Report: Sox Make Offer To Teixeira by Jared Carrabis
Boston reportedly makes "historic" offer to Teixeira


Since the Winter Meetings came to a close in Las Vegas last week, the Hot Stove has been rather cold. However, the ice began to thaw out on Tuesday when Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald reported that the Red Sox have in fact made an offer to free agent, Mark Teixeira. The Herald goes on to say that the amount offered to Teixeira could cost the Sox a “historic” amount of money. What are we basing this historic salary off of? If Teixeira’s contract has what it takes to make Red Sox contractual history, it will have to exceed the contract given to Manny Ramirez in 2000 in which the outfielder was rewarded with an 8-year, $160 million deal.

As we all heard this past summer over and over again, Ramirez had $20 million options for 2009 and 2010 bringing the contract’s total value to a whopping 10-years, $200 million. Will Mark Teixeira see these kinds of dollar signs from the Red Sox? We likely won’t not the exact terms unless Teixeira accepts the offer due to the Red Sox strict team policy of not commenting on their status with any free agents, for obvious reasons.

With offers on the table from the Nationals (8-years, $160 million), the Orioles (7-years, $140-$150 million) and now the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim having offered 8-years and at least $160 million, the Red Sox will look to step it up if they are to acquire the services of Mark Teixeira.

According to a transcript on WEEI.com of comments made by ESPN’s Karl Ravech, “a decision is getting closer and closer to being made.” As I reported last week during the Winter Meetings, ESPN’s Peter Gammons said to expect Teixeira to have made his decision by this week as well. With now five teams in the hunt for the prize free agent, Ravech expects Teixeira to rake in somewhere in the $22-28 million range.

Teixeira has expressed that he wants to know where his future baseball home will be by Christmas. Although St. Nick doesn’t come for another nine days, expect a decision on Teixeira’s future to be made within the next few days due to offers from four out of the five key players in the Teixeira sweepstakes having made offers (minus the Yankees). With the Red Sox being the favorites to sign Teixeira and now that an offer has reportedly been made, it’s only a matter of time before we know what jersey Mark Teixeira will be wearing on Opening Day.

Published on December 16, 2008

---