Really? Not that the Yankees payroll isn't ludicrous, but isn't Johan Santana getting more than $20+ million a year?

Anyhow, it will be all the sweeter when the Rays win the AL East again.

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Pete's reply: Oops. You're right. I thought his $137 million deal was a seven-year deal. My bad. I'll fix it.

Nobody cares. Baseball is dying on the vine and it is killing itself. Let it die a slow miserable death. Face it, it's boring to sit through, only gains even marginal television ratings during the playoffs, and offers the least "live" bang for the buck of any other major professional sport. GO RAVENS!!!!!!!!!!

Big deal. Aubrey Huff @ first for the O's is not the worst that could happen. No starting pitchers, that is still a huge problem. No 'Tex'- wow, the world might come to an end...

Pete isn't that higher than the Orioles payroll? can we like switch to a different division? an i'm totally with the who salary cap idea. It might give the o's a chance (might not, but its worth trying)

The yanks also dumped more salary than they are adding with these signings, so looks like the total roster for 09 will be less than 08. It's still a lot of money over way too many years for a pitcher or a position player. I say keep with the rebuilding plan and don't get sucked into these bidding wars.

And guess which hometown team is one of those 17?

I can't stand it Pete. I like the NFL's system better. If you care, I posted an article on some possible alternatives to the deal:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/96375-baltimore-orioles-reaction-to-the-teixeira-signing

MLB is broken. I don't know that it will ever be fixed. What's worse, is that Bud Selig thinks everything is just fine.

I can image a day when 2/3 of the 30 teams are insolvent and will appear before Congress begging for a bail out, while the Yankees try to tell us all why this is really good for baseball

I for one, intend to start my boycott now.

And yet the MLB offices and even some clubs are laying off employees. There's a joke in there somewhere...oh sorry, MLB is the joke.

As long as the Players Union and Agents keep pushing players to accept the highest bids, this will continue to be a league of have and have nots. As long as players continue to act like mindless sheep and forget the agents and union work FOR them, not the other way around, the agents and union will continute to pimp them out to the highest bidder.

I'm all for a guy making as much as he can and I'm also pro-union, but millionaries needing a union to protect them from billionaires somehow bastardises the concept. Espeically in the current economy when people are losing jobs left and right while every other day another business goes under.

I don't even blame MacPhail on this one, at least the getting outbid part. The whole charade of being in the hunt in the first place is another thing.

Hey, everybody get off Teixeira's back. THAT MAN HAS A FAMILY TO FEED!!!

I wonder what Bud Selig thinks of the Stankees signing Sabathia, Burnett, and Teixeira!?!?! I wonder if MLB is planning to do ANYTHING about the ridiculous, lopsided economics in the game. I hope the Yankmees sign Manny too and win 125 games this season and the World Series for the next 3 years. Would that force MLB to do SOMETHING???

The Yankees will ruin baseball (except NY fans) because they are monopolizing the sport, just like the federal government but regulation on businesses MLB needs to put regulation on teams. Enforce a salary cap NOW. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure more and more fans will just give up on the sport. Am I right? Or am I right?

Does not change the outcome much the same thing will happen this year, difference is we would have finished in front of Toronto with Tex. Too bad I guess the local kid did what he had to do, I just hope he and his new teammates choke this year. You do not know how bad I want to see the Rays win the East and the wild card come from the Central or the West. I would love to see the new Yankee stadium be empty in October, and the next 7 Octobers after 2009.

Keep rebuilding and do it in our own system, Teixeira can go deal with the crazies of New York and I hope he regrets his decision for the rest of his life, because if he really does love Baltimore, no amount of money can replace what could have been.

Pete: Sorry to put it that way but I feel like our team has been taken advantage of. With the petition and all the fan support he had, to do it this way is ridiculous.

This isn't about the O's winning or losing anymore, is it? I think it's more about finding ways for the O's infrastructure to grow in ways necessary to keep the team in existance for the next 100 years. It's not about bringing in high dollar free agents. Baltimore needs to find away to increase revenue. Hell, I don't even know anymore. How do you compete with that much financial flexability like the dreaded Yankees?

I hope that this jacked up economy ruins their stupid new wankee stadium and all of those greedy money hungry players are on side of road with a "will play for food" sign! MAJOR LOSER BASEBALL SUCKS!!!

I just thought of something... maybe I should be a free agent fan. Yea, then the Yanks can pay me 20 mil a year.

What you guys dont seem to realize is that, with or without Tex we werent going to win alot next year anyway. And any pitcher you all cry for us to sign is only going to be a stop gap. Tex wanted 8-10 years, so signing him had to come now if we wanted him in place to be one of the cornerstones. You sign him for whatever he wanted, and then like the tigers did b4 they won, throw out ur young pitchers and take your lumps and watch them grow in the majors.

Tex wasnt the last piece, but he was a big piece and a big step in the right direction, that we have now lost for atleast a decade.

