Angels have plenty of competition for Mark Teixeira
ANGELS
The Nationals and Orioles are making big pushes for the slugging first baseman, a Maryland native. The Red Sox are also interested. Multi-year deals around $20 million a season are being floated.
Reporting from Las Vegas — Their imminent signing of free-agent left-hander CC Sabathia to a seven-year, $160-million deal would seem to take the New York Yankees out of the running for Mark Teixeira, but apparently that won't ease the competition the Angels face in retaining the free-agent first baseman.
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.
The Red Sox and Angels can offer Teixeira something the Nationals and Orioles can not -- a spot on a perennial playoff- and World Series-contending team in organizations with track records of spending the kind of money it takes to sustain a winner.
That's why the Nationals, who lost 102 games last season, and the Orioles, who haven't reached the playoffs since 1997, feel they have to blow away Teixeira with massive offers. The Nationals are also trying to sell Teixeira on being the centerpiece of a franchise in the nation's capital that is building toward contention.
Teixeira is a native of the Baltimore suburb of Severna Park and was raised in Maryland.
The Angels have Teixeira on top of their priority list, but late Tuesday night they were feeling less optimistic about their chances of retaining him. They will still make an offer when agent Scott Boras begins soliciting them, but they have also begun aggressively pursuing other options.
Those include the pursuit of free-agent outfielders such as Raul Ibanez, Adam Dunn, Bobby Abreu and Pat Burrell. Or, they could move third baseman Chone Figgins to left field and look to trade for a third baseman such as Adrian Beltre, Garrett Atkins or Mike Lowell.
DiGiovanna is a Times staff writer.
mike.digiovanna@latimes.com
