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Adam Kilgore / Boston Globe:
Henry: ‘We are not going to be a factor’ for Teixeira — Red Sox owner John Henry e-mailed several media members late tonight with a stunning twist in the team's pursuit of free-agent first baseman Mark Teixeira. — Henry's words: “We met with Mr. Teixeira and were very much impressed with him.
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Alex Speier, MetsBlog.com, Hardball Times, The Bronx Block, Nationals Journal, Jorge Says No!, SOX & Dawgs, The Bottom Line, Bottom9 Baseball, Washington Post, Clubhouse Insider, Over the Monster, Oriole Post, MVN, River Avenue Blues, Fire Brand of the …, YFSF, PE.com, It is about the money, stupid, The Yankee Scrolls, MLB Rumors, Oleanders and Morning Glories, Baseball & The Boogie Down, Camden Chat and Boston Herald
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WCVB-TV:
Sox May Be Closer To Signing Teixeira — BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox may be close to signing Mark Teixeira, the premiere free agent available this off-season. — SportsCenter 5's Mike Lynch reported that team owner John Henry, CEO Larry Lucchino and General Manager Theo Epstein …
Tim Brown / Yahoo! Sports:
Angels close to re-signing Juan Rivera — Buzz up! — The Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night were nearing agreement with outfielder Juan Rivera on a three-year contract, according to baseball sources. — And as news spread of a meeting between their No. 1 offseason target …
Adam Kilgore / Boston Globe:
Red Sox fall out of Teixeira talks — Henry: ‘We are not going to be a factor’ — Red Sox owner John Henry issued a stunning proclamation late last night regarding the team's pursuit of free agent first baseman Mark Teixeira, all but ruling out Boston's chance to land the prize hitter of baseball's offseason.
ESPN:
Owner: Red Sox not a factor in Teixeira derby — It looked Thursday afternoon as if the Boston Red Sox had made strides toward completing a deal for first baseman Mark Teixeira, major league sources told ESPN.com. — But by Thursday night, Red Sox owner John Henry had sent an e-mail …
Discussion:
Angels blog, Federal Baseball, PE Angels Baseball, Clubhouse Insider, Bugs & Cranks, 6-4-2 and MLB FanHouse
George A. King III / New York Post:
TEIXEIRA TOO RICH FOR SAWX — The Red Sox say they got outbid for free agent first baseman Mark Teixeira. — Though Boston didn't talk about which teams offered more for the switch-hitting Teixeira, it wasn't the Yankees. — “Not us,” GM Brian Cashman told The Post late last night.
Lyle Spencer / MLB.com:
Henry: Sox ‘not a factor’ for Teixeira — In a bold move that at one point Thursday appeared to be the beginning of the end of the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes, Red Sox executives flew all the way to Texas to try to hammer out a contract with the switch-hitting slugger.
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Halos Heaven
Jon Heyman / Sports Illustrated:Red Sox still look like front-runners to win the Teixeira Sweepstakes
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Angels blog
Jeff Schultz / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Livid Schuerholz: Furcal dealings ‘despicable’ — Braves' president says team will never do business with player agency again — If Rafael Furcal's decision to renege on a verbal agreement with the Braves was the biggest jolt of the team's dreadful winter, this must be the aftershock.
Discussion:
ESPN, It is about the money, stupid, Bottom9 Baseball, LA Times Sports Blog, Baseball Musings and Sabernomics
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Tyler Kepner / New York Times:
Sabathia and Burnett to Skip World Baseball Classic — While Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez will play in the World Baseball Classic this spring, the Yankees' new starting pitchers almost certainly will not. C. C. Sabathia participated in 2006 but said he was likely to decline his invitation this time.
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David O'Brien / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Time for Braves to reassess? — It's 70 degrees with high humidity here in Atlanta one week before Christmas, which somehow seems appropriate weather for this end-is-near sort of vibe around the ol' Braves/MIB blog the past couple of days. — Hey, just so we're clear …
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Jon Heyman / Sports Illustrated:Red Sox look like front-runners for Teixeira (cont.)
Discussion:
MetsBlog.com, Mets Fever, Bottom9 Baseball, Bleeding Blue and Teal, MLB Rumors and Hot Foot
Joel Sherman / Yankees Blog:
NO SHEETS FOR YANKS — Keep hearing from multiple sources that the Yankees will have nothing to do with Ben Sheets. They have real concerns about his health, especially they fret about the righty's history with back ailments. The Yankee theory is they already have taken their health gamble …
Geoff Baker / Mariners Blog:
Ibanez: Why he left — Just got done talking to Raul Ibanez for the first time since he left the Mariners and signed a three-year, $31.5 million deal with the Phillies. Ibanez said his decision came down to wanting to play for a competitive team right away.
Dejan Kovacevic / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Wilson: Pirates need ‘more players’ to compete — Shortstop urges management to practice accountability it preaches — Jack Wilson, sounding convinced he will return as the Pirates' shortstop next year, yesterday urged management to bolster the 2009 roster and heed its own call for accountability.
John Hickey / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
M's mull starting Lopez at first base — Wakamatsu wants better infield support behind pitchers — One of Jim Riggleman's final moves as Mariners manager in 2008 might translate into one of Don Wakamatsu's first moves next season. — Riggleman, short of first basemen and hoping to improve …
Tim Dierkes / MLB Rumors:
A Look At The 2010 Free Agent Class — By Tim Dierkes [December 18 at 1:19pm CST] — Since it's more of a reference, I didn't allow comments on our 2010 MLB Free Agents post. This post will be the place for readers to comment on these players, who we'll be talking about constantly a year from now …
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