So now at the end of the year and another losing season with no end in sight, what stops Nick and Brian from leaving? Brian has already said he wants to play meaningful baseball in september. And if he leaves, I dont doubt Nick with follow, and then the rest of our "young nucleus" and then we have to start all over again and its another 5 years away again.

I admit is may not play out that bad, but it wouldnt suprise me. Tex was that guy that we had to sign to put butts back in seats, and to show everyone, including our own guys that we want to win and mean business.

Pete,

Your so right about the Yankees high salaries but one point missed is that with the players they lost (Musina, Petite, Giambi, Abreu etc,) their annual outlay is actually $22 Million less than last year? Does this mean they aren't done?

However, I'm not one to cry over spilt milk, it's time to move on! Tex didn't really want to play here and the O's didn't really want him too bad considering we were the lowest bidder. It's really not worth it, all the whining. We just wish our owner was more like the Stienbrenners and opened his pocket books and wanted to win as bad as they do!
So Andy Mcphail laid out his plan and he is holding to his word. We are following the Tampa Ray plan, my only question is how many years did they finish in last place before they won the AL? Subtract 2 years and that's at least as long as we will be waiting. Just quit whining, if our ownership would lay open his checkbook you wouldn't be whining!

This is just crazy. I agree with whoever stated that baseball is killing itself. I hope the Yankees choke on their salaries like they have before. So absurd with the problems people are facing to even take that kind of money, and MLB having to lay off hard working employess. C'mon Bud where are your Brewers in all of this?

Same reason Muss was cursed: you don't have to take yankee money, (or to a lesser extent bosox money), you don't have to show up at Camden 10 times a year and rub our faces in it in our own stadium. Yeah Tex gets eight probably solid shots at a ring, he also sold his soul to do it. Sit and spin tex...consider the law of unintended consequences, consider the rancor of the fans you used to be one of. I just hope when its all over, you are just as hollow as the guy we used to call Moose.

Moose may just reconsider retirement and decide to give the Yanks one more year after they sign Manny and get that ring he deserves!! 20 more wins should be pretty easy in the new Murder's Row.

I get a kick out of the Moose bashing, he just went where he was wanted the most. He was a classy player and was just not wanted.

Lets face it folks, if you were offered more money to work elsewhere you would go too!! It would only take a few bucks more an hour and you all know it. What could you do with another $80 a week? Stop being hypocrites.

Ed in Alaska

Baseball is so lopsided, and the salaries so outrageous, I want nothing, nadad, zilch to do with it - I will not so much look at a box score online or in the paper. Talk radio better be talking about something else. If baseball teams get any tax breaks whatsoever, they should be revoked.

I don't think baseball needs a salary cap. And I don't want a salary cap for baseball. It's great to complain about it when the Yankees are spending loads and loads of money, but think about it people: How would you fans feel if, in three or four years, the O's couldn't sign Matt Wieters, Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman to extensions because of a salary cap?

Here's what MLB really needs: A third team in the New York market. The Meadowlands in particular. Think about that. There's got to be at least four million people in Northern New Jersey. Don't you think enough of those people hate traveling into NYC to see a baseball game? Don't you think enough of those people are sick and tired of the Yankees outspending everyone else by $100M and not bringing home a World Series trophy? So let's see MLB move one of the Florida teams to the Meadowlands. Florida is for Spring Training and college football. And it's a given that either the Rays or the Marlins would greatly benefit from such a move. Imagine the Marlins being able to hang onto their young studs. Let's see MLB break up the New York market.

And to all of you who are longer fans because the Orioles didn't sign Mark Teixeira: I'll see you in a few weeks when the next bit of news about Nick Markakis's contract extension comes out. If you're really not a fan any longer, please don't come back in 2011 when Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman are anchoring the rotation and Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis are mashing in the middle of the lineup.

And to all of you who are actually blaming Andy MacPhail for not signing Teixeira: What else did you expect the man to do? The way the negotiations seemed to have gone, it was obvious that Tex didn't want to play for the Orioles. Did you really want the O's to offer an eight year, $200M contract to turn Tex away from the Yankees?

I would have loved to have Tex on this team, but since he turned out to be another mercenary for Scott Boras, let's move on. Use some of the Teixeira money to sign Markakis to a long term deal. Trade Roberts for an MLB ready player (starting pitcher, first baseman, second baseman) and a couple of prospects. Sign a couple of mid-level FA starting pitchers to get through '09. Stick with the plan, Andy, and this team will be a contender in a few years.

Speaking of the Yankees and these exorbitant prices at the new ballpark of theirs, have all those $2,500/game seats sold? I can't imagine that this economy will support that insanity. I would assume corporations are going to be a little more reluctant to plunk down thousands and thousands on baseball seats, but we'll see ...

I'm sure I'll be reading soon enough about how my bailout tax dollars ended up funding some AIG get-together in a club suite at Yankees Stadium...

