Teixeira and Red Sox can't get deal done for $184 million

December 19, 7:54 AMSports ExaminerPaula Duffy

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Mark Teixeira  Photo: AP Photo. Tony Dejak

On Thursday night reports of what were described as final negotiations between Mark Teixeira and the brain trust of the Boston Red Sox hit the air waves. The top three decision makers flew to Texas to meet with the first baseman near his home.

Even prior to Thursday's events in Texas, an Orioles source said, "the Orioles are out of it unless he really wants to play here."  The Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Angels had put in their bids for Teixeira with the Angels having neutralized the go-for-broke offer Washington had put on the table. But the neighborhood they were in was $160 million for eight years. Fine neighborhood, but not close enough to what Boston and the Teixeira camp were now moving towards.

If the speculation of what the Sox and the Teixeria camp were discussing was true, it would seem that only the Yankees might be able to top it.  Eight years at $23 million per year is what was reported to be the magic number.

Very late Thursday night the Red Sox owner put his last poker chip on the table by announcing that after hearing of other offers:

...it seems clear that we are not going to be a factor."

Could the $184 million total package offered by the Sox actually be topped? Two thoughts: Scott Boras has been known to exaggerate. The Yankees zeal to land Teixeria might know no bounds, although their tactics included not making an offer up to this point. But when you get the owner of a team on a plane and he makes that symbolic trip halfway across the country it usually results in a deal getting done.

The Red Sox could be posturing as well, and we have seen all kinds of walkaway maneuvers in these types of high-stakes-poker situations.

In the meantime, Boras' other client Manny Ramirez knows that the agent he shares with Teixeira believes that the losing bidders might be more inclined to pay whatever it takes for Manny to join them.