Smarts is the name of the game by Mike Ghika
Common sense still says Sox are the favorites for Teixeira


Did Theo and company travel to Arizona on Thanksgiving 2003 only to fail to convince Curt Schilling to come to town? Did they panic while ‘Red Sox Nation’ shivered and shook when Scott Boras held out until the final hour with the Daisuke Matzuaka deal back in December 2006? Note: The Sox won titles in each of the following seasons.

There is really only one way to describe the management of the Sox front office: Smarts. Ever since they closed Larry Lucchino’s mouth (seriously, when has he gotten in the news since Gorillagate?), Theo refuses to comment on any free agent discussions at any point of the winter until a deal is done. Why? No, it’s not to upset reporters; it is because it’s the smart thing to do. It utters a personal defiance of Epstein’s character – something that the Steinbrenner family should maybe take a look at.

And so you have it. The Red Sox announced that they were out of the bidding and would not be a factor in the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes. Nonetheless, they announced this at the same time as they announced at Logan Airport that Jet Blue had just signed on as the official airline of the ball club. The execs even joked about loving the televisions on the flight. Now in all honesty, would you be joking about a commercial flight if you had just lost out on the free agent prize you covet oh so much?

The word again, is smarts. Principal owner John W. Henry used the words nobody wanted to hear – that the Red Sox were not the favorites to land Teixeira. Apparently, the hometown Washington Nationals (102 losses) or Baltimore Orioles (93 losses) have the better shot. Maybe even the Angels still stand a chance, although it’s been stated Teixeira is no longer interested in playing on the west coast.

But Henry didn’t become a multi-millionaire by accepting inheritance, people. His parents were farmers in the great state of Arkansas. Henry became an $800+ million entity by buying and selling corn and soybean stock on the open market. When he developed his own investment strategy that was successful in the market trend, he never looked back. Again – the word is smarts.

Now are the Red Sox really out the running for Teixeira? The Sox have offered 8 years, $165-170 million. Meanwhile, the Halos and Nats have offered 8 years, $160 million, while the O’s have offered an apparent hometown discount contract of 7 years, $150 million. Judging by the numbers, by no means are the Sox out of the sweepstakes. In fact, they still seem to be at the forefront, especially if they increase their offer to $180+ million.

Now, when we think of Boras, do we necessarily connect the superagent with the word smarts? Or do we rather associate SB with neurotic and irrational contract demands? Does he really want $190-200 million in today’s economy for Tex? Who does he honestly think he is? He wanted to pressure Dice-K into staying in Japan rather than sign with Boston because he felt the posting free shouldn’t be tied together with the actual contract. A-Rod dropped him as his agent and went on by himself to hook up with the Yankees for another 10 years and $275 million. Seems to me that Boras, a man who was once a feared enemy, has become a predictable fool that other savvy businessmen are no longer afraid of.

And so you have it – the Sox are out of the Teixeira sweepstakes, despite having offered the most money and even despite presenting the best long-term situation for the switch-hitting cornerstone. To boot, the Nats and Orioles are now the favorites, even though not even a player of Texeira’s caliber can pull either team from the depths of mediocrity and into the realms of serious contention.

What we have in the wake of Henry’s comments is a standoff between two powerhouses: Boras and the Sox front office. And in the end (Christmas Eve Day, anyone?), Boras will be ordered by Teixeira to stand down and take the Sox’ offer.


Published on December 19, 2008

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