We are becoming the Baltimore Generals playing against the ESPN/Fox NY/Boston Globetrotters. Those two teams have to have someone to play besides themselves. MLB will share just enough revenue to keep the have-nots barely above water. As long as Angelos can find people to pay increasing prices for seats and $8 beers , etc ( whether they be O fans or YankeeSox fans), he doesn't really care.If we're dumb enough to play their game, shame on us. Watch the Baysox- more fun.

MLB is an absolute mess. 90% of the teams going into the season have no shot, steroids, ridiculous disparity in payroll, uneven playing fields, lack of marketing, insane ticket / concession prices..its a joke. Dont give up on baseball though, its a great game. Join the Revolution --THat is the York Revolution of the Independant league.

We can hate on the Yankees and how screwed up baseball is all we want. At this point, I hope they sign Manny too. The fact of the matter is this… the Orioles made ONE and only one GD offer. This means they made no true effort to get Tex. If they legimately tried and the Yankees slivered their way in, then I would not be upset. But the fact that we made one offer with no true intentions to negotiate shows me that Peter the Great was again trying to fool us. As long as he owns this team, I am DONE with the Orioles. This was the last straw. I will not let this ruin the hopefully upcoming celebration of Festivus and Ravens playoff football.

Free agency in baseball has completely run amok. Wanna level the playing field - bring back the reserve clause and let each franchise be responsible for building a competitive team through their farm system like the Orioles, Pirates, Reds and A's used to do. Let such teams be rewarded for their smart management by getting to keep the star players that they develop, trade them as they chose and not lose them to free agency and the highest bidder just as they are reaching their peak. Such as it is now, about three quarters of the teams in MLB are functioning as farm teams for the Yankees, Angels, Red Sox, Mets, and Dodgers. The players will still make a lot more money than most of the rest of us for playing a kid's game until they're 35 or 40. Back in the days before Boras and contracts got completely out hand, ticket prices were affordable and fans even got to see twinight double headers - if I remember correctly, they were two for the price of one.

Food for thought:

$22.5 million/year.....at 500 AB/year, that comes to$45,000 /AB. If an average AB has 5 pitches, then he makes $9000/pitch. If he scratches himself 3times/ AB, that comes to $3000 per scratch!
Think of that when you apply for unemployment or you can't meet you readjusted mortgage payment.
Talk about taking care of his family!!

I wonder how much New York would pay me to be a Yankee fan. It's hard rooting for a losing team this long.

Don't blame Tex for one minute.He knew the O's weren't going to raise their offer,PA lowballing another player once again and that acting like he was somehow robbed.If most of your competitors offered you a 25% raise in whatever field you work in,I guarantee you 95 % of you would take it without a second thought.Like I keep repeating,as long as Angeloser owns this team,we have no shot at winning,EVER.Wait until Brob gets traded and oh by the way,how are those Nick Markakis talks going?

Pete,

What is the O's team salary looking coming into this season?

I had originally hoped that Teixiera would realize that it's really difficult to spend even $21M a year and he could have done that and been a hero. Instead, he took a little more to play in one of baseball's frying pans. I want to wish bad things but I'll just wish him the same frustration A-Rod has endured. Let's use the money to tie up what we have for an extended period and build the farm system. And Bud Selig, you deserve Milwaukee!

Major League Baseball just lost a life long fan today. The fact that there is no salary in the league has killed it. The rich keep getting richer and I'm talking about both the Yankees and Angelos. Maybe some of these players, owners, agents and FANS need to realize that there are greater financial issues going on then Tex getting $180 million guaranteed. I can't bring myself to support a business that can't see beyond it's own walls. Maybe I can catch an O's game on my furlough day, but I have to save that money to pay my mortgage to a bank that going under. I guess my only solice is I only paid $1.49/gallon for gas the other day. Go Ironbirds, real baseball, real ownership. Kids who probably will never make $180 million, but play for the same reason they did when they were 10, FUN.

So when are the Yankees going to collapse like every other multibillion dollar industry in this country. Can't wait to see Hank Steinbrenner jetting down to Washington to beg Congress for a bailout. This sport has become a joke at a time when most Americans have lost their sense of humor.

Ed in Alaska, don't call us hypocrites and give us that "you'd take the money, too" crap. The man will make more money next year playing for Monopolyball Inc. than every single person posting here put together. What difference does all that money make?

No, the point is Teixeira is a greedy bastard and we're fools for caring. Hang the DNR sign on Camden Yards. Or maybe sell it to the taxpayers of NYC since it's now as much a part of the Yankee empire as their new stadium and the YES network. And here's another idea for John Henry and Hank Steinbrenner to discuss during their next mudwrestling meet: How about exhibition series between their gaudy franchises at Camden Yards so all their DC-based fans can watch the games they really want to see without having to fly back to New York or Boston? It's not as if the Orioles are going to be needing the place anytime in the 21st century.

Angelos isn't even the problem anymore. His work is done. Does anyone here see Pittsburgh ever fielding a winner again? Can anyone tell me exactly how the Orioles are any different? These franchises are museum pieces, folks. Relics of the 20th century.

