I stopped by the CC Sports Bar and saw the question on the menu.....MIke Mussina...oh...boy, my nostrils are flaring.....Easy answer.....Mark Texeria. I was never unhappy about Mike "Mama's Boy" Mussina leaving..He just had a really bad attitude toward many people I know, not just me. He wouldn't last long in Seberia.

not even close--the moose in pinstripes.

Well, as deflating as Mark Teixeira not coming to Baltimore would be, I think that Mike Mussina leaving was more painful. Mussina had already been an Oriole for years and after 1999 it still felt like the O's were close to getting back to the playoffs. And then to leave for the Yankees of all teams was just too much to take. Baltimore hasn't had a pitcher of Mussina's caliber since.

While Teixeira passing on Baltimore would be rather disappointing, I think most O's fans know that it's likely he won't come here and it's not as if he was here in the first place.

Of course, if he signs with Boston or New York, ask me again.

Mussina leaving was one of the most painful experiences as an Orille fan. I mean, his blood was orange and black. Then go to the Yankees to boot? Teixeira not coming I can understand for the cost involved but Mussina was an Oriole in every way to this fan. I HATE the free agent system in baseball as it just leads to mercenaries. I miss the days of players playing their careers with one team. I am also bothered by not signing Cabrera. I do not care how long it takes with this talent. And besides, in baseball today he is still a decent 5 for many teams. pitiful Sigh. And while I am griping, I miss the Rochester Red Wngs being the Orioles farm club. Ahhhh got this all out of my system ;-)

no comments yet?

I say Mussina. It's the difference between being dumped by your girlfriend or a girl simply rejecting you on the dance floor.

mussina , its what started the major decline in the o's , he left they never replaced him and they have been losing ever since

Considering the fact that with all those millions the Boss paid Mussina and others of his like, the Yankees won exactly the same number of world series as our coveted Orioles since 2000 - exactly none, nada, zip, zero.

I'd have to say that not signing Teixeira will be more devasting at this point, because we don't know the future...only the past.

That's why we all have so many high hopes every spring when all the teams are tied going into April.

It's high expectations that Teixeira brings to Baltimore.

Mussina? So what. Winning the world series is the goal, and he will NEVER wear a world series ring.

If you don't think winning the world series is the only goal for teams, talk to an O's fan who was there in '69 - '71 and '79.

And, I don't recall any "25 year celebrations" for any of those teams!

Tex not coming because I will be done with baseball. Joining most of my family and freinds. They would be conceding defeat of the next decade to the Yanks and Sox. Both teams are better at every position and can buy replacements when or if we catch up.

There is nothing wrong with either player. Both are smart not to want to play for our owner, Peter Angelos. Why would you want to make the players look like idiots? We know who the idiot is. Poorly stated question, Dan. The better question would have been; How can we get rid of Angelos as owner, so we can retain our better players, announcers, managers etc., and have top players once again want to play for Baltimore?

I would say neither. The moment we will all remember is TEX signing with the ORIOLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is a baltimore boy and he knows how great the fans are!! They stick through the loseing and love the hometown guys. I am not crazy enough to think that he is another Cal Ripken, but he will be a hero in his hometown!!! Go on and mark your calenders December 22 a little past noon Andy and Peter will be announcing the hometown kid comming back home!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan, I'll have a black coffee this morning. Maybe I'll be back later for a beer and sandwich. Hopefully nothing will get me too riled up today. Oh, and some people may have commented more than once yesterday so that might impact your head count a bit. Not that the exact tally alters the validity of your premise.

Chris explained it perfectly. It's worse to lose what you already have than not getting what was never yours in the first place. Like it's more painful to lose 40% of the value of your portfolio in a market drop than to not win the big prize in the lottery. Mussina was ours, he was our ace, he was a homegrown first round draft choice that had made a quick rise to the big club and won big games for the Orioles. He had stayed with the team once before, so it was shocking, stunning, disappointing, painful when he opted to take the Yankees take-it-or-leave-it offer. It's only in the clear light of some passage of time that it was easier to see why from his perspective it made sense.

It's only been in the past couple of weeks that I have believed that the Orioles had any kind of realistic chance of signing Teixeira. Though once that possibility is seriously considered, it makes for the chance to be disappointed in a big way if it doesn't happen. Still, if there is no Red Ryder BB gun under the Orioles Christmas tree this year, I'll be over the disappointment long before Spring Training.

It's equal.....

I think that Mike Mussina leaving Baltimore was clearly an indication that this was a franchise on the decline. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why he left. In baseball after the money is made there has to be something that continues to motivate a player. Mussina was obviously motivated by a World's Series ring and felt the Yankees could help him capture it quicker than any other team.

Mark Teixera may be motivated to help the team he rooted for growing up quickly become a contender. That would certainly motivate someone who searches for something beyond money.

Either way, we continue to root for our team. Missing out on Teixara won't change my and my families love for this city and this team.

