Teixeira is not Jesus

If you've listened to the Razor and Mr. T show over the past few weeks there is no way you could have missed Ralph's incessant lobbying for the Giants to go after Mark Teixeira. Ralph makes Teixeira sound like the 2nd coming. I agree that Teixeira is a better than average ball player, but I don't think you can put him up in the ranks of Alex Rodriguez or Albert Pujols.

This is a player that the Angels acquired from the Braves in exchange for Casey Kotchman and Steve Marek on June 29th of last year. If Teixeira is so great, why didn't the Braves get more for him? Better yet, why didn't they hold onto him so that they could attempt to re-sign him? Not to take anything away from Kotchman and Marek, Casey is a decent first baseman and Marek has been impressive so far in the minor leagues, but these are not household names. Imagine if the Cardinals were to trade Pujols. Would the Giants be able to pick him up by shipping off Renteria and Alex Hinshaw?

Ralph was bursting with pride yesterday when the news broke that the Angels, Nats, and Orioles had made offers to Teixeira approximately in the range that Ralph had told Sabean that the Giants should offer him. He even replayed 5 minutes of the interview from last week just to prove that he had stated those numbers. Now, those numbers mean absolutely nothing because the Red Sox have entered the ring. Teixeira will most likely get his 8-10 years and be close to Arod's 27.5 million a year. The Giants can't compete with that kind of money with Barry "the noose" Zito's contract and Timmy needing his money in a couple years.

The Giants are not one Tex away from competing for a ring anyway. They have many more holes to fill before adding one bat to the lineup is going to make any difference. Who would protect Teixeira in the lineup? Molina? Rowand? The faithful at AT&T would have to bring the chicken wall back.

I'm happy with what Sabean has done so far. He's shored up the bullpen with Howry and Affeldt and he's filled the shortstop position with a little more pop with Renteria. I'm excited to see how the kids do for a full season. Sandoval, Burriss, Lewis, Velez, and Ishikawa should make for an intriguing and exciting year. If the pitching staff is as great as it appears, the offense will be able to provide enough runs to win more than the experts think.

Sabean should hold tight and start looking at the 2010 market for players like Hank Blalock, Carlos Delgado, Jason Bay, and Chipper Jones. These players can fill the holes that the Giants need to compete and won't break the bank. Of course, if Manny wants to patrol left field at AT&T for a couple of years, I'd take it.