Of course.

Olney’s report that we never upped our offer doesn’t jibe with the report the other day that all 4 remaining teams had upped their offers to 8 years.

I get the distinct impression that nobody knows what the hell is going on.

That way we wouldn’t have to see him and if he manages to make more people watch Nats games, all the better for MASN.

7 years at $150M seems to be more than competitive comparedc to 8 years at $160M. I really don’t see Olney’s point here.

The only chance the Orioles can be considered a serious player for Teixeira now, sources say, would be if the Maryland native were to take Baltimore’s offer.

Now that’s informative.

that the Orioles actually thought they had a chance at Tex, or that other teams actually want D-cabs?

…would be a real kick in the pants as it would mean things like being on a good team don’t matter. Which if true should make him sign with the Orioles. I can at least understand why he’d sign with the Red Sox, Yankees or Angels…

can’t vote twice, but the gnats and janks would be my votes

That bastion of journalistic integrity, MVN.com (most valuable network) now has a post up saying, Yankees Have Officially Passed on Teixeira". Of course, MVN is just a blog, but that doesn’t keep it from showing up in Google news searches.

The source for this blockbusting news is the SAME OLNEY ARTICLE referenced above.

So in essence,

1. Olney says the Yankees “are not seriously engaged in the Teixeira talks at this point.”.

2. Mad blogger Brian Lestz says, “OMG UPDATE! The Yankees have officially passed on Teixeira d00dz!”, giving new meaning to words “officially” and “passed”.

I know, I know, just wait until the dust settles. But it’s really getting hard to separate the wheat from the chaff out there.

I feel bad for the people at Orioles Hangout who actually buy into the rumors even though the “insiders” are wrong on so many issues. I’m sure they’re just trying to pass on honest information, but the site is very unreliable.

In my opinion, Teixiera is going to go to Boston. 7/150 from the O’s is comical; MacPhail clearly did not want to load up on such a large contract. Good for Andy.

The only chance BPinOK can be considered a serious player for the 3B position for the Orioles would be if the Orioles offered him a contract.

putting all this other talk to rest. There’s still stuff goin’ on, obviously.

From The Sun:

Although the Orioles have not upped their initial offer to free-agent first baseman and Maryland native Mark Teixeira, the possibility remains that they will, according to the club’s top official.

“We have indicated before that we have flexibility,” Orioles president Andy MacPhail said today. “I don’t think anyone expects [Teixeira’s agent Scott Boras] to lean over and accept the first proposal.”

…this poor excuse for an article kind of makes me think that Teixeira really, actually, truly does want to play here. Reason being, the only possible point of publishing something like this is to get the O’s to up their offer. Otherwise why make such a stink?

I would imagine there’s some quid pro quo going on with Boras and Olney and this article is serving Boras’ purposes, which is to milk more money out of us.

Assuming that our offer is 7/145…we don’t know how many years are guaranteed, but the entry point is about $15M for the first season and escalating at 10% to $27M for the 7th. Then you’re looking at $30M for an 8th season, which gets you to 8/175, which is supposedly what PHN offered. $30M for the 9th season gives you 9/200.

So what if our 7/145 had these last 2 years tacked on as club options, plus give Tex an opt out after 3 years? If we still sucked then, he’d take his $50M, hit the market at 32, and go make ridiculous money somewhere else.

I certainly wouldn’t guarantee that kind of money to anyone in their mid-late 30s. I don’t think anyone else not named Steinbrenner would either. [cue past examples]

is that the o’s are looking at ole baseknock bako. on that note, i humbly refer you to a brilliant piece of sports journalism:

http://www.royalsreview.com/story/2007/4/12/0309/48001

http://masnsports.com/2008/12/todays-macphail-comments-on-te.html

Andy on Tex with Melewski

that yesterday ESPN was saying Tex’s decision is close…and yet no one has any clue about where he’s going to go. There’s been a remarkable dearth of real info leaking from anyone, and so media outlets like ESPN make sure to have every possible angle covered—that way they can say “we told you so” after the fact.

It’d be the best place for him to end up besides here, but I worry about the Angels. For some reason, I see them as more likely than the Sox to offer crazy money—for one thing, they need him more—and while it’s not the East Coast, southern Cal isn’t exactly a bad place to live. They’re lying in the weeds right now, but no one saw them coming for Vlad and Torii Hunter either.

I see. One step at a time. First take out us, then look at the other divisions. I’m not a troll, mind you, just surprised.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d be thrilled if he did, but does anybody really expect he will? If so, why? No one really buys that hometown discount thing, right?

Let’s see your Mark Teixeira and you’re being offered a boatload of money by the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels. You’re being offered what will probably turn out to be considerably less money by a team that will not make the playoffs that happens to play in the area of where you grew up where free agents’ careers go to die.

I don’t see it happening. Adam Dunn would be possible because no one realizes what a great player he is, but I haven’t heard that the Orioles have any interest in him.

Oriole fans who think that Teixeira are going to sign with them (unless they significantly up the amount their willing to spend) are kind of like a really fat, unattractive girl who thinks the most popular boy in school is going to somehow ask her to the prom.