I'll start caring once MLB wises up and issues a salary cap. I hate to say this because baseball is the better game, but right now football is so much more interesting.

Dear Tex, I live up this way in Yankeeland. Listen, you might need a new financial advisor with all that hard-earned loot (by the way, great job using your hometown to drive up the offers...your agent played it just right...those rubes in Baltimore never saw it coming...who cares about them anyway...you're one of US now). Let me introduce you to this great guy I know, Bernie Madoff. You guys are a lot alike in so many ways, similarly motivated. I would LOVE to see you give all those greenbacks to good ol' Bernie to invest, I mean it. He'll probably do a little time because some people think he got a little greedy and forgot where he came from, but I say he was just trying to get what was his. Anyway, look him up when he gets out. You two would be perfect together.

Oh, and say hi to A-Rod for me. Every time I see him or his family on the back pages of the tabloids up here, he always looks so unhappy. I'm sure it's just the camera angle. I hear it's fun being a Yankee, no really.

And, last but not least, be sure to say hi to the Steinbrenner boys. I'm sure you'll be thrilled to have them as owners. Once you get past their swollen, bloated faces, they remind me a lot of Al Davis and we all know that he's doing great things for the Raiders. They seem like real level-headed guys, I'm sure you'll be glad to have them as owners when you're slumping.

Well anyway Mark, if I don't hear from you, best of luck. You know what they say, money can buy happiness. It goes something like that anyway.

Pete—As of 11:11 pm, “Teixeira and the Evil Empire ( Part Deux)” had attracted 276 comments. You have posted four replies.

I’ve found all of this therapeutic. Being the eternal optimist, I’d hate to give in to my disappointment today and go into a rant and then a funk. You know, think that all the attention I had given and all the hope I had felt about signing Teixeira had been a colossal waste.

Let me help you: If you wish, I’ll post the other 266 replies. It may take a while but it could be fun. As long as you don’t mind some gibberish and a heap of non sequiturs, e.g., “Sign Dunn? By all means. He enjoys writing metaphysical poetry in the off-season and hitting warehouses in the in-season.”

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Pete's reply: But I assure you that I read all of them...and there are more than 400 if you count the entrie below it. If I had tried to answer my normal percentage, I would never have gotten my column written.

Screw MLB it is dying anyway, kids have stopped playing, how about a NBA team, the season ends just before the NFL starts. We could use Camden yards for a professional outdoor soccer team.

Good luck to the Raven's this weekend, looks like I made the right decision in dropping my baseball season tickets for NFL tickets.

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Pete's reply: Yes, MLB is dying to the tune of a record $6.5 billion in revenues last year.

This is why baseball is awful. Whether it be the out of control salaries, insanely biased media, or awful time scheduling, this sport will be the first to go as the economy worsens. The 2010 Yankee bankruptcy scandal will rival that of the Chicago Blacksox.

Why ars we so down!!
The Yankees havent won th WS in 8 years.
Money cant buy championshiips
Did we forget our payroll DWARFS the Rays payroll who just played in the World Series!

I have not watched an entire Oriole game -- even on TV -- in over 10 years. I didn't watch a single World Series game or playoff game. Not even one inning. I had been watching baseball religiously since 1954. I covered sports for the Sunpapers, worked in the Orioles PR department and was a diehard fan. This salary spiral has just gotten so absurd, you would have to be a moron to support it. Unless or until there's a salary cap to create a level playing field and lower ticket prices, baseball is dead sport walking. Remember when you chose up sides for baseball as a kid? Did one guy get the first 10 picks and tell the other guys to split up the leftovers? They would have taken their bats and balls and gone home. That's what I did 10 years ago....

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Pete's reply: So you quit on the O's the season after they went wire to wire in 1997? How did you know?

Send the O's packing & turn the Camden Yard into the Ravens practice facility - I'd rather watch that.

Who is really shocked by this? Hank is pissed that the Yanks did not make it to the post season, that we knew he would do anything to get back.

Don Fehr is an idiot and will be the reason that the game will be ruined. His refusal to accept a salary cap is going to be a death blow to the sport.

While McPhail is doing a fairly decent job with what he has to work with, he will be hamstrung as long as the Angelos' are in charge. They have to be the worst family of negotiators around. Look at all of their failures on player negotiations over the years.

Pete tries to run this team like he does an asbestos trail - a place where the defendant does not have a 2nd, 3rd or 4th choice like these players do. His inability to get a first class spring training facility for the team just is further proof of what an idiot he is.

If Angelos was the owner when they were talking about building Camden, the Orioles would still be playing at Memorial Stadium and the Orioles and The MD Stadium Authroity would still be negotiating lease terms for the new ballpark.

Note to the Angelos family - sell the team to Cal and sell it to him now. At least he has a freakin' clue of what to do and would actually bring some passion back to the Park.

