YFSF

The End Is Near?

John Henry says the Sox are out of the running on Mark Teixeira. 

Red Sox owner John Henry e-mailed several media members late tonight with a stunning twist in the team's pursuit of free-agent first baseman Mark Teixeira. 

Henry's words: "We met with Mr. Teixeira and were very much impressed with him. After hearing about his other offers, however, it seems clear that we are not going to be a factor."

I am stunned. 

Going to bed update: As I've said in the comments, I'm pretty convinced this is a case of Henry calling a Boras bluff. Gordon Edes jumps into the fray with a nice scoop -- an email response from the agent himself, even if it doesn't really say anything:

Boras offered his impression of the meeting in an email to Yahoo! reporter Tim Brown: “The Boston ownership was kind enough to request and travel to meet with Mark Teixeira. While it was a very positive meeting, Mark was candid and advised he is in the process of making a decision and is now attempting to eliminate teams.”

Previous posts below the jump.

Right. Sure.

Two GMs who were involved in the Teixera talks both felt the Red Sox had a leg up.

"They have the highest offer on the table", said one of the GMs.

This Teixeira reporting continues to boggle our minds.  Under what circumstance would a competing GM know another team's actual bid? We're sure Theo Epstein had been in deep, full disclosure discussions with Andy MacPhail and Brian Cashman.  Because Scott Boras told them!?  Or, alternatively, their underlings are spending quality time with each other discussing numbers over instant message.  Or are we back to the days of collusion?  Because to us that's one of the only circumstances under which this kind of information might be freely exchanged between GMs.  And Cafardo has a whistleblower on his hand and doesn't even seem to know it.

Why does Cafardo approach this with zero skepticism?  How can it be taken at face value that a competing GM knows the actual dollar amount of a major free agent contract offer?  

Better question, why are we still reading this stuff?

What Do You Know, and How Do You Know It?

We've made little secret 'round these parts of our contempt for much of the unsourced, speculative claptrap that passes for journalism on the sports pages of America's large-market dailies. If it's not anonymous sources hinting at a team's interest in any given number of players, it's reporter speculation disguised as reporting.

This latter crime against journalism really gets our goats. And Michael Silverman deserves a first-degree indictment for the swill he offers in this morning's Boston Herald:

The expectation is that the offer is going to easily be a record for this ownership group, a likely eight-year contract worth somewhere between $145 and $175 million, possibly more. ...

The annual average value of any potential Teixeira deal with the Red Sox is likely to fall somewhere between $18-22 million a year, although those numbers could be exceeded depending upon just how expertly Teixeira’s agent, Scott Boras, is able to get the teams to bid against each other.

First, there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- newsworthy about these tw paragraphs. I could have written them, based solely on my understanding of the situation from reading previous news reports and observing re Red Sox' front office for the past several years.

And if it's simply Silverman speculating based on what he knows, I wouldn't have a problem with that -- if he actually told us so. Instead, he couches it in terms that allow us to infer he in fact has a source for this story: "The expectation is" a "likely eight-year contract" that "is likely to fall ... between $18-22 million a year."

The specificity is beguiling, as if Silverman is reporting new information. Until you get to this key sentence ...

"Neither the Red Sox nor Boras were available for comment yesterday."

... and realize Silverman knows nothing at all, except how to fil space and waste our time -- in a piece ironically headlined, "Sheddling light on Mark Teixeira."

Alphabet Soup

On the day the Yanks sign CC Sabathia, we learn that the BBWAA has found a couple of aces of its own: BP writers Will Carroll and Christina Kahrl have been granted membership into the esteemed organization. Bravo.  

What Do We Know Speculate?

This is an odd winter meetings. There's not really that One Big Trade on which everyone is focusing (like the Santana fiasco last year), and the Red Sox for their part are involved in speculation on several fronts: Teixiera, catcher, shortstop, third base, outfield and starting pitcher. Can you imagine if they'd actually failed to make the playoffs?

With the second day of the 2008 winter meetings winding down, here's a rundown of some of the more credible rumors/reports, broken down by relevant category:

Catcher

• The Red Sox are discussing a trade with the Mets for Brian Schneider, which would seem to indicate talks with the Rangers are dormant, at least for now (though we now know Nolan Ryan really likes Clay Buchholz).
• The Diamondbacks may have decided not to trade either Miguel Montero or Chris Snyder, apparently sometime after the Sox turned down an offer of Montero for Michael Bowden.
• The Orioles traded Ramon Hernandez to Cincinnati, seemingly further depleting the number of teams who could be interested in the services of Jason Varitek.
• And still no real rumors of any interest in Varitek.

Mark Teixeira

• The Angels believe they are out of the bidding, conceding to the Red Sox. 
• Or the Nationals. 
• Or not at all. 

C.C. Sabathia

• A lot of rumors, no real news, except this: the Yankees, Brewers, Angels and Red Sox have all made offers, the Giants may make an offer, and no one really knows a damn thing about which team is the front-runner.

 The other pitchers

• A.J. Burnett's agent says the Red Sox have had "significant dialogue" with his client (but no one expects the Sox to deviate from their "no long-term deals for aging pitchers" policy).
• The Yankees have told Burnett they will "do better" than the current high offer from Atlanta of 4/$60M with a vesting fifth year option; the Blue Jays have said they will not.
• The Yankees are also negotiating with Derek Lowe, and terms center around four years and more than $16 million per annum. The Phillies are also mentioned as making a big push. No mention of the Red Sox.
• The Yankees are also reportedly preparing an offer to Ben Sheets -- two years, $26 million. 
• Meanwhile, the Red Sox have knocked on the door of Carl Pavano.

