Nationals Take Their Swing: Offer to Teixeira Reportedly Upgraded to $184M

For weeks now, Mark Teixeira has contemplated his next home -- a waiting game that has slowly shortened the list of teams in pursuit of his services. But evidently, the waiting hasn't caused Teixeira's price tag to drop even the slightest.

One report posted online last night by MASN Sports' Roch Kubatko suggested that the Washington Nationals have upgraded their initial offer to Teixeira -- eight years, $160 million -- to somewhere between $178 million and $184 million over the same timeframe. No member of the team's front office would add comment yesterday on the current offer or indicate whether the team had sweetened the deal.

By way of declining to offer the numbers of Washington's proposal to Teixeira, team president Stan Kasten said, "There are bargains, but luxury goods are still not being discounted."

Regardless of the money, the team's front office still knows it would take a mild upset for the 28-year-old to settle on a deal with Washington. On Sunday night, the Los Angeles Angels withdrew their contract offer to Teixeira, believing he had no sincere interest in playing for the organization with which he ended the 2008 season.

The Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles have offers on the table, and though they have yet to make a concrete offer the New York Yankees might also contemplate a last-minute bid.

Various news reports late last week pegged the Boston offer to be as high as $184 million over eight years, though subsequent rumors suggested that the numbers are a little lower -- perhaps between $165 million and $180 million. The Orioles have the weakest offer of the bunch -- a proposal reportedly worth between $140 million and $150 million over seven years.

So far, no team involved has offered a contract longer than eight years. Teixeira's agent, Scott Boras, entered the free agency process hoping his client could attract a 10-year deal. Either way, Teixeira will end up with one of the biggest paydays in baseball history, almost certainly exceeding the $161 million (over seven years) that fellow free agent CC Sabathia received from the Yankees earlier this offseason.