Mark Teixeira Rumors

Jason Churchill of espn.com has a TON of draft signing news to share

• While half of the 2008 first round signed before August 1st, only twelve have signed so far in 2009. For an update on the status of first round draft picks, click here.
• Major league baseball lowered their slot recommendations for 2009, but many players who are deemed "slot picks" (i.e., taken higher than they should have been simply so they'll sign for less) still are not signing because they're looking for 2008 money. Nick Franklin (#27 to Seattle) and LeVon Washington (#30 to Tampa Bay) are two candidates for this.
• Scott Boras, head of team-Stephen Strasburg, is still talking about a $50M contract for his client. That's still unlikely.
• Dustin Ackley, is looking for Mark Teixeira-money - a $9.5M signing bonus. The Mariners figure to offer him somewhere in between that and the industry standard of $6M.
• Donovan Tate has a slightly earlier deadline of August 15th, the day that UNC football players have to report to school. While everyone expects Tate to sign, he has expressed an interest in going back to UNC to play football.
• While most players have the leverage in negotiations, Aaron Crow does not because he's already held out once. He's currently asking for $3M, but the Royals are balking. Crow's only option is to hold out, go back to the Independent League and do the process all over again for another year. Seems unlikely, Crow went lower in the 2009 draft than 2008.
• The Yankees and Slade Heathcott are still not close.
• While he hasn't signed yet, Chad Jenkins figures to sign with Toronto eventually.
• The As and Max Stassi are "cautiously optimistic" about getting a deal done. Stassi was a 4th round draft pick.
• The Twins want to see Kyle Gibson throw before signing him to a contract. Gibson suffered a stress fracture in this throwing arm before the draft.
• While high schoolers Shelby Miller (#19 St. Louis) and Zach Wheeler (#6 San Francisco) are ultimately expected to sign, Jacob Turner (#9 Detroit), Tyler Matzek (#11 Colorado) and Matt Purke (#14 Texas) are far less certain. Matzek has been heavily rumored to be headed to Oregon for three years of college baseball.

So far we've seen comparisons of the 1994 and 1995 drafts and the 1996 draft and the 1997 draft. Today, let's take a look at the 1998 draft vs. the 1999 draft.

1998 Draft

No 1 Pick: Pat Burrell hit 251 HRs over eleven healthy season for the Phillies. Very respectable.

Best Pick, 1st Round: CC Sabathia, #20 Cleveland Indians

Value Pick, Any Round: Matt Holliday, seventh round, #210 overall Colorado Rockies.

Notable Pick: Mark Teixeira was a ninth round pick by the Red Sox in 1998, but went to college and instead was selected #5 overall in 2001.

Best Team: In addition to Burrell, the Phillies drafted Jason Michaels and Ryan Madson. The As got Mark Mulder, Gerald Laird and Eric Byrnes. Houston snagged Brad Lidge and Morgan Ensberg while the Reds drafted BJ Ryan, Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns. Based on production alone, I think the As win.

Worst Pick, First Round: Ryan Mills, #6 Minnesota Twins. Mills was the only player in the Top 10 of this draft to fail to make the major leagues.

1999 Draft

No 1 Pick: Josh Hamilton has turned things around in Texas, but was a disaster for the club that actually drafted him, Tampa Bay.

Best Pick, 1st Round: Brian Roberts, #50 Orioles. Interesting that the best pick of the first round occurred with the 50th pick.

Value Pick, Any Round: Albert Pujols, 13th round, #402 overall, St. Louis Cardinals. This is arguably the best draft pick of all time considering the Hall of Fame numbers Pujols has put up so far. Jason Churchill puts it best: "Is there any chance that the 401 players ahead of him carry as much value into any given day of games -- combined?"

Notable Pick(s): Carl Crawford, second round, #52 overall, Tampa Bay

Best Team: The Rays had a phenomenal draft...by the simple standard of major league players: Hamilton, Crawford, Mike Fontenot and Seth McClung, though Hamilton and Fontenot didn't make the majors with the Rays. The Rangers also had an impressive draft with Aaron Harang, Hank Blalock, Kevin Mench and Noah Lowry, but, similarly, many of these players are no longer with the club.

Worst Pick, First Round: Josh Girdley, #6 Montreal Expos. Girdley never got beyond AA ball.

Jon Heyman of si.com has a new post up

• Heyman opines that the Padres could get more for Adrian Gonzalez right now than the Rangers did for Mark Teixeira did two years ago. That's quite a claim, but perhaps all in vain: Padres general manager Kevin Towers when asked about trading A-Gone, "Not at this point in time." The impetus for such a suggestion is to continue to rebuild a club that has already been decimated by ownerships mandate to lower payroll.
• Towers is, however, continuing to look for a home for Jake Peavy. However, Towers is still looking for a suitor. The Cubs do not seem very interested. The Dodgers would love him, but the Padres do not want to trade within the division. The Brewers might not have the young arms the Padres are looking for or the willingness to take on the $60M owed to Peavy.
• Apparently the Angels offer to CC Sabathia last winter was $141M which makes the Yankees $161M offer more reasonable.