Everything takes time. This may take just a little bit longer...

Make mine a coffee to go. Chris put it best....Mussina was like getting dumped. Tex is like getting your advance rebuffed. Let me buy Chris a drink of his choice.

Easy question to answer for me..... its Mussina leaving. He was an Oriole through and through and the fans loved the guy until he bolted us for another lover (the Yankees). As for Tex, I never expected him to sign with the Birds so that let down is not really a left down. Euphoria can only set in if Tex signs with the Birds ........ still not going to happen in this day of the almighty dollar.

Hello, Jack ...above me, and everyone else in here. Need you be reminded, Mike never did get that ring in new york either!! The yankees all that spending no prize. Should everyone else also be reminded, Tejada, Beddard both thought they were headed to greener pastures. The yankees are the biggest spenders, Red Sox usually not, the trade and draft and then retain. Dice K being the kind of exception. Then again since he was new to the majors you could almost call it player development more than free agency. I truely believe most main streem media does not have a clue they just do not want egg on their face so they go with the safe bet!! based on history is the big 2 a safe bet. YES!!! BAse on this case is it a safe bet!! Absolutely not!!!! I worked for the Baltimore Sun myself in advertising as well as CBS radio. They only usually know what they read online as well. They just know where to get it quicker. Baltimore is a baseball town!! Thats why Mark Teixeira is a proffessional, it was his obsession. The other thing I know is that I do not know a single person that grew up in this town win or lose that does not love the orioles!!! Add those up... You have a very obsessive orioles fan!! what we have here is a case of a star trek convention junkie being offered the role of Captain Kirk. Now he has to be shrewed, their is an amzing amount of work involved in being a pro athlete and they do not trust management like most of us!! He wants to be paid!!! The players union is amongst the strongest unions in the country!! He must sign for top contract or have a really compelling argument so that the union does not lose power or credibility. Please also consider that I am sure union dues are a portion of a players check therefore greater contract greater dues. we have not even mentioned Boras yet!! I am sure everyone is well aware of how greedy he is and his feeklings towards any other teams than the big markets. that being said he works for Teixeira and will do in the end what his client wishes. The shrewed negotiaters of Mcphail and Angelos are the best in baseball!!! I am sure Boras and Mcphail have had extremely heated discussions!! I am also sure that all sponsorship opportunities are being explored right now as well!! MArk Teixeira wants to come home!! He has stated this!! I also believe if he does nd up any where else it will be with a very heavy heart, although he will have 200 million dollars to curl up in a corner and cry with!! MY take and my hope is that with in 24hrs Mark Teixeira, close to honest tears for a couple of reasons will be putting on a Baltimore jersy at the podium!! That is good for baseball!!! I believe Baseball also knows it!!! Hometown boy makes good!!!

This is like asking what is more painful....

1. The knife tip stuck in your back from 7 years ago or...

2. The shot through the heart from the gun pointed at you by Scott Boras

It would have to be Mussina leaving. You don't miss what you never had (Texiera). I've given up on him signing with us - it's all about the money now. Free agency ruined baseball.

In an actual baseball sense, Mussina leaving was/is worse. But from the standpoint of how people will feel in a few days when Teixera signs somewhere else, well, you might as well take down the Christmas decorations and put on black armbands. It's going to seem like a funeral around here.
I hope he does sign because he's a great player, but in making my prediction I simply go back to when he was in high school. Did he stay close to home and help out the local squad that he had been playing with his whole life in Severna Park? Nope, he did what was best for him and went to Mt. St. Joe. Case closed in my book.

Ryan hit this question out of the park: Losing out on Teixeira would be worse than losing Mussina, because the Orioles would be conceding defeat for the next decade.

When Mussina left for the Yankees after the 2000 season, the Orioles had had three consecutive losing seasons--the most in team history since 1986-1988. Historically, you could expect an upswing. Also, since Angelos had spent a competitive amount on payroll in '96 and '97, there was no reason to expect that the Orioles would be outspent by the Yankees by more than 2 to 1 for the next decade.

Now, Orioles fans know what to expect. The franchise is a laughing stock, going on a dozen losing seasons in a row. The Yankees and Red Sox get far better players by spending more freely, and develop prospects far better than the Orioles know how to do.

Orioles fans know that the only way to rescue the franchise is to combine player development with top free agent signings.

MacPhail has already helped the player development side tremendously by getting both Jones and Tillman for Bedard, and by drafting Weiters, Matusz, and Arrieta.

But no team can win with player development alone, and the only way a top free agent would come to Baltimore is if he grew up rooting for the Orioles as a kid. (Otherwise, the Orioles' money is, as we are repeatedly told, Confederate.) Enter Teixeira, a hometown superstar, who could play first base and bat cleanup for the next decade, providing superior defense and leading an offensive attack with Markakis, Weiters, Jones, Huff, Roberts, and Scott.