Amazing on how brainwashed that us Americans really are. An owner that actually pays his people well? What in the world is wrong with that? I guess we are too used to corporate greed. Thank God for the Steinbrenners! btw...I hope we get Manny too!

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Pete's reply: Yeah, real altruists. They got, what, $300 million in public funds for their new stadium, and you cast them as good corporate citizens.

Following the model of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays? I didn't know they had a model. And if they did, did it not just come together in a very short period of time? Can the Orioles do the same? No, they can not because they don't have the front office moxey nor talent nor know out.

I don't understand these people who are making excuses for the Yankees and telling O's fans that they have no reason to really be depressed.

I have no problem with Texiera taking the Yankees money. He's taking care of his family as any man should do, and I defy any Oriole fan to say they would take $40 million less (or whatever the equivalence is to the rest of us) to do the exact same job that they are currently doing. Please.

The problem for the O's now- and it's a problem I think a massive Tex signing would have helped avoid- is that they are going to try and build a team of young players who will most likely end up losing a majority of their games. Trembley has said repeatedly how much he values winning at the minor league level. But at some point these guys have to play in the big leagues, and for Orioles, that means playing 76 of your 162 games against the AL East.

The A's and Twins can get away with smaller payrolls because of their divisions. They may not win every year, but they can remain competitive. How do the O's compete against what is currently going on? If they were in any other division in baseball, I'd say they could find a strategy that would occasionally make them competitive, but in the AL East, who doesn't think they are doomed for a decade? Will the Sox and Yanks stop spending? Will the Jays and Rays get much worse?

What today illustrates is that the O's probably have the least hope of any franchise in baseball, and perhaps in all of sports, to win a title in the next decade.

So yes, I can see why O's fans are depressed today.

the orioles made a fair offer, boras never called them back because tex wanted to play for a team that could win today. don't blame the yankees because they did nothing wrong. baseball has no salary cap. baseball in general is making a fortune between tv revenues, merchandising, money from mlb.com and baseball owns stub hub. baseball is not getting a salary cap because the players union is too strong. the orioles have been awful for many yrs not because of the system but because angelos, and before him edward bennett williams, was making baseball decisions. however it appears the last yr and a half angelos has let andy m make the calls and andy is doing the right thing. developing young players, increased scoutig, and stockpiling young pitchers. believe it or not the orioles will be a very competitive team in a yr or two and then when they need to fill in a spot or two, and no more than a spot or two , they will be able to get the free agent they need to put them over the hump (or as marty feldman would say,,what hump?) when was the last time the yankees won a world series..and since the last time they won a world series look how many big time free agents they've signed. the orioles have been broken for the most part since the mid 80's. you can't turn things around overnight but they are on the right track

No team can compete with the Yankees financially. To get Tex here would have cost $200 million, or more; frankly, he's not worth it.. I'm no Angelos fan, but this wasn't his fault. MLB needs to examine the NFL model and come up with something that doesn't alienate so many fans. With the current set-up, most baseball fans don't have someone to root for, only someone to root against. With that, I'll reluctantly resign as a baseball fan until a more equitable system is in place. This just isn't fun anymore. The only bright spot is that if the Yanks lose they are the ultimate underachievers. If they win, there should be an asterisk by their entry in the record books.

Ok, so now that the charade is over, and it was a charade. Tex was there for the taking. If the Yankees can afford 5 $20M+ infielders, don't tell me we can't afford 1, so now that the jig is up, are we going to see the O's take the money they had on the table for big Tex and offer it to the veteran pitching they desparately need? Or a right handed power bat?
Answer: fat chance!

What self respecting free-agent pitcher would want to come here and face New York, Boston, and Tampa (gulp, that's still weird to say) 19 times each next year?

As much as we need a power hitting right handed bat AND as legit as Manny is to making a lineup come alive, witness the Dodgers transformation after he arrived, we know too, this ain't going to happen, more like a snowball's chance in haiti, so the reality is we can't even dream anymore in Baldimor... at least not about baseball.

GO RAVENS!!

Pete, I figured out how to make myself happy. If the Jets are lucky enough to hold onto their playoffspot, I will feel much better when the Ravens wipe the floor with them.

I've always wanted a salary cap because that way, every team has a shot, but with that being said, I am not upset with the Yanks or Sox because they are following the rules. I still believe that chemistry on a ball club will beat out the team with the highest paid athletes. The great Atlanta teams of the 90's had a mix of home grown talent that they signed long term mixed with some free agents. The A's have been successful with home grown pitching prospects or those acquired in trades, plus some veterans sprinkled in the mix. Teams that have a plan and stick to it and don't flip flop when they don't have overnight success, can still be competitive.

Even if the O's win a World Series in the next decade, will people ever stop bashing P.A.? The organization has made a lot of mistakes over the years, but I am tired of hearing since Albert, we haven't signed anyone. Miggy, Javey, Ramon and Baez, were all high priced free agents. The O's front office should be held accountable for a lot of the failures (especially the spring training home debacle), but to blame P.A. and now Andy for everything, is ridiculous.

