The Yankees signed Mark Teixeira today and the effects of the signing were wide ranging. Let’s take a look at who benefitted and who didn’t.

The Winners

The Yankees: They got the best first baseman on the market and, outside of Albert Pujols, probably the best first baseman in baseball. Teixiera will represent a major upgrade over prospective first baseman Nick Swisher, who can now be moved to a corner outfield spot (where his average power will be more forgivable). Or, the Yankees can trade him for something useful.

Teixeira: OK, so signing with the Yankees is horribly predictable. But Teixeira got a huge contract, a no-trade clause and he’ll play for a winner. That’s a pretty good deal. Something tells me he’ll be happy he didn’t sign with the Nationals.

Derek Lowe: The Red Sox say missing out on Teixeira won’t impact their search for more pitching. But you’ve got to think that some of the money they had earmarked for Teixeira could be spent on Lowe. Right now, it looks like the Mets are the only serious bidder for Lowe’s services. Getting the Red Sox involved could spark a bidding war that would culminate in an expensive contract.

Billy Beane: The Oakland GM is trying to field a winner in 2009. He took a hit when Rafael Furcal spurned his very generous four-year offer, but now that the Angels have missed out on Teixeira they are looking even more beatable. Beane must smell blood. Will he sign Adam Dunn or Jason Giambi and really put some pressure on the Halos?

Scott Boras: Now that his biggest client has signed, maybe Boras can shift his attention to the other five gajillion free agents he represents.

The Losers

Manny Ramirez: Now that the Yankees have signed Teixeira they’re extremely unlikely to sign Manny. Who is going to give Ramirez the longterm contract he wants? Probably nobody (unless Ned Coletti goes on a bender).

Red Sox: They missed out on a player that would allow them to vastly improve their middle of the order production. Moreover, that player signed with their chief rival. Burn.

The Angels: Who will play first base for Los Angeles next season? Who will provide protection for Vlad? (No, Tori Hunter. Not you. Please sit down.) This could be a blessing in disguise for the Angels, as Adam Dunn could be a great addition and will require fewer dollars and years.

ESPN’s Buster Olney is reporting that free agent 1B Mark Teixeira is Bronx-bound with an eight-year deal worth $180MM.

If Sportsline’s Danny Knobler was correct when he wrote just a couple of hours ago that that the Nationals and Red Sox were the two teams remaining in the hunt for Teix’s services, the Yankees swooped in at the 11.9th hour with this offer that supposedly includes a full no-trade.

Teixeira will be 29 by the time the new Yankee Stadium officially opens for baseball and he brings with him the deserved reputation as one of the best two-way first basemen in the game. He will take over for the departed Jason Giambi, a guy who can still hit but is far inferior defensively.

In 2008. Teix had a WPA (Win Probability Added) of 5.87 while Giambi was at 1.96, – and this metric doesn’t even account for defense. And despite the fact that Teixeira only played 54 games in the AL in 2008, he still racked up 15 Win Shares compared to Giambi’s 16 in 145 games. The only area where the two are really comparable is their ability to get on base.

But is Mark Teixeira worth $180MM?

For me, it’s yes and no. I can easily argue that no player is worth such a long commitment. It’s very unlikely that the Yankees will get eight-years worth of value out of this deal just because it’s rare for any player to be healthy for so long. But Mark Teixeira is the second best first baseman in the game – and that’s about the worst I can say about the guy. He gets on base, hits for plenty of power, keeps his mouth shut and plays stellar defense and has been doing so pretty much since the moment he stepped onto a big league field in his rookie year.

And it can’t be stated enough that this is the Yankees we’re talking about (Evil Empire! Antichrist! Spawn of Federline and Bonaduce! Get over it, people). What’s worth $10 to you is worth a million to them. And they’ll make a profit off it, too.

Word on the street yesterday was that the Boston Red Sox had offered free-agent first baseman Mark Teixeira an 8-year, $175-180MM contract. Today, it sounds like Boston’s offer was closer to $165-170MM. The Angels’ rumored offer has been greater than $160 but less than $180, while some speculate that the Nationals have ponied up $200MM. All the same, everyone seems to be offering 8 years — and agent Scott Boras seems to be holding out for a $185MM offer from a team that doesn’t suck.

Recently, I kvetched about a feeling of “inflation” in baseball — Mark Teixeira’s good, but is he really a $200MM guy? I don’t happen to think so. But what do you think?

