Teixeira Is a Great Player, But 200 Million? Really?

            For the second year in a row, Mark Teixeira was one of the most sought-after players at the Major League non-wavers trading deadline as a result of his impending free-agency and the reputation of his unrelenting agent, Scott Boras.

            First, last summer, the Texas Rangers dealt Teixeira along with reliever Ron Mahay to the Atlanta Braves for a handful of prospects, including Jerrod Saltalamacchia and Elvis Andrus when they came to the realization that signing their first-baseman after 2008 would be impossible. Yes, this came from the franchise owned by Tom Hicks, the man who outbid all other teams by 100 million and signed Alex Rodriguez to that infamous ten-year, 252 million dollar contract prior to the 2001 season. Interestingly enough, the agent that decided the record-setting contract wasn’t lucrative enough for his client and opted out of the contract last fall was none other than Boras.

            Now that the 2008 Braves are out of contention and decided to deal Teixeira as well, rather join the bidding war for the free-agent first baseman this winter that Boras says will start at ten years and 200 million. Teixeira now finds himself with the Angels. Bur for how long?

            Many are speculating that on the open market Teixeira could fetch all the way up to ten years and 230 million dollars for his services Unbelievably, this would dwarf all contracts ever given out to anyone not named Alex Rodriguez. This would narrow out just about all teams in Major League Baseball except the typical big spenders in free agency: The Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Angels and perhaps the Dodgers and Tigers. Of these teams, only the Yankees, Mets and Angels will have possible openings at first base this winter.

            The question is whether or not any of these teams should even consider such a deal for the slugging infielder.

            While it is true that Teixeira is an extremely productive hitter, clubbing 37 dingers and driving in 134 in his 157 games (more than anyone except Ryan Howard in that span) as a Brave and hits at least 30 homeruns each year, he is simply overrated.

Despite his two AL Gold Gloves being accounted for, it is very hard for anyone who follows baseball to even consider putting the former Georgia Tech Bulldog in his or her top five at his position. Names such as Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman, Ryan Howard, Adrian Gonzalez, Derrek Lee, Prince Fielder, Justin Morneau, and Miguel Cabrera are all arguably equal or better than Teixeira.

While those first three names are indisputable, Gonzalez has taken his punchless team to the playoffs multiple times while putting up comparable stats to Tex while playing in a ballpark with the dimensions of Yellowstone. Lee also took his team to the playoffs, has won a ring, beat out Tex for the Gold Glove in the NL last year and is nearly equal to Teixeira on offense if you factor in his speed.

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