Well, it can’t buy taste. But it can buy one heckuva swimming pool:

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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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.

Sarah had a post a few weeks ago about how “evil” some teams were because they were pocketing some change instead of spending all kinds of money in free agents (in other words, the NL vs. the AL).

Being a little late to the argument (the entire Umpbump staff except me commented on that post), I can’t say I have the final word, but I did find this website that kind of proves that, not only are some NL teams spending less money, they’re actually winning!

You can drag the date marker to see how each team is doing over time. Check it out here.