Pete, do you expect a flurry of signings and trades now that Tex has signed or do you expect things to move slowly for all teams because of the economy?

Pete--I was trying to humorously tell you that I appreciated how you've let us all vent today (and now, the next day). That the overflow of reactions from Oriole fans (and some other sad, cheap-shot Yankee lost souls) had been impressive and beyond anyone's ability to comment on, post-by-post.

What can I say? I don't use smiley faces and LOL lingo and even if I did, my attempts at humor sometimes stink.

Thanks a lot, Buddy for all you've done through these last few weeks (seems like years, perhaps because some of us--me included-- thought, like children, that we could wait for this Marylander who was raised an Oriole fan and who's father remained an Oriole fan, would himself choose to become an Oriole when he had the chance).

You've done a great job, Pete.

Now, let's sign Adam Dunn and Jon Garland.

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Pete's reply: Thanks. I appreciated the fact that you noticed, but my sense of humor was probably deadened by that point.

Peter-

Im not calling you schmuck so you wont have another excuse to make a terrible joke about your name (which apparently you would love since you take every possible opportunity to do so). What I am doing however, is asking you to admit that you were swept up in the optimisim developed by you and your colleagues and realize that we were never going to sign him. Everyone in Baltimore overweighed our possibility of getting him and adding fuel to the fire with every move and/or countermove (not to mention no moves at all) made by any team or person involved naturally didnt help. Not getting Teixeira is not the biggest deal of all time. Why are we whining so much? take some responsibility.

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Pete's reply: I believe that I said at least a dozen times that I didn't think the Orioles had much chance to sign him and that I didn't believe he wanted to play here. Never once did I say I thought they would sign him, though I did say the Angels' withdrawal seemed to improve their chances. Where I was wrong is that I thought, like most everybody else, that he would end up in Boston.

I love the photo that's been running on the sports page throughout the afternoon and evening.

It visually says this--Teixeira has turned his back on the Baltimore Orioles.

Players union and owners will never agree on a cap, however, impose STRICT AND HARSH(cannot emphasize this enough) luxury taxes on teams that overshoot $85 million per year on payroll. The evil empire owns yes network valued at somewhere between 3 and 6 Billion (yes with a B). Hit them with a penalty of say $750,000,000 compounded by each year they choose to be over the "cap" consecutively. Then take that money and spread it around evenly to ALL the other teams in the league. The Yankees will one day learn that Championships cannot be bought, but that they are won from a sound and stable farm system (most recently the rockies, rays, and bo sox).....but what do you expect from bums who cant even finance their own stadium?

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Pete's reply: I believe the union really likes what is happening with the Yankees, so I see no chance of a draconian luxury tax. The Yanks just gave the smaller market teams $27 million for last year's excess, so even some of the lesser teams don't mind the system the way it is. Unfortunately, nothing is going to change.

Baseball's broken? Really? Record attendance and record revenues doesn't indicate a breakdown, more of a boom time. From 2006 to 2007, half of the teams in MLB made the playoffs (NFL, NBA, and NHL can't say that...ever). The AL EAST is a tough place to be, yes, but MLB overall has greater parity that any other sport. Truth hurts.

Pete hit on something in his reply to the last poster. I for one do not want to see a salary cap for fear of the long-term damage it could do to the game.

There are people who would love nothing more than to see the game shut down for two years just to get the chance to compete. I say let the Yankees keep spending. What have they got to show for it since 2000? OK, yes, they have reached the World Series a few times, but since 2000 no championship. And just because of all these signings, don't automatically assume that 27th title is coming.

If somehow, a cap got through, you'd all of a sudden be subjected to not being able to keep players because you can't afford to keep them. You'd laugh at seeing it happen to the Yankees, but when Matt Wieters has a great season and then has to leave because the team has to clear cap space the general reaction will be "who... wha..."

And what would you do if the Yankees won world titles even after a cap was put in place? You'd scratch your heads. And the rest of us would sit there wondering why in hell the game got shut down in the first place.

Tax and revenue sharing is good enough for me, thank you.

