Teixera Deal Analysis

As Scott Boras and the Yankees work out the final specs of the contract and Mark Teixeira flies to New York to receive his physical, lets go over what this deal will mean for the many involved and affected by it. 

Mark Teixeira:

Teixera got an early Christmas present; he was signed by a contending team and got a boat-load of money. I don't know about you all, but I would love to wake up and find that sitting under the tree. Lost in all of these talks of "who's going to offer the most?" and "will he sign with a contending team?" was the fact that Mark Teixeira and especially his wife, didn't want to go to Boston. That is one of the main reasons they waited so long to sign as they were hoping that a good contract would come from a contender other than the Red Sox. So when the Yankees offered him good money, he pounced on it. Also, the fact that he grew up idolizing Don Mattingly didn't hurt his chances either.

New York Yankees:

By signing Teixeira the Yankees fixed a number of things: Number one, they filled a blaring hole that they've had for nearly a decade; first base. Now lets get one thing straight before we start: Jason Giambi wasn't as bad a defender as everyone said he was. He had a .990 fielding pctg. over the last two years (which was when he mostly playing first base) and only had 10 errors over that time. But it is going to be better to have a gold glove over there no doubt. The other issue was their offense. After scoring close to 1,000 runs in 2007, the Yankees scored less than 800 last year. That was due in large part to injuries and an aging offense. Expect Teixeira to plug right in and become a good 1-2 punch with A-Rod for years to come.

Boston Red Sox:

This comes as a crushing blow to the Red Sox. They targeted Mark Teixeira early as their top off-season priorty and have been pursuing him ever since. But to have their rivals step in at the last moment and steal him away, that's devastating. However, don't feel bad for them. They've been down this road before, the Yankees spend big money and they just keep working on their farm system. A system that has produced the likes of: Dustin Pedroia, 2008 AL MVP, Kevin Youkilis, MVP runner-up, and Jacoby Ellsbury. Plus they have a fine pitching rotation with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Other Teams:

This deal affects many other teams including: the Orioles, Nationals, Brewers, and Angels.

Lets go down the line: The Orioles and Nationals are in the same boat here. They both didnt' really have realistic shots at Teixeira but at least they proved to their fans that they could spend money and compete with the big boys. The Angels got a win over the Brewers here in odd fashion. When the Yankees signed CC Sabathia, the Brewers expected to receive their compensationary first-round pick. However, Mark Teixeira is ranked higher then Sabathia on the Elias rankings and thus the Angels get the pick and the Brewers get stuck with their second-round pick instead. Brewer's GM Doug Melvin was very upset about this as he said that "everyone knows the Elias system is flawed." He went on to say that they need to find a better system because the Angels also had a much better record than the Brewers.