Yanks back in it for Tex

[NYgiantsfan5689]

Yankees back in Teixeira sweepstakes | FanNation

The Yankees, who are pressing for pitching and have money to burn, have re-entered the Mark Teixeira Sweepstakes, SI.com has learned. It had been presumed the Yankees were concentrating only on starting pitching for the moment. But sources tell SI.com that the Yankees aren't about to concede Teixeira to the rival Red Sox or anyone else. Word in baseball circles on Wednesday was that the Boston appeared to be the favorite to land the star free-agent first baseman.
The Angels, Nationals and Orioles are all pressing for Teixeira, as well, with the price likely to approach or hit the $200-million mark. There have been reports suggesting some Angels pitcher are discouraged, but it appears they remain very much in the picture.
There are some people who believe Teixeira would rather go to the East Coast, and if that's true the Yankees could be an interesting fit. The Orioles and Nationals are pressing hard, and while Teixeira is a native of Severna Park, Md., neither of his local teams appears ready to win.
The Yankees are also pushing for A.J. Burnett, talking seriously to Derek Lowe and investigating whether to make a bid for Ben Sheets. The Yankees' biggest need is pitching, and if they sign three more pitchers beyond CC Sabathia, they can probably be counted out on Teixeira. But until that time, they should be considered to be in the Teixeira Sweepstakes. If they do sign Teixeira, Nick Swisher would be switched to the outfield.

And a great user comment on the page:

Yankees took $88 mill off the books after 2008 and will take off another $35 in 2009. CC at $23, Burnett at $16, Lowe at $16 only equals $55 mill. You better believe they have and extra $20-$22 mill to throw at Tex to bring him to NY and keep him away from the Red Sox.

That's a great way to look at it, is by yearly value. That's not necessarily accurate because of back or frontloaded deals, but we don't know those values, so yearly average is a good way to look at it. Just for hypothetical purposes, if the Yankees signed all 3 of Burnett, Lowe, and Sheets, with CC, they'd be paying about $67 mil. That still leaves $21 mil to get them back to the $88 mil they dropped this year. They're not out of this money wise. Steinbrenner did say they wanted to cut payroll, but they're obviously not signing all 3 of the pitchers left. So they can sign Tex and still cut payroll. Teixeira is someone who, if they Yankees can keep away from the Red Sox, would be HUGE to this lineup. And personally, I think at this point, the only way to keep him from the Sox is to sign him. The Sox had him as their only big target this offseason, and they're not going to be scared off by someone who's driving up the price.

[Dry1313]

That's a nice idea.

I'd love to see us sign CC, Sheets x2, resign Pettite, and sign Teix.

That'd be ideal

[DirtyKash]

With Jeter, A-Rod, Teixeira, Matsui, Swisher, Wang, CC, Sheets, Burnett, Pettitte, Joba and Rivera, you guys better win the freakin' World Series.

[browntown653]

I don't think Tex is going to either the Yankees or Red Sox truthfully.

[love_that_reefer]

Only reason Yankees are in it is to drive up Teixeira's price, just like the Red Sox did to the Yankees over Sabathia. After the Red Sox met with Sabathia, Cashman flew down to SF and added more money, another year and an opt clause. I still think the Angels will get Teixeira but the Red Sox have had good talks with him so far.

[ljshorty89]

Here's something to think about:

Sabathia 23 million yearly, Burnett would be 16 million yearly, Pettite would be 15 million yearly, A-rod's salary goes from 27 million last year to 32 million this year, Swisher makes 5.5 million, Marte makes 4 million, Wang will make more than he did last year in arbitration, Nady will make more in arbitration, Cano's contract goes from 3 million last year to 6 million this year, Mike Cameron is making about 10 million......thats adding 81.5 million plus Nady/Wang's arby figure. There's not as much room left as I think people assume.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

Where did you find all that?

[ljshorty89]

Cot's Baseball Contracts: New York Yankees

[NYgiantsfan5689]

wow what a f-in great page. not that it's that reliable because it's a blogspot page, but who has the time to make ALL THAT up?

[ljshorty89]

It's actually pretty reliable. I'm not sure who made it, but so far, every contract I've looked up on there has been right....and with even more info than I could have asked for. It's my new favorite website.