The Los Angeles Times Reports That The O's and Nats May Have Offers On The Table For Teixeira...

Well, take this report from the Los Angeles Times for what it's worth.

Considering the profile of Mark Teixeira and the interest that a few teams have for him, any news at the Winter Meetings that reference his name is noteworthy.

From the Los Angeles Times: According to a source from a team that is involved in negotiations, the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles "are coming in hot" on Teixeira, with the Nationals said to be willing to offer the slugger a 10-year deal for more than $20 million a year and the Orioles possibly willing to go nine years for at least $20 million a year. The source was not authorized to speak on the record about the situation and required anonymity.

The Boston Red Sox are also aggressively pursuing Teixeira and are discussing internally whether to push their offer to eight years. Like the Angels, they would prefer to sign Teixeira for six or seven years, but it is becoming apparent that it may take an eight-year deal in the $160-million range.

I'm going to take a lot of this with a grain of salt, but I can also see a lot of validity. The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals are both second division teams looking for an identity in the Mid-Atlantic, and someone like Teixeira would be a boon to both fan bases.

With the Baltimore and Washington franchises apparently in competition with one another now for Teixeira's services, they both know that they have to issue an astronomical offer. Simply put, they both have "opportunity" and "potential" to sell, but not much else.

Or could Boras be using the reported interest of the Orioles and Nationals to jack up the price for Boston, New York, or the Los Angeles Angels?

Meanwhile, MASN's own Roch Kubatko issues a rebuttal to the Los Angeles Times report:

From MASN: I know everyone is spinning in circles over the Los Angeles Times report that the Orioles are "possibly willing to go nine years for at least $20 million a year."

Read that closely: "Possibly willing." That doesn't sound concrete to me.

The story is sourced, as so many of them are here, which is fine. But those possible figures aren't coming from the Orioles.

We will be meeting with team president Andy MacPhail later today. Though he usually refuses to get into specifics when it comes to negotiations, he may shoot that one down with a bazooka. We'll see.

I do know that owner Peter Angelos wants Teixeira. I've heard that from enough people to know it's true. One person in the organization joked that it's an obsession. But he's also stepped back and is letting MacPhail conduct business. This, too, is fact.

Will sentimentality and the chance to play near home get Teixeira in a Baltimore or even a Washington uniform? We shall see. I like I said this morning, I think he still ends up in Boston.

However, rumor and speculation run rampant at a venue like the winter meetings. Let's hope that the news from the Los Angeles is definitely fact, and not fiction.

No matter what, Mark is going to get a lot of money from someone.

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