Peter Gammons of espn.com broke down the early trade market in his latest column.

• The Nationals will likely try to move Nick Johnson and Austin Kearns and are looking for bullpen help.
• Nick Johnson for Manny Delcarmen was floated between the Nats and Red Sox, but Boston wants to wait and watch David Ortiz's progression.
• Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee are not available according to Indians general manager Mark Shapiro, though he did field one inquiry about Martinez which he quickly declined.
• With Jhonny Peralta moving to third base, that opens up the possibility to trade Mark DeRosa Shapiro conceded.
• The Cardinals tried to entice the Red Sox with Khalil Greene, but Boston wasn't interested.
• The As and Padres face dilemmas when it comes to trading their superstars, Matt Holliday and Jake Peavy, respectively. Holliday is a rent-a-player and Peavy's huge contract makes him difficult to trade. But, more than anything, Gammons cites the differences in the Rangers trading Mark Teixeira with 1.5 years left vs. when the Braves traded him with just 3 months left. The haul brought in by the Rangers was significantly greater. If the As and Padres wait too long, they may not get much at all.

Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated reports that the Washington Nationals are expected to take San Diego State phenom Stephen Strasburg with the #1 overall pick of the upcoming 2009 MLB Draft.  Rumors abound that Strasburg's agent, Scott Boras, is expected to ask for a record $50M contract from whomever selects his client. The previous record was $10.5M for Mark Prior while Mark Teixeira signed for $9.5M.

Strasburg is widely considered the top player on the board and the disparity in talent between the flame throwing righty and the next best available players is large.  In fact, there does not seem to be a concensus #2 selection with North Carolina's Dustin Ackley and Alex White and University of Missouri's Kyle Gibson all possibilities to go to the Mariners. 

The Nationals also have the #10 pick in the draft, compensation for failure to sign their #1 pick last year, Aaron Crow.

Back in October, we posted the 2009 MLB Draft Order. Baseball America has since updated the draft order to include the free agent compensation changes.

1) Nationals (59-102)
2) Mariners (61-101)
3) Padres (63-99)
4) Pirates (67-95)
5) Orioles (68-93)
6) Giants (72-90)
7) Braves (72-90)
8) Reds (74-88)
9) Tigers (74-88)
10) Nationals (compensation for failure to sign 2008 first round selection, Aaron Crow)
11) Rockies (74-88)
12) Royals (75-87)
13) Athletics (75-86)
14) Rangers (79-83)
15) Indians (81-81)
16) Diamondbacks (82-80)
17) Diamondbacks (compensation from Dodgers for Orlando Hudson)
18) Marlins (84-77)
19) Cardinals (86-76)
20) Blue Jays (86-76)
21) Astros (86-75)
22) Twins (88-75)
23) White Sox (89-74)
24) Angels (compensation from Mets for Francisco Rodriguez)
25) Angels (compensation from Yankees for Mark Teixeira).
26) Brewers (90-72)
27) Mariners (compensation from Phillies for Raul Ibanez)
28) Red Sox (95-67)
29) Yankees (compensation for failure to sign 2008 first round selection, Gerrit Cole)
30) Rays (97-65)
31) Cubs (97-64)
32) Rockies (compensation from Angels for Brian Fuentes)

When teams finish with the same record, the tiebreaker (and higher pick) goes to the club with the worst record the previous year.

Supplemental First-Round Picks
33. Mariners (compensation for loss of Raul Ibanez)
34. Rockies (compensation for loss of Brian Fuentes)
35. Diamondbacks (compensation for loss of Orlando Hudson)
36. Dodgers (compensation for loss of Derek Lowe)
37. Blue Jays (compensation for loss of AJ Burnett)
38. White Sox (compensation for loss of Orlando Cabrera)
39. Brewers (compensation for loss of CC Sabathia)
40. Angels (compensation for loss of Mark Teixeira)
41. Diamondbacks (compensation for loss of Juan Cruz)
42. Angels (compensation for loss of Francisco Rodriguez)
43. Reds (compensation for loss of Jeremy Affeldt)
44. Rangers (compensation for loss of Milton Bradley)
45. Diamondbacks (compensation for loss of Brandon Lyon)
46. Twins (compensation for loss of Dennys Reyes)
47. Brewers (compensation for loss of Brian Shouse)
48. Angels (compensation for loss of Jon Garland)
49. Pirates (for failure to sign 2008 second-rounder Tanner Scheppers)

Second-Round Changes
56. Dodgers (compensation from Braves for Derek Lowe)
60. Diamondbacks (compensation from Royals for Juan Cruz)
61. White Sox (compensation from Athletics for Orlando Cabrera)
73. Brewers (compensation from Yankees for CC Sabathia)
76. Yankees (for failure to sign 2008 second-rounder Scott Bittle)

Third-Round Changes
104. Blue Jays (compensation from Yankees for AJ Burnett)

Supplemental Third-Round Picks
111. Astros (for failure to sign 2008 third-rounder Chase Davidson)

Ken Rosenthal has put together a huge column today. Let's take a look.