So much for the Yankees youth movement. Mr Cashman might find it difficult to ever win any GM of the Year awards given his career performance, and his penchant for spending/mispsending tens of mllions of dollars on a yearly basis. He's really a very silly man(oh those late night commercial flights to go convince Sabby and the wife that they don't have to actually live in the Bowery to play in NY, they can have Mussina's old house somewhere in Westchester) and I'm quite sure he's very entertaining while attending the Yanks organizational meetings and pleading for his job as chief check writer. And Pete, you are correct regarding NY ballclubs and city money- 2 new ballparks will cost the already fiscally corrupt city and NY taxpayers close to a billion dollars in infrastructure costs before it is all said and done. Maybe the Yanks have some shovel-ready projects all set so they can tap into the gazillion dollar road project we're gonna start in January(nice, trickle up economics, all you inexperienced 40 yr old construction worker wanna-bees ready to work for 30% of your previous wages better start getting in shape) Or Pete, worse comes to worse you can move to Ct and work for one of the newspapers the governor feels the need to bail out...Just no columns about the governor please. Lest I digress.
I'm not a salary cap guy, because that's proven to be nothing but bad news for fans, and a nice way for the owners to protect themselves from each other. Pass on that one.
It will be interesting to see how the Rays fare this year. Were they just a flash in the pan-stars aligned just right deal, or are they in it for the long haul? Their model will get a true AL East test this year.
The O's might not seriously compete in the AL East for some time. They are just so far behind the other 4 teams in this division, this rebuild is more like a 5 year plan, just short of a bad expansion team. Excepting Weiters, the minor leagues will provide no help this year, which is why a 70 win team has to go out and sign utility infielders. Signing mediocre stop gap pitching, though necesary, will lead to only more of what we've seen the last few years- a terrible beatdown after the All Star break, especially in the AL East, where you just can't have enough solid pitching. Yet imagine bringing up your young pitchers and almost half of their starts will be against clubs in the AL East? That's just unfair
to kids struggling to pitch 7 innings in AA ball. Unfair to the team, manager, coaching staff, players, and fans.
The O's are not players in the marquee free agent sweepstakes for a simple reason- when money is equal, what is the attraction of a really bad team to a really good player?
My view is that losing out on those players is to be expected. Hometown crap is just that. And when baseball stops being a business, call me up. I'll buy the first round...

I can't see why MLB would would want a salary cap in the short term. The Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, and Cubs (and to lesser extent, others) bring huge amounts of money to the entire sport. Just look at the O's attendance during Yankees and Red Sox games. I imagine their ad revenue goes up for these games too.

I believe the huge increase in revenue for MLB in the past decade has been largely due to the dominance of these teams; a dominance that came by spending enormous amounts of money. For more evidence, look at the impact on TV ratings when one of these key teams is not in the World Series.

So, bottom line, in the short term there is no logical reason why the sport as a whole would want a salary cap

The long term is a lot trickier though.

On another note, the luxury tax is a joke. $27 million means nothing to the Yankees, and once it's divided in whatever way it's divided, it means very little to the teams that get that money when the entirety of the pot can't buy you one Alex Rodriquez for a year.

The Yanks just gave the smaller market teams $27 million for last year's excess, so even some of the lesser teams don't mind the system the way it is.

Right. People complain about the ownership here. How'd you like to be a Kansas City fan, with a miniscule payroll and when they get their small-market payment from the Yankees, the owner just pockets it instead of using it for salary? Yeah, that's worth rooting for!

Peter- I wish Jeff Z would stop saying Tex grew up a fan. Roch said it perfectly, you dont grow up in baltimore, with Cal, and Eddie, and then sign with the Yankees if you were a fan of the team. Thats a fair weather fan. The lowest type of person you can be.
A team that made a hero out of a 12 year old CHEATER.

Pete, if you are making the F.O. decisions, do you bring back Millar as a part time player and give the 1B job to Huff or do you seek out a Hank Blalock in a trade or Adam Dunn via Free agency?

I am not sure how valid this is, but it appears Lowe is headed to the Mets, so barring any trade, it appears that Looper and Garland are the next best options.

Thanks for keeping us all informed during the Tex saga, as I certainly enjoyed reading your take on the whole crazy (being nice) situation.

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Pete's reply: Personally, I would like to have Millar back as a part-time player, but that's just because I like him.

Unless I am missing something, if you consider the Yankees position by position, all they have added thus far is Burnett, who has never had a complete season w/o the DL:

Consider:

Alex Rodriguez ($27.5 million): A player improves for ten years (w/o the Barry pharmaceutical program)...and he's past that point, watch for numbers to drop. He will watch the world series on TV just like you and I.

Tex=numbers from Giambi, Abreu, and how will he look at age 36?

CC Sabathia ($23 million): a wash from Mussina last season and a lot of money to hang on a rotator cuff with a lot of innings on it. Think Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson, Pavano etc

Derek Jeter ($18.9 million): numbers falling, past his prime productivity.

Damon and Matsui are old and the entire OF is a defensive liability, Manny certainly will not help that, nor the locker room dynamics.

So they overpaid and appear to be ahead only by one injury injury prone starter.

The frustration is that they never seem to have to pay for their mistakes.

Playoffs yes, but I can't see where they have set themselves up to win for a long time.

Texeira's getting top-5 player in baseball money from the Yankees. Last season, he was around the 20th-best player in baseball, with a very good offense, and near gold-glove defense at 1st.

If the O's had signed him, he'd probably have been the third-best player on this team, after Roberts and (especially) Markakis, but ahead of Huff (assuming Huff can match last year's performance, which is... up in the air.)

The above assumes Weiters doesn't equal his AA batting average with the major league club next year.

