Teixeira Rundown

Late night stuff. Here it goes.

1. First, the Yankees showed that they are the definitive Moneyball team (in a financial sense), signing Mark Teixeira to an 8-year contract worth $22.5 million per and totaling $180 million. When you factor in CC and A.J., the team has now provided $423.5 million in off-season contracts. Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball really breaks down how ridiculous it may seem to some people (my buddy, a Dodgers fan, told me he’s sad for baseball), or is, in fact (depending on how you look at it and where you stand).

It certainly seems ridiculous to Brewers’ owner Mark Attanasio, who, after hearing about Tex, pondered the need for a salary cap in baseball (he’s just upset with how the compensatory draft picks will pan out). The Red Sox and the Rays appear willing to get over it and work with what they have, as both teams know that the AL East will be a hard fought battle in 2009.

2. While everyone complains about the Yankees’ spending spree, the Red Sox and their fans are particularly unhappy (I recieved a bevy of text messages and death threats via facebook). Teixeira actually expressed his interest in the Yankees earlier this week and, let’s not forget, he likely passed on a significantly larger deal with the Nats (not the Sox) in order to join the Yanks and take over at first (his idol is Don Mattingly).

3. Finally, this isn’t truly Teixeira related but it is in a way, because of who it is. The Yankees agreed to a minor-league deal with Kevin Cash last night, who caught for Boston’s Tim Wakefield last year.

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In addition, I’d like to thank the readers who stuck with me on the Teixeira rumors for the past year (even when it seemed like it wasn’t going to happen). I started a category called “future yankees” in early January simply to accomodate Tex and CC Sabathia. In the end, I was happy to be right about both players as they are two tremendous talents.