Good time to be the top free agent on the market. While the economy is folding in on itself, Mark Teixeira won't have any financial worries once he signs what is a soon-to-be ridiculously big contract.Teixeira is close to making a decision on which team he'll play for in '09 -- Orioles? Red Sox? Angels? -- and it'll put an end to the suspense of where he'll end up.
But we're awfully skeptical of the money he's gonna get. It appears that the powerful first baseman is going to land an eight-year deal, somewhere in the neighborhood of $22-28 million a year. The going rate for a solid free agent?
Teixeira hit .308 with 33 HRs and 121 RBI last season combined with the Braves and Angels, and he's a career .290 hitter, has hit 25+ homers in all of his six seasons and doesn't have a history of injuries.
Yet that kind of money seems like an awful lot for a guy who's never won a playoff series. Granted he had four full seasons with the dreadful Rangers, but what do the Orioles expect if he signs? A 20-game turnaround? A wild card spot? The ability to compete in the loaded AL East?
Teixeira's not a diva either; that's a good thing, but he won't put fans in the seats the same way Manny will. And Teixeira turns 29 in April -- eight year seems lengthy, yes?
He's a helluva player -- one that most teams would love to have -- but for that kind of money, you'd think he'd have the cure for cancer.
I'm one of the few in the camp of him not being as good as everyone says he is. He's never won anything and his numbers aren't even close to Manny or A-Rod's.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about Teix is that he is one of the few players who might actually be worth something close to what he'll get paid.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a stat head so I can't defend what I'm saying very well, but what the stat heads say is that this guy is the real deal. He is worth something like 10 wins or more because he is so consistently good with the bat (both power and on base) and he plays great defense. So many big hitters out there (Manny, Dunn, etc) get you a lot of runs on offense, but give back most of them on defense.
While 28 mil a year is still ludicrous and he won't be worth it, I don't buy the argument about him not winning a playoff series. It's not his fault the players around him weren't good enough.
I mean, he was on the Rangers for god's sake.