Had a nice texting exchange with Scott Boras on Monday, reminding him a year ago about this time A-Rod was on "60 Minutes" telling everyone he was no longer talking to his agent.
I wanted to know if Mark Teixeira would be appearing on the show any time soon?
A-Rod didn't like the way Boras orchestrated his exit from the Yankees, dropped his agent, renewed acquaintances with the Yankees with outside help and signed a 10-year deal for $275 million.
Boras took a serious public-relations hit, although I presume he still got his cut of A-Rod's deal.
I wondered, though, if he was overplaying his hand again, taking forever to squeeze every million he could out of suitors for Teixeira, but in doing so, losing the Red Sox, Angels and baseball fans everywhere?
Does anyone believe Teixeira is going to sign with losers such as Baltimore or Washington? So what's the delay?
Boras replied with customary self-confidence, and a "we will see" before offering some further comments off the record about the Angels. I don't normally deal off the record, but hard to avoid when a text begins, "off the record."
The Red Sox will probably end up with Teixeira, but what about the Angels -- The Times' Mike DiGiovanna reported the team never heard from Boras after making its offer two weeks ago.
No one seems to be disputing that, although it's known the Angels were advised from the outset their offer wasn't good enough to secure Teixeira.
It was also known from the outset that team owner Arte Moreno likes to play John Wayne and make one-time offers, and with Boras known best for dragging out the process and hitting bidders up for money, was there ever a chance for a deal to be made here?
Moreno is now acting like Frank McCourt and keeping his thoughts and money to himself, the guy who likes to take care of the fans now opting not to keep them in the loop and explain why he pulled the offer at this time.
It's not like anything he says is going to impact Teixeira's signing unless the Angels still intend to go after the guy.
Why now? Did they really think some kind of 15-day take-it-or-leave-it deadline would be met? Or, was all this just for show a la McCourt?
Are the Angels ready to announce the signing of someone else today, but need that money to complete the deal?
Did Moreno walk away in a huff because he didn't get his way? Did he read Plaschke's column calling for the Angels to sign Teixeira and say no way I'm going to be told what to do?
