The Teixeira Watch: Part IV

[Enjoy Terror]

I look at it like this.

Yesterday, ESPN said Tex and Angelos had all but slashed their fingers with rusty soda tabs and pressed them together. The Angels we're shifting focus to Manny and did want to increase their offer.

Today, ESPN says the Orioles are not even a factor because all of the other teams raised their offer, making the Angels still in serious contention?

I'm assuming that if a deal isn't done today, that tomorrow it's the Nationals turn to be in the lead, and then the Red Sox get a turn, and then maybe the Orioles again. After all, every day that ESPN reports a new team in the lead, isn't that a ratings/hit counter boost?

It goes without saying that ESPN is most definitely a biased reporting network and makes it's money off of spinning topics to however it benefits their bottom line. The best part about it with them, they can lie straight to your face and later recant and just call it misinformation. If any other product or service tried that BS, they'd have a false advertising lawsuit. There needs to be another major sports news media outlet to keep ESPN in check, because I don't think anyone would watch ESPN if there were options available.

[Jdan14]

I fully expected to wake up to different breaking news.

Wouldn't there be a quote from McPhail saying we are out of it if we were out of it? And wouldn't Tex be a Red Sox already? Socia all but said the Angels were out of it by saying they will pursue Manny. I would be extremely surprised if Tex chose the Nats as a hometown discount over the Red Sox.

We really never updated our offer from 7/140? That is not a wow offer. I do not see how McPhail can say leaving the winter meetings having not made progress with Tex is a normal way of thinking when your offer is substantially less then everyone else's. Plus, the report last night on ESPN was "These negotiations are interesting because once one team ups their offer the other 5 up theirs as well" So all along the Orioles havn't followed along by upping their offer?

[Redsoxfaninnh]

My advice? Believe nothing you read or hear. I've heard read over the past 24 hours the following reports:

• All 4 teams (Sox, Orioles, Nats, Angels) had upped their original offer
  
• The Red Sox had not submitted their offer until the past day or so
  
• The Yankees are serious players for Teixeira
  
• The Yankees are not optimistic about getting Teixeira
  
• The Orioles have the inside track
  
• The Orioles are out because they did not improve on original offer.
  
• The Orioles have agreed to a deal with Teixeira
  
• The Red Sox are feeling confident they will sign Teixeira
  
• The Red Sox will not offer a ten year contract
  
• The Angels have conceded that they are not going to land Teixeira.
  

Depending on the timing of when each bit of information was gathered, it's possible most, if not all were accurate at the time. It's also possible none were accurate and that most were planted by one of the interested parties to have a certain effect on the other parties.

Look, this is insane, but I lived through the "A-Rod," to the Red Sox melodrama in 2003/04. Talk about a story consuming a bunch of otherwise sane human beings! There were ESPN Reports that the deal was done...then off..then back on..and then done again...and then, well, not so much.

This will all be resolved soon I believe and it can go any of 4-5 directions. There are no credible media reports suggesting that any team is about to sign Teixeira and I can't remember a time when a major signing involving an historical contract did not get leaked to ESPN, FoxSports, SI.com or XM.

Once that starts to happen, we will have a better sense of the outcome of this.

I will remind all of you that THIS is another reminder as to why we LOVE baseball! NO OTHER sport has a hot stove season that compares to this...win or lose it is both gut wrenching and exciting...is it not??

[Insomniac]

If I was a smarter man with a sociology and psychology degree, studying the mood swings on this board would be an amazing exercise. Look, I don't know where Tex will sign, and neither does Belkast, Bigbird, Olney, Gammons, or anyone else. We all want to believe our insiders, who we know to be honorable and sincere men who pass on to us what they are told. As has been pointed out a hundred times in the last few weeks, their information is only as good as their sources.

We all should keep in mind that the same is true about the national media. They also are only as good as their sources. Olney says we haven't raised our bid and are out, because that is what a source told him. That sources, from my reading of the article, is not in the Os front office (and we know that there is very little chance that AM would tell him either way even if he asked).

Why jump off the ledge just because someone with another team doesn't think (or was told by Boras for some unknown but crafty reason) that the Os have ever officially raised their initial offer? The fact that this guy said it, and that Olney reported it, doesn't make it true (although, of course, it might be).

To preserve our sanity, lets just let the day play out without going through the mood swings. Just keep in mind that an optimist is often disappointed, while a pessimist can only be pleasantly surprised.

[sjoslyn]

Man, you guys seriously take all this information to heart to quickly. How about just letting it ride out until there is confirmation one way or the other. You have to take the national media with a grain of salt because until the official press conference, their words are just as good as what is printed in the National Enquirer.

