LAS VEGAS - The Orioles have apparently made it to the final four of the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes, though it remains to be seen whether they'll be able to offer enough money to lure the free-agent slugging first baseman back home.
However, the club has made a strong bid, offering a seven-year contract for between $140 million and $150 million, one industry source said.
With the New York Yankees' signing of ace CC Sabathia early on Day 3 of baseball's winter meetings, the chase of Teixeira, who grew up in Severna Park, heated up and appears to be down to the Orioles, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox.
All four teams have made lucrative, long-term offers, with Orioles president Andy MacPhail extending his bid to agent Scott Boras in a meeting late Tuesday night. MacPhail declined to divulge specifics of the offer.
"We are involved in the process," MacPhail said. "Where it takes us, we don't know."
Boras said he had gone back and forth and made counteroffers to the interested teams, and the speculation around the lobby at the Bellagio Hotel was the agent had at least eight-year offers in hand from all the interested parties. The Washington Post reported the Nationals made an eight-year, $160 million bid to Boras, and the Angels reportedly had made a similar offer.
However, as of last night, the Orioles hadn't gone as far as eight guaranteed years, according to an industry source. MacPhail said he has been keeping owner Peter Angelos abreast of the negotiations. Angelos has been long enamored of the first baseman, but, according to the source, he is against offering Teixeira a 10-year, $200 million contract, which is what the player and his agent had originally sought.
"Suffice to say, I keep him apprised of where we are," MacPhail said. "I don't go anywhere without his prior approval. We talk about it on a daily basis. Of course, he's involved. We wouldn't be one of the four clubs left standing if he wasn't a sincerely interested party."
Boras created quite a scene at the posh hotel when he emerged from the elevators about 4:15 p.m. Pacific time and was engulfed by a pack of reporters. The crowd grew so big that security officials from the hotel ordered the group interview moved elsewhere.
Boras described Teixeira's decision as "complex," saying it depended on multiple factors, including a potential desire to play closer to his hometown in either Baltimore or Washington.
