Getting to First Base

News is breaking right now that this winter’s top free agent, Mark Teixeira, is about to sign with the Boston Red Sox for 8 years and $184 million.

Now, pretty much every team in baseball has either bid on Tex directly, or is waiting impatiently for him to end up somewhere so they can move on  with other deals. Deadspin’s Rick Chandler broke down Tex’s impact on the entire market this afternoon:

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the row of dominoes looks something like this: The Angels want closer Brian Fuentes, but only only if they lose Teixeira. The Cardinals also want Fuentes, so must wait on the Angels. If the Cardinals don’t get Fuentes, they could go for pitchers Kenshin Kawakami or Will Ohman. If Boston doesn’t get Teixeira, they’re interested in Manny Ramirez, Milton Bradley and possibly others. The Yankees could be after the same group if they lose Teixeira. Meanwhile the Cubs and Rays want Bradley, but can not get him until he exhausts his options with the Angels and Yankees.

Yikes. That’s pretty complicated, right? (more…)

One of the most-speculated players of this Hot Stove season is Matt Holliday, the left fielder for the Colorado Rockies. Rumors have linked him to just about every team, and it seemed that the Rockies’ demands for him were steep.

All along, I wondered if teams would be suckered into giving up more than Holliday is worth. His offensive numbers certainly LOOK fantastic, but a closer look quickly reveals that he benefited greatly from playing in a hitter’s park.The 28-year-old righty has hit 128 homers in his five seasons in the Majors, but 84 of them - that’s over 65% - have come at home. Maybe I’m wrong here, but it seems like that number is disproportionately high given that a team’s schedule is split roughly in half between home and road games.

Is Holliday a formidable hitter? Oh yes. But should the A’s realistically expect him to hit near as many homers in their Coleseum as he did at Coors Field? That would be beyond foolish. I hope they adjust their expectations and how much they give up for him according to how good he actually is, rather than according to how he performed in an extreme hitter’s park.

As of this posting - about 4 p.m. Central - we don’t know who Oakland is sending to Colorado for Holliday. This page will be updated as those facts come out.