What's more, if the Orioles don't sign Teixeira, they will likely not be able to convince Roberts and Huff to stick around after this year. That would mean finding replacements at 2B and DH--probably Fahey and Reimhold, for a drop in productivity of about 30%.

So, because we have the experience of more than a decade of consecutive losing seasons, and know that this is the Orioles' only chance to be competitive in the foreseeable future, not signing Teixeira would be worse than losing Mussina was.

Definitely Moose signing w/Yanks! Not only b/c he left us after an illustrious career, but worse- went to the YANKS!

It has to be the Moose! You can't miss what you never had! Now if we could only get Peter to move out of town!!!!!

Mussina - hands down. Especially when we learned that all the O's had to do was show a little love - call the guy, make him feel wanted. Or, at least, that was Mike's story. I am hopeful that the O's brain trust does a bit more than just lay an offer in the agent's in-box. It will take more than just money to get Texeira to decide to play the next 7 or 8 years in Baltimore. He needs to be convinced they have a plan that will get him and them into the World Series in one to three years.

It has to be the Moose! You can't miss what you never had! Now if we could only get Peter to move out of town!!!!!

This one is easy - - - Mike Mussina leaving Baltimore.

Angelos will never be forgiven for this debacle.

He is not coming here. See this update from ESPN -- http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3775042

Regarding the above article, it's not over till it's over. Remember in '04 when everyone thought we would get Vlad, then at the last second the Angels swooped in. This may be a shocker, but it wouldn't surprise me if Angelos responds and ups the offer. I don't think he wants to let Tex get away...I truly hope not!!

Easily Moose leaving.

I love the headline: "Sources: Texeira to Orioles Unlikely". Hasn't it been that way since day one?

Thanks for ruiniing my luch with that recent ESPN link, Jason. I need a Blue Moon over here. And hey Mike Nealis, an entire generation of boys/young men, ages 5 - 20, do NOT love the Orioles. When you have a decade long losing streak you start losing out on future generations of fans. My son is 12, loves baseball, but not the Orioles. He doesn't hate them; he just wants to identify with a team that makes the playoffs from time-to-time.

If the ESPN story is true, shame on Angelos. If 7/150 gets trupmed by 8/160, he's an idiot. OK, we already know he's an idiot (and a short one at that) but to not match the offer would now be the dumbest thing he's accomplished as owner.

If Tex signs elsewhere, we might need a day of mourning in here......

Mussina leaving is/was worse than Tex never arriving. Mussina was our All-Star starter at that point, and he still had many good years ahead of him. To see him go to the hated Yanks was just gut wrenching. If Moose had stayed, he probably would've been a positive veteran influence on the many younger pitchers we've had since 2000, and that would've gone a long way. He might've even been a liason between Mazzone and the pitching staff, and the result may be that Mazzone may still be here working his magic. We might have even finished closer to .500 last year since we would've had him and Guthrie heading our staff, followed by whoever was filling in for the 3-5 slots of the rotation. A lot of what ifs, but never weres because Moose left.

Mussina's departure was the ides of march. We knew it would only get worse from there on out.

Tex not coming is dissapointing, but realistically who thought he was really coming here?

I'm a Baltimore fan living in Delaware now. Mike Mussina leaving is by far much worse than Texiera coming to Baltimore. The debacle with Angelos was the beginning of our downslide over the past decade. Angelos violated the golden rule by thinking he could replace the ace of the Orioles pitching staff. You never let an ace out of your system unless you have several to replace him.

Another factor Tex needs to consider is to keep in mind that during his stay here- and this is a sad, morbid fact- Mr. Angelos may die...thus bringing Cal in as next owner! Now we all know Cal would love to have the hometown boy, like he was, bringing the O's some pennant winning years!

I'll buy a round of Murphy's for all the poor bloggers and reporters who have had to live Teixeira for the past week.... Oh, that much? Better make it Natty Boh then!

Mussina's departure was worse. As others have noted, Teixeira hasn't played here and he doesn't owe Baltimore fans anything. I'll be ready to boo him without end if he signs with the Red Sox, but not because he owes us anything.

I really was upset with Mussina leaving and never again wished him well. But if Tex does not sign with us I will really be deflated. Very, very disappointed.

He is a perfect fit for the O's !!

Come on Mike we need you badly.

And please don't sign with the Sox or Yanks.

I suspect those 75 commenters all remember the days of Earl Weaver. We were lucky to see the best and now endure one of the worst. We're suckers. Nostalgia can be very cruel.

Anyhow, Mussina's leaving was worse. He was here battling with the owner. I figure he would have liked to stay, and of course the team's dismal future was not known at that point. Tex just knows this is a crap franchise. That bothers me more than any one player refusing to come here. Tex had the brains not to get involved.

Trading Shilling, Finley, and Harnisch for broken down Glenn Davis........worst trade in Oriole History.

Oh ! and by the way Tex I wish you all the best in New York and hope you finish 2009 with the following stats.

189AVG 4HR 32RBIs.

and Have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.