While Scott Boras and Mark Teixeira figure out how to bleed teams for more money, the Red Sox are "apparently" out of the running for Teixeira. Notice the quotation marks. With the Red Sox devoting so much time to Teixeira, would we consider this offseason a failure of the Sox can't sign the Gold Glove first baseman?
Mark Teixeira: future Sox?It seems like the Red Sox have done nothing but chase down the biggest free agent on the market. We know that can't be true, but it certainly does seem that way. Where's assistant GM Jed Hoyer? Hopefully he's trying to figure out the Sox' catcher situation, or adding another starting, or trying to grab some bullpen arms, but we haven't heard anything period.
Say the Sox don't sign Teixeira. Where does that leave them? Entrenched in a lot of time devoted to a contract that wasn't good enough. It's been about a month since TeixMania started and yet there is still nothing to show for it.
It would probably different if some deals were made over this course of time. If the Sox were to sign John Smoltz or Ben Sheets or Derek Lowe, then this might be easier to swallow. But there's nothing. No catcher, no starting pitcher, no bullpen arms. Just a lot of infatuation with Teixeira.
I think people will be pretty upset if the Sox don't sign Teixeira. But not just because Teixeira doesn't become a Sox, but because of everything that has gone into it. We've heard for weeks that the Sox have been in the lead for his services and now it seems like they couldn't be any further.
It's possible to salvage this situation though, and it's simple: go make some moves. Don't make moves for the sake of doing so, but make the moves that are necessary. Obviously there's work to do in the catching department. Odds are Jason Varitek is coming back, so let's nail that down. There's also a gap in the rotation -- let's fix that, too.
The front office doesn't want to make any harsh moves, but if Teixeira falls through then something's got to happen. They can't just sit back and perhaps get burned again. The Nation is waiting for something and it has to be good.
Don't let this offseason be a bust. There's still time to make it a good one ... with or without Mark Teixeira.