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I know we have that badass Delicious widget over there on the upper right corner now, but I thought I’d offer an old-fashioned reading post as we cruise towards the weekend:

• First the Mets had to fight a PR scandal over their new Citi Field, after Citi got bailed out by the American taxpayer (said taxpayer was none too thrilled that the naming rights for said stadium had cost $400 million). Now the team is assuring everyone that they are not, repeat, NOT for sale, even though ownership lost money in Bernie Madoff’s bizarre Ponzi scheme. Sounds exhausting.
• On WEEI.com: Rob Bradford has a fantastic piece where Dan Duquette talks about scouting — and drafting – Mark Teixeira, only to have Tex choose Georgia Tech instead.
• Craig Calcaterra: the “new Yankee Stadium is built on a foundation of graft.” Really, it’s like right out of Tammany Hall — the higher the land was valued, the more tax-free bonds the Yankees would get; so when the Yanks didn’t like the original valuation of the land, the city officials obligingly bumped it up from $27 million to $204 million. I wonder if there’s any connection to this article from last week’s New York Times: “Tax Shelter Helps Yankees Afford Those Big Salaries.” Any accountants out there want to do the math for me?
• In other Yankees news, I found this opening line unintentionally hilarious: Like a holiday shopper, the Yankees are carefully mulling how to spend their cash. In case you haven’t heard, this has been a disappointing holiday shopping season — to say the least — for retailers. Yet the Yankees have already spent more than $240 million on just two pitchers and are now considering a “hard push” for Manny Ramirez, including a rumored 3-year offer of as much as $75 million. That’s a lot of “careful mulling,” for sure.
• How crazy is this Rafael Furcal deal? I volunteered to cover MLBTR for the evening and spent the night updating this post. I think I have whiplash, now.
• Bobby Jenks gives a really interesting interview explaining why he doesn’t throw 100mph all the time anymore — because, he says, that’s his strategy. “Anyone can time 100 mph if they see it enough…My strikeouts are down, yes, but my pitch efficiency is higher than ever and my walks are down. I’m getting hitters swinging early in the counts, and when they get behind, I can put them away.” In other words, he’s not throwing…he’s pitching.
• Joe Posnanski takes a look at the Hall of Fame ballot and handicaps who’ll get in — and thinks Jim Rice will make it this time (even though Posnanski himself won’t be voting for him).
• Speaking of the HOF, HOFer Ryne Sandberg is moving up to AA — as a manager, that is. He’s been with the Cubs-affiliated Single-A Peoria Chiefs for the past two seasons, but will join the Double-ATennessee Smokies this season. Just another reason why this year’s minor league road trip will have to take in the Smokies!
• Speaking of minor league road trips, Deadspin has just noticed that the Buffalo Bisons have an ungrammatical name, which is something that my pal Rachael pointed out during the Bulls-Bisons game we watched in Durham in July. (I, on the other hand, took that moment to exclaim, “OH, the Buffalo BISONS — I GET IT NOW!“)

What did I miss?

So, this is what baseball’s hot stove season looks like in the midst of what just about everyone is calling the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression:

• $161 million for seven years of CC Sabathia.
• $82.5 million for five years of AJ Burnett.
• Multiple $160 million, 8-year offers to Mark Teixeira, and rumors that the bidding could go as high as $175 or even $200 million.

And we haven’t even gotten to Manny Ramirez and Derek Lowe yet.

If baseball salaries are any guide, we should be less worried about credit default swaps and more concerned about inflation. The offers for Tex recall to mind the $160 million deal Boston gave Manny Ramirez in 2000, when he was 28 (the same age Tex is now). That was an 8 year deal with options that could bring it to 200 million and 10 years, a record deal for about two seconds until A-Rod signed that $252 million monster. Then, Manny had just come off a season in which he OBP’ed .457 and slugged .697. His OPS+ was 186.

Those numbers are crazy. Those numbers are eye-popping. Those numbers make me want to laugh, not a happy, trilling laugh, but a twisted, semi-hysterical laugh.

At the beginning of this decade, $160 million used to 8 years of a future Hall of Famer. Now it doesn’t even get you 8 years of a guy who’s just very, very good.

That’s not a knock on Tex. His OPS+ last year was a career-best 151. That’s excellent. But my eyeballs are still in their sockets.

Adam Dunn could be the bargain of the offseason

Due to a scheduling snaffu (and Nick not reading his email) both he and I wrote posts about what the Angels need. Since we largely agree when it comes to the halos’ shortcomings, I won’t bore you with the post that I wrote. But I will further one point that he made.

Both Nick and I agree that Mark Teixeira probably isn’t worth all the money and years he’ll demand. Nick pointed out that there are cheaper options out there. Let me suggest one in particular. The Angels should sign Adam Dunn. They should do it now, as he may come surprisingly cheap. How cheap? Recently, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick talked to a couple of officials who suggested Dunn might have to settle for a contract in the three-year, $36MM range. And today, Buster Olney says while “there had been talk during the summer of Adam Dunn getting $15 million a year this winter, now his salary range might be little more than half of that.”

