This is very disheartening. If they waited this long, couldn’t they have waited just a little longer for Tex’s response.

is now reporting the same thing.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8975210/Source:-Halos-withdraw-offer-to-Teixeira

Not unpredictable – but sucks none the less.

This could be an Arte negotiating ploy but I am not betting on it. Couple positives:
1- We still have KMo as a capable back up plan
2 – No other FA that we could really use has signed elsewhere yet – so all other options are still available. Waiting didn’t lose out on anyone else.

is that if Moreno felt like he was being used to drive up the price, shouldn’t he WANT to drive up the price to make other teams pay more money than they were intially comfortable with? And besides, if we waited this long, doesn’t it make sense to wait a little longer to at least get an official response from Tex? I don’t know about everybody else but I would feel better knowing that Tex said “no” rather than just assuming he was going to say no but never knowing for sure because we pulled our offer off the table.

We had Tex and lost. Let’s not forget that. I would rather spend the money on several players than just one. I am not sure why everyone bags on Boras. If I needed an agent, I would use Boras and let him get me the most money for the place I want to play. That is the right of every free agent. Teams have the right to spend or not spend as they choose. Did you know that the White Sox don’t have one Boras client?

I don’t think they are bluffing. But it is interesting that Tim Mead said that they would have nothing else to say “today”.. .. What does that imply? I wish I was in that room when this stuff was going down.

1) a lot of people seem very high on burrell and dunn with their 30+ homeruns…but their batting averages are below average, do you want that for a team that is built for speed and contact?

2) the american league clearly is the superior league (despite who the current world series winners are), i have a feeling dunn and burrell would suffer by coming to the american league, the transition from al to nl seems to be much easier, rather than vice versa

3) going along with point number 1, dunn has a very high strikeout count (this has been mentioned countless times), I could just picture the forum loaded with complaints about dunn striking out with men on base, i personally don’t like the thought of dunn coming up to bat with a man on first and second, and him not being able to move over runners

4) i understand people being afraid of manny being a poor clubhouse guy…but i feel his attitude at least in the short term could loosen up the clubhouse. the angels played way way too tight in the playoffs, and a little of manny’s attitude could be a big plus come playoff time…plus it’s not like it’s an 8 year contract (like with boston)

Don’t you feel that in your gut? Because I feel that’s the case, and pretty strongly.

Who knows, maybe I’m completely off base here, hopefully so.

A couple of the main reasons for my instincts:

1. When Tex finally signs with Boston, there’s simply NO WAY that the Yankees are going to let the Sox steal their thunder (the thunder being the signings of their 2 pitchers to a quarter billion dollars) with the last big move of the hot stove league. NO WAY that will happen, and they know there are a number of reasons why signing Manny will steal the thunder back on their side.

2. Manny is another Boras client. If we just went through this with Tex, then why in the world would our management wanna turn around and go through it again with Manny? I don’t see us doing that.

3. Whenever there is a free agent that either Boston or New York covets, then we might as well move on. Because Boston has repeatedly proven in the past few years that when they truly want someone they go get him. Texeira is no different. In New York’s case they simply have significantly more dollars than us, and they’re willing to throw caution, and their checkbook, to the wind. They can very easily outbid us for ANY player. I truly believe the Yanks, if and when Boston signs Texeira, will suddenly feel much more strongly about getting ManRam in pinstripes.

4. Boras will make teams wait for Manny. The Yankees will linger as long as necessary to try and get the best deal they can; we’ve just shown Boras that we are not willing to sit around and be a pawn in his game. I see the Yankees finally signing Manny for 3-4 years, at something like 22 million per.

I feel pretty sick about all of this. However, it’s time to finally nut up about this, and say forget signing any of the other guys; they are all significant downgrades from Tex or Manny. Those 2 guys are difference makers. We already have more than enough pretty good major league players, we have a pretty deep team that’s definitley built for the regular season and not the playoffs, but that’s the way it goes. And pitching is definitely NOT what we need. Anyone can see that if they look even semi close. How many starters do we need? Only 3 of them will be pitching when it counts, and you don’t need to have the best 5 man rotation to win the WS. You need a couple of guys who can go out and will themselves to shut out the Red Sox in the playoffs, because we’re definitely not gonna score much on Lester or Beckett (when he’s healthy). Peavy? he’s not gonna hit on our team (maybe he should). We should probably be looking at the list of free agents next fall and make our intentions clear, provided the player is someone who actually WANTS to be an Angel. There’s no reason to settle for second tier guys, they won’t get us where we need to go.

If we’re looking to make a blockbuster trade it should not be for Peavy; it should be for one of the best offensive players in the game. I don’t know who that is, but if it’s not an offensive player forget about it.

And we better improve the offense soon, because if you think losing Tex sucks, imagine how it will feel when Lackey jumps ship, and decides to go somewhere he thinks he can win a title. Guess where that might be? That day would REALLY suck.

We don’t need to focus on more starters. And no, I don’t want to spend time in this column debating whether or not Kelvim should go to the pen (definitely not; who wants a guy who, when healthy can compete for the Cy Young, throwing 100 less innings in the pen?); that’s not the point.

The point is we have more quality starting pitching than about 90 percent of the teams in the MLB. We lack consistent offensive production. We have for years, and we still have not solved it. And we must.

We don’t need Peavy. We don’t need the Big Unit. We don’t need Ben Sheets. No, No, and No. We need HUGE bats to complement our fine pitching. If we decide to trade away 3 or 4 of the young guys that teams feel are worth something, trading for pitching will be a tragic mistake; those kids will be gone and we will have failed to solve our glaring weakness. It is unacceptable.

I’m just glad it’s over. Regardless of whether we signed him or not, I’m taking great satisfaction knowing I don’t have to wake up every morning and check ESPN or here to see if he’s signed with us. What a relief. It doesn’t matter if he signs with the Red Sox, Yankees, Nationals, Orioles, or whoever. We can move on. We will move on. We will spend less money, and get quality in return. I’ve posted before about Kendry Morales not being Teixiera on offense and defense, but could he put up half to three quarter of Tex’s numbers in his first full year starting? I think so. I also think Adam Dunn could make up the power numbers. Morales and Dunn could and would equal Tex and GA power numbers. Not RBI’s… but Rivera and Dunn could and likely would or thereabouts. How about the DH spot? Little or no production out of there last year. Dunn is a solid man there. It’s possible we’ll go after Peavy now. We’ll see….