The Orioles offered a 7 year/140 million contract, an offer that to us mortals seems rather generous, but was actually a lowball attempt compared to other teams' offers. The Red Sox offered 8/170, the Yankees' winning offer was 8/180, and the Nationals are rumored to have offered more.
The reason: let's let O's GM Andy MacPhail explain:
"We'd all prefer to have the player, but at the end of the day, it didn't
work out that way," MacPhail said. "As they have demonstrated this offseason,
the Yankees have resources that aren't available to 28 other clubs.
"Obviously, it's not my first choice. But look, it is what it is. We still
have to do what we have to do as an organization to get ourselves in a
contending situation, which can be done. We just had a team win the American
League championship that did it that way. That's the model we're going to
follow. You don't have to buy your way in."
This, O's fans, is arrant nonsense. It creates a false dilemma between building for the future and signing FAs. The Yankees and Red Sox do both all the time. Winning short-term, or at least taking steps toward showing the money to good players, is what makes you attractive to quality FAs, to Nick Markakis as he approaches free agency and most importantly, to your fan base. Don't buy it, folks, and do not be grateful we're sticking to the plan, as if signing one of the few FAs that would agree to play here precludes other options.
The money the O's save by not signing Teixeira could not be spent better elsewhere; chances are good it will not be spent at all. Peter Angelos is richer, the rest of us are poorer.
