Angels make eight-year offer to Mark Teixeira
BASEBALL
Club spokesman Tim Mead confirms the offer of a contract, whose value could almost double the previous club record of $90 million given to Torii Hunter last year.
The Angels have offered an eight-year contract to Mark Teixeira, club spokesman Tim Mead said Friday night.
The contract would be the longest and richest in club history. The value could almost double the previous club record, the $90 million guaranteed last year to Torii Hunter.
Mead said he could not provide the value of Teixeira's offer or say when it might expire. The Angels are believed to have offered at least $160 million, matching or exceeding the highest offer so far reported for Teixeira.
Owner Arte Moreno flew from his Arizona home to Las Vegas on Tuesday and met personally with Scott Boras, the agent for Teixeira. Mead said he believed Moreno presented the offer to Boras at that time.
None of the other teams in the Teixeira sweepstakes -- the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals -- has been reported to have offered more than eight years. The Nationals reportedly have bid $160 million over eight years, the Orioles between $140 million and $150 million over seven years. The details of the Boston bid have not been reported.
The Angels had exclusive negotiating rights with Teixeira for the first 15 days after the World Series, but they declined to make an offer during that time and said they would do so at an appropriate time. Boras has had one month since then to solicit bids from other teams, enabling him to let Moreno know how the market had developed and enabling Moreno to make his first -- and perhaps only -- offer without letting Boras shopping that offer to other teams.
The Angels have not wavered from treating Teixeira as their top priority, even as other coveted options have evaporated. The Angels negotiated with pitcher CC Sabathia, a favorite among their scouts, but they chose not to make an offer after deciding they would not match the New York Yankees' initial $140-million bid. Sabathia agreed to a seven-year, $161-million deal with the Yankees late Tuesday night, hours after Moreno met with Boras.
On Friday, outfielder Raul Ibanez signed a three-year, $31.5-million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Angels had considered signing Ibanez if they lost out on Teixeira, with Ibanez playing left field and Kendry Morales replacing Teixeira at first base.
The Angels' eight-year offer first was reported Friday night on the team-owned radio station, AM 830.
Shaikin is a Times staff writer
bill.shaikin@latimes.com
