Yanks do it again.....boo

[ballpeen]

Sources: Teixeira takes Yanks' 8-year deal

ESPN.com news services

 

The New York Yankees swooped in Tuesday and nabbed prized free agent Mark Teixeira, reaching agreement with the first baseman on an eight-year contract worth $180 million, two sources involved in the negotiations tell ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

 

Buster Olney discusses the latest details on the Yankees' $180 million free-agent deal with first baseman Mark Teixeira. Listen

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The Yankees had made an offer to Teixeira weeks ago, but then withdrew it. Their intention all along was to make a deal if it fell within parameters acceptable to the organization. They made their formal offer Tuesday.

 

The contract will pay Teixeira an average of $22.5 million per season.

 

The Yankees had $88.5 million coming off the books that, even with the Teixeira contract, they expect their payroll to fall below $200 million. New York has committed $423.5 million in salary in the last month, with $161 million going to left-handed pitcher CC Sabathia ($23 million over seven years) and $82.5 million on right-hander A.J. Burnett ($185 million over five).

 

 

Likely Yankee lineup

 

What the Yankees' lineup could look like when they open the season on April 6 in Baltimore:

 

.LF Johnny Damon

SS Derek Jeter

1B Mark Teixeira

3B Alex Rodriguez

DH Hideki Matsui

RF Xavier Nady

C Jorge Posada

2B Robinson Cano

CF Melky Cabrera

Bench? -- Nick Swisher

 

Agreeing to a deal with Teixeira virtually eliminates any chance that free-agent outfielder Manny Ramirez has a landing place with the Yankees. New York does have money left to add another starting pitcher, most likely veteran left-hander Andy Pettitte at $10 million if he agrees to terms soon.

 

Teixeira's salary gives the Yankees, who are preparing to move into their pricey new ballpark in 2009, the four highest-paid players in Major League Baseball, including third baseman Alex Rodriguez, shortstop Derek Jeter and Sabathia.

 

The Yankees landed the 28-year-old Teixeira at a time it was believed the Boston Red Sox or the Washington Nationals were the likeliest to be his future employer. The Red Sox's offer was believed to be in the range of $170 million, and the Nationals reached out with an offer perhaps greater than that of Boston.

 

Teixeira finished last season with the Los Angeles Angels following a trade from Atlanta. The Angels withdrew from negotiations on Sunday night, in a very public manner, and say they were moving on to other players.

 

Because Teixeira grew up in the Baltimore area, the Orioles had long been viewed as a possible landing spot for him. But since the O's made a seven-year, $140 million offer, they did not revise it -- nor have they had active negotiations with his agent, Scott Boras, according to sources.

 

Teixeira's negotiations with the Red Sox appeared to stall last week in the failed meeting between the team executives and the player. The Nationals reportedly made an offer of eight years and $160 million.

 

The first baseman, who batted .308 with 33 home runs, 121 RBIs and a .552 slugging percentage for the Angels and Braves last season, had made it clear that he wanted to make a decision on where to play next season and beyond by Christmas.

 

Buster Olney is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.

 

[Beanpot]

It's really kind of laughable, isn't it?

 

They're paying a very good player as if he were a regular MVP candidate and they can freaking absorb that sort of outlay like a giant sponge.

 

If I'm reading this right, the team that is *really* screwed by this signing is Toronto. They lose a type A in Burnett and will receive a third round pick in return thanks to CC and Tex being higher ranked type A free agents. That's gotta smart.

 

Beanpot

[CIMO.]

It's a great offseason for the Yanks looking at 2009, but how funny will it be when (not looking at contracts, just hypothetical) in the next couple years the Red Sox sign Josh Hamilton, Tim Lincecum, and Prince Fielder?

 

Obviously, it won't be funny at all, that's the Red Sox...but it's just ridiculous giving the kind of money they did to these guys, even CC. Is Burnett even an all-star? Teixeira is nice, especially since he fills another hole on the Yanks, but really....8 years and $170M? Albert Pujols is on a 7 year/$100M deal. Justin Morneau is 6 years/$80M.

 

Here's to them becoming this year's Tigers.

[Beanpot]

Here's to them becoming this year's Tigers.

 

From your mouth to God's ears. Hey, if you predict it to be so, I'm never again doubting you.

 

Here's a bit of what Keith Law wrote about FA compensation:

 

Brewers general manager Doug Melvin is absolutely right with his comments to ESPN's Buster Olney -- the system of awarding draft picks for the loss of free agents is broken.

 

Melvin's argument, that the Elias formula is inaccurate (it is) and out of date (ditto), is dead on, as the relative rankings of players often defy both common sense and even a superficial bit of sabermetric analysis. But rather than revising the system by monkeying with the Elias formula, why not go one better and scrap the system entirely?

 

Owners argue that the idea behind taking a draft pick from the team that signs a top free agent and giving it to the team that lost the free agent is just a matter of compensating the latter team, with the presumption that large-market clubs will typically be in the former category while small-market clubs will typically be in the latter.

 

Not only has this not been the case -- the Red Sox's outstanding 2005 draft was built on compensatory picks -- it's another example of owners taking advantage of the economic ignorance of fans and writers who are yelling and screaming for a salary cap right now. (Salary caps in sports are just wealth transfers from players to owners.)

 

The real intent of compensatory picks was to try to place a drag on free-agent salaries: A team should be willing to pay less for a free agent if part of the price of signing him is a lost draft pick.

 

In some cases this year, those attached draft picks aren't just dragging down salaries but are limiting markets entirely. Signing Jason Varitek will cost a team its highest unprotected draft pick; the same goes for Juan Cruz and Orlando Cabrera. All three of these players -- and perhaps others -- are facing reduced interest from clubs because they are not deemed worthy of the loss of a pick. Unless you're the Yankees, where you might only be giving up a fourth-round pick for signing a player because you've signed higher-rated free agents already, you don't want to surrender a first- or second-round pick to sign a catcher with a bat that's below replacement level.

 

Eliminating draft-pick compensation would also boost the trade market. Right now, a team with a top player headed for free agency may look to trade him a year or half a year before it loses him, but it can always retain him and hope to obtain one or two draft picks when he leaves. Without that alternative, a team that's out of the playoff race in July would have every incentive to trade its potential free agents, because holding on to them until season's end would mean receiving no value at all when they depart.

 

More trades means more fan interest and more media coverage, and that's good for baseball, while also being good for people who make a living writing and talking about trades.

 

The draft-pick anachronism will probably be eliminated from free agency only if the owners -- who have no reason to want the picks eliminated -- can convince the union to agree to a hard slotting system in the Rule 4 Draft, something the union, at the behest of player agents, has been unwilling to grant in past negotiations.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?...;name=law_keith

 

Beanpot