Is Eight Years, $160M Enough?

It's hard to comprehend a contract to play baseball that runs eight years and will pay the player $160 million dollars. I'm not gonna get all philosophical on ya, but that's a heck of a lot of money.

But is it enough? Scott Boras said at the beginning of this adventure that it would take 10 years and $200M. I think everyone knew at that point that statement was a bunch of posturing. And most everyone knows by now that Mark Teixiera grew up in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and would be more than happy to play for one of the teams that call that region home--if the money was right.

Now we know that the Yankees probably won't be making an offer since they're courting every single blue chip pitcher on the market. Boston covets the switch-hitting 1B as well. And the Angels, and owner Arte Moreno, would really like to keep Tex on the payroll.

So it seems we know two things now:

1) The opening bid, and

2) The suitors are probably down to three (the Nats, Red Sox and Angels)

Despite what Roch Kubatko might think over at MASN.com, it would shock me at this point if the Orioles made an offer at this point. The Nats offer is already so well past the "feeling out" point that the O's can't come in now and try to get Teixiera for anything less.

So that leaves just three, and maybe really only two. The Angels have said that Tex was their "first priority", but don't their efforts seem just a little lackadaisical. Doesn't it seem like they keep throwing their name out there just to say they were staying in it? I've seen that act for a while now, I'd hope that I would recognize it when I see it.

And Boston really just got into it in the last couple of days. Everyone assumes that Theo Epstein will sweep in and whisk Tex away from the next biggest suitor, but has the bar been set too high? Could we be seeing a situation unfolding where, like A-Rod with the Rangers, the first offer is the best?

We probably won't know for a few days at the very least. But with a solid offer on the table and apparently a lot of effort put into this from both sides already, it's not too hard to start envisioning an early present under the tree.