Thanksgiving is almost upon us, and here's the latest on the Halos' winter dealings:
The Mark Teixeira hunt has it all—drama, a villain (Scott Boras), a big enemy (the Yankees/Red Sox), and a surprise ending.
Where will he sign? No idea. My gut still says Halos, though good ol' Mark Whicker of the OC Register's gut says differently.
The Angels are playing their hand slowly, letting the market for Teixeira really establish itself. Hopefully from a squalid offense perspective, this is so the Halos can swoop in and make the best offer on the table.
It's sort of become a bit of a stand off, stare down, with the Yankees and Red Sox. Boras says he's got offers on the table Teixeira can accept, but you know he's probably somewhat peeved at the way it's playing out, with neither of the biggest players (Yankees, Red Sox, Angels) showing any signs of cracking.
In fact, the Angels are doing the exact opposite, and spinning up interest in a potential contract for free agent pitcher CC Sabathia.
Not that we need another ACE pitcher.
Sabathia has made it public he'd like to return to California to play baseball, where he grew up. Additionally, he's also said he'd like an NL team to play for so he can hit (trivia tidbit: CC had last years seconnd longest home run at Dodger Stadium, a mammoth blast at 440 feet—courtesy of hittrackeronline.com).
That didn't stop the Yankees from ponying up a huge contract offer for the pitcher, at six years and $140 million. The fact that CC didn't jump on that offer has a few people in the industry wriggling, including the players union, who is pressuring CC to take the biggest offer on the table for the sake of setting the market for other pitchers that much higher.
I, for one, hope he doesn't take the biggest money deal and plays where he wants.
I also hope the Angels game doesn't come back to bite them in the a..er, END because they played the staring game w/ Boston on Teixeira.
Rumors flying out of Anaheim suggest an offer to CC is coming in the next few days and is in the $140 million range, which could be interesting.
Reagins did say he had the funds to get both Sabathia AND Teixeira. You have to think that an Angels' Sabathia signing would drive Teixeira's price somewhere...I'm not sure personally on if it would make it higher or lower, but it would certainly serve a message to Boras. Rumors that he wants a minimum 10-year deal are out there, but who knows what the market will bear?
I personally also think the Red Sox are only showing interest to drive the price up on the Yankees and Angels.
More to come I'm sure on these two signings.
In related news, veteran Angels left fielder Garrett Anderson, an unrestricted free agent, has signed with Scott Boras. Boras has publicly said GA wants to play everyday, and would welcome any offers, especially from National league clubs. Interesting. Maybe the decreased NL offensive production would be easier to play LF? Anyway, he says the doors still open for a Halo Re-up, but who knows if the Angels are even looking there?
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