If that’s true, that’s an absolute steal. Think about it — $12MM over three years is the same contract Jose Guillen got. $8MM a year is Adam Eaton money. I know Dunn strikes out a ton and he can’t catch a cold, but he’s a mortal lock to hit 40 homers (in the last four seasons he’s hit exactly 40). The Angels need to sign Adam Dunn. They should do it now. Right now. Go! Sign him!

Updated

To label the New York Yankees 2008 season as a disappointment might be an understatement. This is the team that year after year has been a staple in the playoffs, and that in a not-too-distant past (though it fades ever so slowly from memory) were the very definition of a dynasty.

Reverting to their winning ways will not be an easy task; GM Brian Cashman has to deal with an aging staff, and has to plug holes in the outfield, first base, and rotation.

Cashman will have to shell out the cash. Har har... har...

On the surface, the most important need for the Yankees this offseason is to bolster their lineup. During the last four seasons, the Yankees either lead or were second in home runs in the American League, relegating to fourth place in 2008; and even though they were third in team OBP, they were seventh in both runs scored and RBI. In 2007, the Yankees led all three of those offensive categories.

Rumors have been flying around the possibility of signing Mark Teixeira, which would add a potent bat to the lineup and replace a departing Jason Giambi, but the the price tag for Tex will prove to be pricey (not that the Yankees couldn’t afford it). Worth noting is Hideki Matsui’s knees, both of which have now been surgically repaired, possibly limiting his defensive abilities in the outfield.

Will the Yanks sign Tex?

So yeah, offense is a big one, on the other hand, beefing the rotation also looms as a critical issue to be addressed if the Yanks are to return to the post season. Team officials have confirmed that they’ll pursue C.C. Sabathia, who’ll definitely command Johan Santana money (again, not that the Yankees couldn’t afford him), but other questions regarding their rotation circle around the future of veterans Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina.

Pettitte has already filed for free-agency, and it’s unclear whether he’ll sign elsewhere, opt to retire, or stay in New York. Pettitte himself has told the press that he’d like to pitch in fancy new Yankee stadium, and he may get a one-year deal worth around $11 million. Mussina is mulling retirement (even though he was, by far, the Yanks best pitcher in ‘08, winning 20 games for the first time in his career), and Cashman said during the GM meetings that the 40-year-old is an option they’re considering.

According to Cashman, only Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain have guaranteed spots in the rotation, and considering pitching is one of the Yankee needs this offseason, it makes sense to bring back both pitchers – especially after disappointing seasons from Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy.

The Yankees are never a team to stay pat in regards to the hot stove, so don’t be surprised if a they land a couple of big fish via trade or free agency.

- What They Need Index -

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Update #2: You want your update? I got yer update righteer.

Update/note: This post was ready to go in the morning, and was scheduled for today, but in light of the news that the Yankees have acquired Nick Swisher from the Chicago White Sox (oh Kenny Williams, how do you do it?) we’ll post an update soon.

There are some concepts in which I believe strongly and try to express here on this blog (It’s not a blog! Yes it is!). But I fail miserably in doing so because I couldn’t do it concisely and poignantly.

Hello, ladies.

Thankfully, there are others who are far better at this than I am:

When a team adds a player like (Mark) Teixeira, the general assumption is that the team has to play better, because he’ll play better than whoever he’s replaced and everyone else will play exactly as they’ve been playing. But of course the real world doesn’t work that way. Some guys will play about the same, some will play better, some will play worse. In this particular case, it’s pretty clear that the guys playing worse have outnumbered the guys playing better. Or perhaps that the guys playing worse have been worse than the guys playing better have been better.

This is what Rob Neyer wrote in his blog this morning (ESPN Insider only) concerning the Angels and their record since adding Mark Teixeira. And it’s a paragraph that’s both difficult to follow yet easy at the same time. But it makes total sense.

As Neyer points out in the entry, prior to trading for Tex, the Angels were 66-40. But despite adding the big bat who has produced very well since coming to Anaheim, they’ve had a worse winning percentage (22-17).

And our inability to recognize the fact that human performances, especially in baseball, don’t follow linear progressions is something that drives me nuts at times. We can’t simply “add five more wins” to a previous year’s team total because they’ve acquired an ace pitcher and call it a projection. Doing so assumes that everyone else on the team will perform exactly the same, which is something that NEVER happens.

So what does this rant have to do with anything that’s going on in baseball right now? Well, not much, really. It’s just a point that was made by Neyer that I wholeheartedly support but couldn’t articulate in past posts.

And besides, I’m terrified to write anything positive about the Mets right now.