pretty pitiful in my estimation.

When the Orioles build a respectful ball club then maybe you'd have a point. But right now, they don't. It's not "defeatist" like you want to keep bringing up, no, it's called being a realist. If the Orioles can build a decent club, then they can get some top-tier free agents here without having to ridiculously overspend (which might not even work in our current situation because the Orioles.are.that.bad).

I understand your reaction as a fan to hate players that go to the Yankees or the Red Sox, but you should at least respect someone's desire to win. Something that Brian Roberts might end up doing. Would you hate on Roberts for peacing out (if he's not traded) and signing with the Red Sox, Yankees, Angels, etc. since they're winning teams and the Orioles are not?

[waroriole]

Tell you what though, I agree with the posters that say it will come down to the almighty dollar. I believe Tex is going to go to whoever gives him the most money, regardless of hometown, winning, etc.

I agree with this, but there could be a caveat. What if Boston offers 6/150 and we offer 10/200. What would be the "big money" contract.

[ChaosLex]

I agree with this, but there could be a caveat. What if Boston offers 6/150 and we offer 10/200. What would be the "big money" contract.

I would think it'd be ours, simply because there's a chance, albeit slim, that Tex could get hurt over the course of the 6/150 contract. 10/200 is a much safer bet, IMO.

[TinCup]

So you are saying the Orioles are broke and that's why Tex won't sign here? I would disagree. I don't think the O's are that far away is we can get a prime bat like Teixeira especially with the players like Wieters, Arrieta, Matusz and Tillman on the horizon.

Tell you what though, I agree with the posters that say it will come down to the almighty dollar. I believe Tex is going to go to whoever gives him the most money, regardless of hometown, winning, etc.

Tony, not sure how I am saying the O's are broke? I am saying that Tex simply mannot see us as being a) a winner, or b) close to being a winner. As such, that may be factoring into his decision. That said, I have always said he ends up where he gets the most $$$. If he takes less to go to Boston, I'd be a bit surprised, but that would only validate, IMHO, that he wants to play for a winner now.

[Sports Guy]

I first of all want to say that I think anyone who thinks Tex will go somewhere for less money is being naive about the situation and haven't paid attention to how Boras works.

Now, that being said, if Tex becomes the first Boras client to do this and we have put the most on the table and he goes to Boston anyway, then I will agree with Tony that Tex wasn't really genuine about coming here.

Yes, I get the idea that we have been pathetic and that winning is always what you want but if Tex truly wants to be here, then he should take it upon himself to say, I am going to put this team back on the map. This is my favorite team and it is my hometown team...i want to make them relevant again.

If he isn't willing to do that, then we are probably better off if he goes somewhere else anyway.

[OrioleBird79]

I disagree. If he goes somewhere else for less money like the Red Sox or the Yankees, it says nothing bad about his overall character. If anything it says that he wants to win. And who can really fault that at all? Brian Roberts wants to win as well, what if the Orioles offer him an extension that is pretty damn good and he walks?

Listen, hometown loyalties only go so far. If the Orioles offer him a 10 year/$200 million contract and he turns it down for some 6-7 year contract with a winning team, can you really fault the guy? That means he values winning more than money. If he goes with the 10 year/$200 million contract, does that mean he values money more than winning?

The Orioles aren't going to make any noise in 2009 with or without Tex. I'd certainly love him on the team, but let's sit back and think about it instead of being knee jerk. This isn't directly responding to you Tony (although it is a bit), btw.

It means he played the "home" card to a tee. Get the Nationals to offer a 8/170 deal and then get the Orioles to offer a 9/180 deal only to sign with Boston for 8/175. This is all I needed to happen. If the Orioles made some low ball offer the fan base would be upset that PGA let the hometown boy get away. But if we go out and offer a deal that is as good or better than everyone else, it is Teixeira who walks away from us. I would be ok with that but I would lose all respect for Teixeira the man for using us to get a bigger deal from the Red Sox.

There have been multiple reports citing that Boras is trying to get the Red Sox to bid against themselves. That is where the Orioles and Nationals offers come into play. I have said this from the start, if Teixeira really wanted to be an Oriole then he would have signed by now. I do not see a team beating a 9/180 offer by one year and $45 Million. Action speak louder than words and here was Teixeira list of priorities as defined by Boras.

1.) Proximity to his home.

2.) Winning organization.

3.) Money (Which we assume is #1 in reality).

Here is my beef. If #3 is consistant across all of the teams than that goes out the window. You can argue that Boston is close to home too, but Baltimore is 25 minutes away. Boras knew what he was doing when he made those comments.

Another thing that bothers me is the whole Red Sox drafting Teixeira fiasco. They offered a $1.5 Million bonus to a high school kid. They put out the word that he was unsignable (Teams do this all of the time) and then he falls in the draft until the 9th round where is selected by who else? The Boston Red Sox. They figured it was a way to gain leverage with Teixeira. Teixeira had an option to go to school and wait for his money. He did and got a $9.8 Million signing bonus by the Rangers.

Sometimes things workout, sometimes they do not. Teixeira could have blew his knee and got nothing but a free education. According to Teixeira this expereince was as eye opener for how the game of baseball operates. Money first, me first. That is a real shame as Teixeira will always be called by his last name here instead of being called by his first name like Cal, Brooks, or Eddie. They were real good players who thought it was a honor to wear an Orioles uniform. I guess wearing the jersey of the team you grew up idolizing is not as important as wearing the jersey of the team that offered you the best chance to make things about you.

[LookitsPuck]

I first of all want to say that I think anyone who thinks Tex will go somewhere for less money is being naive about the situation and haven't paid attention to how Boras works.

Now, that being said, if Tex becomes the first Boras client to do this and we have put the most on the table and he goes to Boston anyway, then I will agree with Tony that Tex wasn't really genuine about coming here.

Yes, I get the idea that we have been pathetic and that winning is always what you want but if Tex truly wants to be here, then he should take it upon himself to say, I am going to put this team back on the map. This is my favorite team and it is my hometown team...i want to make them relevant again.

If he isn't willing to do that, then we are probably better off if he goes somewhere else anyway.

When did Tex ever say that he wants to play the Orioles back on his map? That he wants to make them relevant again?

I think he's a hometown boy who loved the Orioles growing up. Money is certainly going to be an issue, but we're talking about winning teams with a lot of money, versus a losing team with not so much. If the Orioles throw 9-$180 at Tex, and the Red Sox throw 6-$150 and he takes it, where is Tex wrong?