• Rosenthal predicts that John Lackey will be the biggest free agent pitcher for the 2010 class. Lackey's numbers are better than AJ Burnett who recently signed a five year $82.5M contract. The Angels do not seem likely to top that offer, however, and Rosenthal believes that Lackey could probably receive a very good offer on the open market.
• Scott Boras' ability to get a $60M, four year offer from the Braves for Derek Lowe when the only other known offer was for three years and $36M from the Mets can probably be attributed to the desperation the Braves faced after losing out on Burnett, John Smoltz and Jake Peavy.
• However Boras's approach does not appear to be working with Jason Varitek. According to Rosenthal, most executives view Boras and Varitek declining arbitration as foolish.
• The Dodgers are seemingly bidding against themselves for the services of Manny Ramirez, but there seems to be growing fear that if they do not include a third year, Ramirez would follow up on his threat to retire.
• There are rumors that the Red Sox have shown interest in free agent Adam Dunn, though it's hard to fit the pieces together to have the rumors make sense. Dunn would likely play first base for the Red Sox moving Kevin Youkilis to third and necessitating a trade of Mike Lowell. This made sense for a superior fielder like Mark Teixeira, but Dunn is average at best. One benefit to signing Dunn is that because the Diamondbacks did not offer him arbitration, the Sox would not lose any draft picks.
• Dunn and Bobby Abreu seem likely to get one year offers because of the thin 2010 free agent class. Matt Holliday will be available, but the talent pool after him is shallow. Teams who did not spend in 2009 (i.e., anyone not named the Yankees) are gearing up for a run at Holliday in 2010.
• Rosenthal believes that the Rangers are still highly unlikely to trade Michael Young. He is owed $59M over the next five years and $9.24M in deferred payments starting in 2016.
• The Yankees believe that Xavier Nady will be easily moved if necessary. Even if the team has to offer him arbitration for 2010, his current salary is only $3.35M, so the increase would not be too dramatic.
• Jason Isringhausen has four teams on the radar, one of which is the Tigers. The Cardinals are have said to not rule out bringing Isringhausen back.
• Randy Wolf turned down a three year $28.5M offer early in the off season from the Astros and seems unlikely to command that much anymore from limited suitors like the Dodgers.
• Despite a need for a bat, the Rangers are not going to trade for the White Sox Jermaine Dye or try budget free agents Frank Thomas or Nomar Garciaparra. They'd rather stick with Hank Blalock.
• The Red Sox and Diamondbacks are denying on being close with a deal that would send Miguel Montero to Boston.

Let's take a look at The New York Post's Joel Sherman's latest entry:

• Despite failed attempts to sign Mark Teixeira and trade for Hanley Ramirez, the Red Sox are still interested in acquiring a star player. 
• Derek Lowe will not accept the same annual salary ($12M) and less total money ($36M vs. $48M) than Carlos Silva.  The Mets offer was three years, $36M.
• Sherman feels that Manny Ramirez signing with the Giants makes sense.
• The Mets are interested in Jason Marquis of the Cubs, but want to address a top of the rotation starter before moving on to a #5 starter like Marquis.

The rumors of Mark Teixeira signing with the Yankees have been confirmed.  Now let's take a look at the various reports about how the deal went down:

• Bill Madden of the Los Angeles Times writes that Teixeira told him that he prefered New York over Boston and Los Angeles all along.  
• Gordon Edes of Yahoo! Sports gives a rundown of events that brought Teixeira to New York.
• Joel Sherman of the New York Post notes that the decision to sign Teixeira, along with their entire 2009 off season haul (CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett) was made with the poor 2010 free agent class in mind.  Sherman also points out that the team will now try to trade one of their outfielders: Nick Swisher, Johnny Damon, Xavier Nady or Hideki Matsui.
• Danny Knobler of CBS Sports reports that the contract does not include an opt-out clause as Sabathia's did.  He also notes that the Sox do not intend to go after Derek Lowe simply because they missed out on Teixeira.
• It appears as if the Red Sox final offer was eight year, $168M according to Joel Sherman.

Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated is reporting that the Yankees are on the verge of signing Mark Teixeira to an eight year, $180M contract. Recent rumors surrounding the Teixeira negotiations did not indicate that the Yankees were a serious bidder, but earlier reports indicated that New York was still lurking. The Nationals were rumored earlier today to have offered anywhere from $178M to $190M over eight or nine years while the Red Sox were rumored to have offered eight years and $170M.

Buster Olney of espn.com confirms Heyman's report, but indicates that the contract is "only" in excess of $170M, but not necessarily $180M specifically.