[UMDTerrapins]

The more I think about it the better I feel. More patience needed. AM is just playing the game. We're in great hands. Feeling very good about this.

[andyman8986]

Good point from Examiner:

"...it looks like the World Wide Leader is simply covering all of the bases. When Teixeira finally signs, ESPN will have gotten the story right, and they'll be sure to remind you that they did."

[Frobby]

My advice? Believe nothing you read or hear. I've heard read over the past 24 hours the following reports:

• All 4 teams (Sox, Orioles, Nats, Angels) had upped their original offer
• The Red Sox had not submitted their offer until the past day or so
• The Yankees are serious players for Teixeira
• The Yankees are not optimistic about getting Teixeira
• The Orioles have the inside track
• The Orioles are out because they did not improve on original offer.
• The Orioles have agreed to a deal with Teixeira
• The Red Sox are feeling confident they will sign Teixeira
• The Red Sox will not offer a ten year contract
• The Angels have conceded that they are not going to land Teixeira.

Awesome summary. I just hope this doesn't drag out all the way to Xmas. The discrepancies in the reports are mind-boggling.

[Big O]

Here's my take on the Roch thing. We know he checks OH, so he saw the rumor from 7117 and called the warehouse to see what he could find out. He got a denial which is not surprising to anyone on here. He also said he trusts Olney over the insiders on OH. Again, not surprising as he worked with Olney at the end of Olney's Baltimore Sun tenure. Roch is a journalist and has to have confirmation to run with things. My guess is he is like the majority of us on here. He wants to believe but doesn't want his heart broken. He will believe when he sees

.

Additionally, Belkast last said we would be hearing something from the national media this morning. We heard we are out of it. Could Belkast been privy to this "smokescreen" we are hypothesizing?

I don't know what to think. I want this to happen but I am prepared to be crushed. I have a feeling I will cry either way.

I can only believe that Belkast was predicting a postive O's turn in this amazing journey.

Now I'm not saying that I believe we are out or that we've signed him.

I just think that is what he meant.

[Bird Lover]

What about the idea that yesterday's reports that the Orioles were close to a deal were leaked by Boras to get the Red Sox and Gnats to up their offers, both teams tried to get back into negotiations, Boras told the Orioles about this, and today's reports that the Orioles are done has been floated by the Warehouse to get the Red Sox and Gnats to stop upping their offers?

Sounds like good poker playing to me...

Or possibly the O's increased their offer to match the other clubs and expected this would seal the deal and it didn't, at which point the O's decided they were being used in a bidding war and decided to drop out .

[Sports Guy]

This guy says Olney's report is shady:

http://www.examiner.com/x-436-Baltimore-Orioles-Examiner~y2008m12d17-ESPN-now-reporting-Os-are-nearly-out-of-Teixeira-bidding

There is a lot of truth to what is being said here.

[clapdiddy]

The more I think about it the better I feel. More patience needed. AM is just playing the game. We're in great hands. Feeling very good about this.

I'm just the opposite. To me, the longer this plays out, the lesser our chances of signing him.

[waroriole]

Sorry if this is repeat (don't have time to read through all of the posts right now), but I wanted to share -

Buster Olney of ESPN reports that the Orioles are unlikely to sign Mark Teixeira after failing to improve their initial offer.

According to Olney, the Red Sox, Nationals and Angels have all made proposals to Teixeira that top the Orioles' offer. Boston has indicated that going beyond eight years for Teixeira is not an option, which could give the Angels or Nationals the upper hand.

If true, it's a bit dissapointing we didn't up the ante.

Isn't it possible that Olney's report that all 3 of the other offers are higher is a ploy by Boras to get us to raise our offer. He says we're out of it b/c we have the lowest offer, and probably has someone in the Warehouse saying we're not going to up our offer. Just as the report yesterday could have been a ploy, this report could be a ploy too. Please, everyone relax. Nobody knows what's going to happen, just calm down.

[jadkins08]

I just hope we don't have to hear, "We gave it our best shot" IF they do not get him. I got so tired of hearing "We really battled" at the press conferences after the games this year. If you lose, you lose no matter how hard you battled or if you gave it your best shot. Second place is just the first loser. Honestly, I think the team would have been better off not going after him at all than letting every other team beat their offer. With that being said, I still am praying that Tex comes home for the holidays. I think we are fooling ourselves though if we think he is going to play in Baltimore for $20+ less million than another city.

[lovetoaster]

Get used to it people, it's as close as we'll ever get:

There is no conceivable I could give as much rep as that deserves.