Teixeira Signing A Lot Like A-Rod Deal

When Mark Teixeira turned down the Red Sox' offer for the Yankees' something about it seemed very familiar. In fact, it was just like when the Yankees traded for Alex Rodriguez in February of 2004. A-Rod, like Teixeira, was a star player and a great hitter who played for the Rangers (Teixeira didn't go from the Rangers directly to the Yankees like A-Rod). In fact, they both played on the same team in 2003. A-Rod was traded and Teixeira signed as a free agent, but they both could've gone to Boston, but didn't. In the offseason between the 2003 and 2004 seasons, the Rangers were shopping Alex. The Red Sox picked him off the shelf and began to move towards the cashier. However, the deal came up a bit short. 

Right around that time, someone said, "hey, wouldn't it be great if Alex Rodriguez came to New York and just moved to third base?" It seemed unlikely though, as the Rangers had just named A-Rod the captain of their team. But the Yankees swooped in and within about a week, they traded Alfonso Soriano to the Rangers for A-Rod (one of those rare, good player-for-good player deals instead of prospects). 

For a while, the Red Sox were seen as the front-runners for Teixeira, just like with A-Rod. However, the Yankees jumped in right at the end and nabbed him for $180 million, $10mm more than the Red Sox were offering. 

A-Rod has put up very good numbers in his time so far in the Bronx (.303 AVG, 208 HR and 616 RBI in 5 seasons). However, he's also attracted a lot of controversy too. Lets just hope that Teixeira only does the first one.