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

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">For Fielder, he has had about as bad of a season individually as he can have and he still is hitting better. Fielder’s 50 homer season last year puts him over the top though. Morneau’s stats are a bit below Teixeira, but he won an MVP in 2006 and has been a cornerstone for a postseason team for a few years. Teixeira has only played a handful of games in September in his career that meant anything, and none in October. Cabrera, also with a ring under his belt, is a far superior hitter to Teixeira and despite his slow season so far, this shouldn’t even be an argument.

Furthermore, Teixeira has been named to just one All-Star game in his six seasons despite not playing in the same league as Pujols, Berkman or Howard by the time the All-Star game was played until this season.

The point in making these arguments is that first base is a position in the major leagues where there are many, many great players. There certainly is no shortage of top-talent here like there is at more skilled positions such as catcher, middle infield or third base. As a result, Teixeira has plenty of competition and although he made it into my top ten at his position, he sure didn’t do it by the widest of margins.

This article is not to say Teixeira isn’t a great player, but he is being overrated to the point where it is utterly ridiculous. A reasonable amount for him would probably be something similar to the deal Carlos Lee was given by Houston for 6 years at 100 million. The two are on equal footing as hitters, with Lee being able to swipe some bases and Teixeira playing good defense, but the idea of him getting a deal of double that is completely mind-boggling.

Before anyone finds it okay to throw the second biggest contract in baseball history at this guy, shouldn’t it be a prerequisite that he get his name punched for the Midsummer Classic a bit more often than getting picked once every six years?

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