Last night, SI.com's Jon Heyman reported that Mark Teixeira is close to making a decision on who to sign with. In addition, there was a report by MASN's Rich Kubotka that the Nationals have upped their offer to 8 years for $178-184 million, with the possibility that they go to 9 or even 10 years. I have to think that this may be the last offer from the Nationals, and they won't get into a bidding war with the Red Sox and possibly the New York Yankees.
But, lets say Teixeira does sign with the Nationals.....highly unlikely according to most baseball writers. Teixiera would add a big bat to a young lineup that includes the rejuvenated Christian Guzman, a 5-tool player in Lastings Milledge, a power hitting 3bman with a gold glove potential, Ryan Zimmerman, and recently acquired OFer Josh Willingham who has 25-30 HR power. The Nats lineup also includes a very talented and much troubled Elijah Dukes. Dukes is a 20-20 hitter if he can stay healthy on the field, and out of trouble off the field. Should the Nationals stable of young pitchers develop as expected, I agree with what Eric has offered previously-that the Nats could become a winner within the next 3-4 years.
An ESPN report last evening quotes Hal Steinbrenner saying that the Yankees do not have an offer on the table for either Manny Ramirez or Mark Teixeira. But, Heyman contradicts that report by saying that the Yankees only want to spend slightly more than the $161 million they spent on CC Sabathia on Teixeira. With the news that Teixeira will make a decision soon, how likely is it that the Yankees will not make a competitive offered for Teixeira before he signs on the dotted line? They can't allow the Red Sox, or Nats, to sign Teixeira without an attempt to drive up the price, can they?