$180 Mil. for the 20th-best player in baseball?

Get over it, put Huff at 1st, consider Dunn/Burrell for DH if you don't like a Reimold/Scott/Montanez/Freel platoon, and go find some pitching.

Oh, and extend Markakis.

The Tampa Rays model? Isn't that the one that started by signing Jose Canseco? A big bat would have been nice, but I would want a big bat and a class act for my $180 million. No disrespect to Mr. Texiera -- I've never met the man but I imagine he's not the worst jerk in the $20 million/year club. But if he doesn't want to be here, then why not hold out a bit longer for someone who does? It sounds to me like most of the bitter fans wanted his bat AND someone to turn the franchise around. I don't care to have my heroes "bought". Spend some of that money you just saved on better scouting, better internal player development, and maybe you don't need to buy the guy who turns the franchise around. Maybe he's already here.

If it is a hero you want, then do the due diligence first. Ripkens and Ovechkins don't grow on trees, but they are special because of their extraordinary talents and there desire to battle no matter what the circumstances. I don't blame Texiera for taking the money and looking for his best chance to get to the big dance. I just think that I'd rather spend my money on someone who wanted to make Baltimore an elite team despite the way the money is stacked. That's the way the game is going to be played in the near future, so move on and find that slugger with an even bigger heart to take on the Evil Empire.

P.S. Ovechkin should be available after early June and would be a steal at 10 million/yr.

Thanks for the Article this morning, Schmucker. It really made me feel better after what a harrowing experience this nightmare has been.

I'm curious for your opinion. I'm guessing we'll be hearing a lot of grumbling about a salary cap (I think the Brewers owner already beat me there). I think a cap would only take the money from the rich players and give it to the richer owners, and that it flies in the face of capitalism. However, capitalism only works because of anti-trust laws...

Thoughts?

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Pete's reply: I don't know what to think, frankly. Throw the ridiculous Yankees out of the equation and it's not that big a problem, but you really can't have one team with twice the payroll of everybody else and believe the game is balanced....even though the Yankees haven't won a world championship in awhile.

I have a great idea. With no true salary cap, I think the Major League organization should be re-aligned along recent historical grounds. It should be based on revenue. Group the teams in each division based on revenue so that divisional play is more fair year in and year out. That would mean putting the Yankees, Boston, the Angels, and the White Sox (?) together. Teams like Minnesota, Oakland, Tampa, and Detroit(?) could make up another division. The National League could do the same.

What do you think?

We throw the word "rebuild" around like it really applies. This team is attempting to "build". There's no "re" in it.

McPhail had better start fielding offers for Roberts & Markakis now. There is no way that either of them would ever consider staying in Balto. when those contracts expire. The team still has a chance to do what it usually does....trade them for some contender's 2nd-3rd level, long-shot, prospects. If they don't trade them, they're going to bolt.

For all of you saying that a cap would hurt because the O's wouldn't be able to keep players... hmm, the Ravens seem to do well with the cap. I don't see the issue.

Im done with MLB. All the so called family men that want to play close to home is bull.Its nothing but the highest amount period. I may watch the Orioles on TV, but they wont get my hard earned dollars at the ballpark. I'll go to minor league games first.

While I agree that some form of salary cap is probably needed, it is my humble opinion that it would not change what is happening here in Birdland one bit. The current ownership/management team hunts for bargains and tries to fill as many needs as possible with marginal players and future prospects, prospects that usually get hurt or just fail. You want to see the future of the Orioles? Go to Frederick or Bowie. You will see that the pitchers learn to throw "ball 1, ball 2, ball 3, home run" at the minor leagues. Stay a fan of baseball, but understand that the O's will never be competitive again unless the other teams in the division have an off year like last year. It has nothing to do with salary.

Pete, in just the past 2 yrs. the Yanks have committed over 800 million to 6 players & I bet they are not done yet !!! This system has really become very uncompetitive for about 90% of the teams. Do you think baseball is headed in the wrong direction ? I know they won't go to a football type cap, but what do you think could / should be done in the interest of leveling the field a bit ?

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Pete's reply: Without a cap, the best they can hope for is more revenue-sharing and luxury taxation, but it obviously isn't working too well.

b's post at 9:46 is the most thought provoking and makes the most sense. Free market capitalism historically works unless economic barriers to entry cause monopolies. A third team in the NY market is absolutely necessary to absorb excess profits earned by the Yanks and Mets. Problem is the cost is enormous. MLB should do whatever it takes to help a team move to NY/NJ.
Pete- your right salary caps don't work.

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Pete's reply: The NFL cap works okay. What I was saying is that the methods they use now to share revenue don't work that well.

If the Yankees did not come to town you guys would make no money, no one cares about your team so you all should quit your bitching, The Yankees, as much as i hate them and cant stomach them The Skank sox your teams would never sell out. Be gratefull they come to your home stand 8 times a year. That's 16 games that gets to be a sell out, o wait your owner pockets that money so it don't matter