Interesting Take by Schmuck on Teixiera

[Hank Scorpio]

This bit of information added to a MacPhail quote after Tex signed with the Yankees about "the player ending up where he wanted to go" (I cant seem to find the link to the quote) seems to somewhat corroborate each other. That quote always led me to believe that AM knew that Tex wanted to sign with the Yankees during the negotiations.

Still it seems odd that what Schmuck is reporting here (which is very different than Boras simply didn't get back to AM) is pretty enlightening. If true this does somewhat poke holes into some posters notions as to what went on in those negotiations.

Eh, I would venture that we'll learn that not all that is written is accepted as face value. Only when it supports specific perspectives.

[TiredofLosing20]

Kind of playing devil's advocate here, but this should be seen as Boras doing the O's a favor. "Tex isn't going to Baltimore, so don't bother going any further." Seems like that would create some good will between the O's and Boras, b/c Boras was honest with them and didn't play them to drive up the price.

Well, right and maybe Tex didn't want to string along his hometown team.

[SilentJames]

Can we just sticky this thread, or atleast the first post and just link back to it any time someone brings it up?

[TGO]

Well, right and maybe Tex didn't want to string along his hometown team.

Well, if that was the case, they should have told us not to make an offer at all. If MacPhail came out and said "we spoke to the player and agent and they did not want to sign here," that would have made some fans upset but they would have gotten over it. But the way it turned out has led to 2 years of kvetching.

[sangar]

Kind of playing devil's advocate here, but this should be seen as Boras doing the O's a favor. "Tex isn't going to Baltimore, so don't bother going any further." Seems like that would create some good will between the O's and Boras, b/c Boras was honest with them and didn't play them to drive up the price.

This is my thought. After years of not doing business with Boras a relationship has started. If Boras knew for a fact Tex would not come here passing that info along would continue building a working foundation.

Seems plausible.

[Arthur_Bryant]

This makes no sense; you would think that Boras would want to Orioles to increase their offer, if only to drive up his client's price.

No, and this is actually pretty simple.

If his client has definitely told him that "I am not accepting an offer from X," then an agent can't ethically accept further offers from X. Soliciting and accepting contract offers implies a willingness to accept an offer if the terms are favorable. You can't solicit or accept an offer to buy something that isn't actually for sale.

Imagine an art auction where the seller has privately informed the auctioneer that he won't sell his Picasso to certain bidders regardless of how high the price goes. Now imagine that one of the blackballed bidders really wants the painting, and drives the price up so high that everyone else drops out.

Whoops.

That is basically the situation here. Tex was the seller, Tex's services were the Picasso, and Boras was the auctioneer. And if Tex wasn't actually for sale to the O's, regardless of price, then Boras would have been risking too much by continuing to pretend otherwise.

[Arthur_Bryant]

Well, if that was the case, they should have told us not to make an offer at all. If MacPhail came out and said "we spoke to the player and agent and they did not want to sign here," that would have made some fans upset but they would have gotten over it. But the way it turned out has led to 2 years of kvetching.

It's very possible that Tex only informed Boras of this after the process had started. But once an agent knows for sure that a player won't accept an offer from a certain team, he can't entertain offers from that team any longer, except with the understanding that "I can't guarantee he will change his mind, no matter how high you go--but you can try if you want."

[Bradysburns]

Bingo...hard to believe Boras would tell a team to stop bidding on his client..especially since Boras may need the Orioles later on for another player.

Yes, and Boras's relationship with the Orioles has, by all accounts, been growing more and more positive. He's already made a lot of money off this team in recent years. Him stiff-arming AM doesn't seem consistent with that, but I guess you never know.

[TiredofLosing20]

Well, if that was the case, they should have told us not to make an offer at all. If MacPhail came out and said "we spoke to the player and agent and they did not want to sign here," that would have made some fans upset but they would have gotten over it. But the way it turned out has led to 2 years of kvetching.

Yeah its all speculation and stuff. Who really knows, I just found it interesting that Schmuck made a pretty definitive statement about what was said by Boras.

Of course people will believe or not believe Schmuck as it fits (or doesn't fit) into their agenda but I just hadn't heard the negotiations framed that way before.

[TiredofLosing20]

It's very possible that Tex only informed Boras of this after the process had started. But once an agent knows for sure that a player won't accept an offer from a certain team, he can't accept offers from that team any longer, except with the understanding that "I can't guarantee he will change his mind, no matter how high you go--but you can try if you want."

Exactly, once he received an offer from the Red Sox and/or the Yankees meaning Tex knew he would be playing for one of these teams he could at that point tell the O's he has no interest. No sense in saying that until he actually has some offers in hand.

[Birds08]

Bottom line, if Tex had any interest in coming here, he would've asked us to match the offer he received from the Yankees. The fact that some of you believe that if we had simply blown the Yankees out of the water from the getgo he would've signed with us is crazy in my opinion.

[Sanfran327]

Bottom line, if Tex had any interest in coming here, he would've asked us to match the offer he received from the Yankees. The fact that some of you believe that if we had simply blown the Yankees out of the water from the getgo he would've signed with us is crazy in my opinion.

Agree. I won't say there was 0% chance of him coming here, but that's basically because NOBODY would walk away from say... $300M.

Of course, neither the O's or any other team were going to offer him that amount of money, but we were not going to sign him for any realistic deal.

[Arthur_Bryant]

Bingo...hard to believe Boras would tell a team to stop bidding on his client..especially since Boras may need the Orioles later on for another player.

If Boras or an agent knows that his client doesn't want to play for a certain team, then he has to inform the team of that reality. This is fundamental. I know that Boras is supposed to be slick and avaricious--and he probably is--but he can't take the risk of selling something that is not for sale.

[JTrea81]

We may have not been #1 on the list, but I have no doubt we were on the list.

Schmuck is just paraphrasing (poorly) how it was reported that the negotiations went down.

MacPhail backed away when he should have been persistant if he really wanted the player. The fact that he said that it "was too much to pay for one player" and later when he said they had no intent of going as high as the Yankees did to get him is enough to show the Orioles had no interest in Teixeira at the price it was going to take and weren't going to make an extra effort to land him. Only if he was wililng to take a discount, MacPhail would have signed him.

MacPhail wants premium talent to want to come to the Orioles, but he's going to have to recruit them, and he has shown no history of success in doing that. Showalter does however know how to recruit talent so hopefully we'll see a change in the passiveness of the Orioles offseason that has existed since AM has been in charge.

I bet if Showalter had been here in the 2008-2009 offseason, Tex would be an Oriole.

[JTrea81]

Bottom line, if Tex had any interest in coming here, he would've asked us to match the offer he received from the Yankees. The fact that some of you believe that if we had simply blown the Yankees out of the water from the getgo he would've signed with us is crazy in my opinion.

We would have been taken more seriously IMO. 8/184 off the bat would have made us a real attractive spot. Would the Yankees have matched it or beat it? Possibly, but then you could truly say the Orioles made their best effort.