... full of cash, to land a player like this one. Kevin Ess at Mariner Central pointed out the SI.com rumor that the Mariners are in it, early on, for Teixeira.

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Sports Illustrated recently printed (in some kind of paper-magazine form of SI) the article "Tex, Inc.", which contained a number of points I hadn't paid much attention to.

First of all, Teixeira is a good actor - for example, he amused the Angels with the fact that they could never catch him blowing a bubble or looking into the stands with his head down during the National Anthem -- nope, standing perfectly stock-still, head down, yada yada.

He comes into the clubhouse, carefully turns off his cell phone so as not to distract others.

He follows an Ichiro-like pregame routine, eating the same sandwich at the same time, a PowerBar in a particular inning, etc. etc.

As you know, Tex is a polished defensive player -- remember our Bill James rule that the good guys, the unselfish guys, are the ones who work on their defense.

He's handsome, professional, intelligent, a leader, yada yada -- and therefore an ideal "face for the franchise." (Remember that the M's were going to unload huge $$ on ARod and Junior precisely because they saw them as the Team Brand.)

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According to SI, this leadership extends to in-game situations. Supposedly the Angels sat on the bench, with their hitting coach, and discussed Tex's exemplary AB's as he was taking them. They went from #29 in walks, first half, to #21, second half.

I don't say it's the gospel truth. But you know that this club has has its share of negative examples...

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The Mariners' offense didn't lurch to a halt when Junior left. The offense was barely affected when ARod left. But the Mariners' run-scoring machine did a bug-on-the-windshield dance when: Edgar Martinez Stopped Hitting.

In my view, the key piston in the M's engine was Edgar's OBP plus SLG. Night in, night out, Edgar would put nightmarishly difficult AB's on pitchers, wear them down, take his bases, and his teammates would march in behind him with renewed faith...

With Teixeira, you're talking the OBP renaissance.

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So you've got an Edgar type here, except he's lefthanded for Safeco.

You've got an Edgar type, who hits 36 homers per 162 AB's for his career.

You've got an Edgar type, who has multiple gold gloves on defense. Defense is all the rage in Seattle, supposedly trades 1-for-1 against the bats on the European sabr market, so you'd think people would get to adding up Tex's offense plus defense.

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Tex was 28 last season and is coming off two consecutive 150 (one hundred fifty) OPS+ seasons. Ken Griffey Jr's lifetime OPS+ is 138. Absent the Kingdome, Junior was probably a 140 guy. Teixeria is, roughly, as good a hitter as Ken Griffey Jr.

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Would Tex play here, and would Boras recommend that he do? I don't know -- would ARod play for a loser, if they offered the biggest contract? Oh.

In the SI article, Boras gloated that he had laid out the 10x$20M parameters and, to his amazement, 10 teams were interested.

I'm sure that if the M's were the highest bidder, you'd see Tex in an M's unie with the ARod shtick, "hey, two or three players and we're right there." (Never mind that Teixeira himself IS two or three players.)

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In roto, you've got a $260 budget and you don't go out and buy those $6 Sheltons and Branyans so that you can finish .500 for $204, and leave $56 on the table -- giving $56 advantages to your enemies. You find the $6 Sheltons so that you can go out and get the $35 Teixeiras.

Getting a bargain for your dollar is a great thing. But saving money isn't the object of the 162-game season. Did the Red Sox insist on a bargain for their dollar with Dice-K? Are the Angels going to insist on a bargain if Tex becomes the face of their franchise?

You don't have to get a bargain on EVERYthing. Sometimes you just pay what you have to pay to get the irreplaceable commodity (such as your wife...), and then you save money elsewhere (such as with your Mariners' seat).

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The M's might not win in 2009, but the paradigm isn't to make sure that we lose this year. Teixeira would still be here in 2010 and 2011, and we wouldn't be sacrificing a thing by locking him up now. He's not going to be available next year.

In Stars and Scrubs -- as well as in every rich city other than Seattle -- the question isn't WHETHER you want franchise players. The question is WHICH franchise players are you going to bet on.

Teixeira in Safeco? Sounds like your beloved peanut-butter-and-jelly to me, Mark.

Cheers,

jemanji

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