Misc.

• The Red Sox are all but certain to sign Rocco Baldelli -- unless they're not. 
• And Tony Massarotti should probably stick to reporting about the Red Sox and leave the national work to Nick Cafardo. He and San Jose's Andrew Baggarly probably have had better days.

C.C. Sabathia Should...

C.C. Sabathia loves to hit.  He probably would rather hit a walk-off homer than throw a no-hitter, which I think is the reason why he said on the Dan Patrick show that he would rather hit a walk-off homer than throw a no-hitter.  It's strong evidence to help any NL team think, "Hey, we could throw a really large pile of money within a few million of the Yankees' recent 140M offer and have a decent chance at signing this guy; all we have to do is be prepared to let him hit in the bottom of the ninth with the game on the line."

Aside that chancy proposition, Dan Nied thinks there are better reasons for C.C. to sign with anyone but the Yankees.

Who is Keyser Soze

We'd like to point out an interesting article by Alan Schwarz and Brad Lefton on Japanese phenom Junichi Tazawa, who is pegged as a potential impact hurler in the Bigs.  This article touches on an pertinent and important subject, that of the poaching (or refusal to poach) Japanese amateur pitchers.  Unfortunately, the article also trafficks in some blind speculation that we don't care for, and this concerns us.

In this article, the authors point out the "long-established practice for amateurs like [Tazawa] to be strictly off limits to major league clubs", and how there may be several clubs violating this unspoken rule.  They speak with some GMs who go on the record, and their stances vary.  Omar Minaya equivocates a bit, calling this a "sensitive area".  Brian Cashman, to his credit, asserts clearly and plainly that the Yankees are not violating and will not violate this unwritten rule, going as far as to call Tazawa "hands off".  The authors, however, aren't so discerning in their own assertions.  They state towards the end of the article that, and here are the words that to me are so bothersome, "it is believed that at least a half dozen teams will actively pursue him", and then go on to name three speculated teams out of the "half dozen".  They peg the Sox, the Mariners, and the Braves.  Notice they do not provide the remaining three of the supposed "half dozen".  They do not provide identification of those who supposedly believe these teams will pursue Tazawa.  They do not provide on-the-record or even anonymous testimony from front office employees of the teams they name that they may be pursuing or believe that unwritten rules aren't really rules.  Nor do they indicate that these teams had been approached yet refused comment to inquiries from the journalists.  In other words, "it is believed" is an unsourced claim.  Do the authors believe this?  Fellow GMs?  Who, exactly?  In the meantime, Schwarz and Lefton have now planted the idea in the minds of the readers that at least three organizations might knowingly violate unspoken rules of business ethics and etiquette without any sources noting this to be the case.  Though this "belief" of pursuit by these teams may eventually be proven true, that is besides the point.  Damage, however minimal it might be in the end (and it could be more substantial than that), has been done to certain front offices.  Those in the Japanese league, as per the title of the article, are "irked" by this meddling, and now Schwarz and Lefton have put names on the meddlers.

Schwarz and Lefton have framed this article as one about unwritten rules, etiquette, protocol.  They then go on to imply that there are teams that will violate this protocol and etiquette knowingly and for competitive advantage.  But the authors themselves have, to an extent, done the same thing.  They have presented a unique story of interest, made assertions without backup, and as such made their own news supposedly newsworthy, they have gained an advantage over other writers pursuing this story but have exempted themselves from a burden of proof. 

Not Robbed!

A picture split hair is worth a thousand words.

Or, according to Microsoft Word (and including the title), 1172.

Change of Address for The Banter

Three cheers and a tiger to Alex Belth and the rest of our very good friends over at Bronx Banter, which has a new address as a member of the SNY blog network. Make sure you bookmark the new URL. Alex is still running things, and will still be serving up his indispensable daily observations on the Yanks and life in New York; Cliff will continue with his gimlet-eyed analysis of players and teams; occasional YFSF contributor Emma Span will still be there; and there are a few fine new voices added, along with a handy daily link feature. It's a great boon for Yanks fans, and really baseball fans everywhere. (Minor nit: the new design, still in beta, is a bit busy for my taste.) Unlike the newspapers that cover our favorite teams, there's always been a sense of camaraderie within the baseball blogosphere, and we're glad to see one of our own growing in its success. Check it out.

You'll Always Have YFSF

It's an ugly day. The Dow is under 10K after another big drop, and sports fans are seeing the collateral damage of the financial crisis in their morning papers. Or not seeing it. Last week, the NY Sun died an untimely death. The paper's neo-con editorial vision was not credible, but the local news, arts, and sports coverage (bolstered by Tim Marchman's excellent reporting and the commentary of BP writers like Jay Jaffe and Steven Goldman) were welcome contributions to the field. Today, the Times announced that you'll henceforth be able to track your dwindling portfolio in the same pages you read about Derek and Alex; the sports section is now to be collapsed into the back of the business pages on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the paper notified reader's today, in order to cut costs. Buddy can you spare a dime?