There's no need to fear, Underdog is here...

Tonight, while on my way to a close friend's house to play some Madden football and drink beer, I got a text message that shattered my heart, soul, and ability to trust. It read, and I quote from WNST 1570AM Radio:

"Boston media reporting Red Sox owners ready to offer & sign Mark Teixeira for 8 yrs & $184M."

Great. If their goal was to force me to consider ramming my car into oncoming traffic: mission accomplished.

So after vaguely discussing the situation with said friend, who also gets the WNST alerts, we then pretended that it never happened, so as to keep spirits high while enjoying video game football. When I got home I thought, why not check my favorite sports blog and see what all the fuss was about?

Quick interruption. If you have never heard of Roch Kubatko and the amazing work that he has done with the Baltimore Sun and now MASN sports, then you are truly missing out. He is a man amongst mice in the world of journalism. Always up-to-date and concise with anything that he posts, but also willing to take criticism. Please visit his blog School of Roch to see what I am talking about.

Anyway, the headline of that page was "Are The Red Sox Out Of It?"

WHAT?!?!?!

Sure enough, as if by some act of God, the Red Sox had a meeting with Mark Teixeira and determined that their offer was not enough to beat out the other offers already on the table, and so they were no longer in the running. This is a wonderful thing......to a point.

What we are now left with are 3 suitors (Orioles, Angels, Nationals), and the curiosity of what exactly made the Red Sox throw up the white flag and back out of the bidding war.

The only thing I can think of is one of--if not all of--those teams offered a no-trade clause. The no-trade clause is something the Red Sox are historically known for not giving to players. If they were to add one in now, then future free agents will begin demanding one, as well as current Red Sox looking to resign with the team. Rather than open up this can of worms, the Sox just bowed out, realizing that they have already bought enough talent as it is.

So now, we wait. And we think about the facts.

Fact #1: Mark Teixeira is from Severna Park
Fact #2: Mark Teixeira attended Georgia Tech, the same school that 2009 starting catcher Matt Weiters attended
Fact #3: Mark Teixeira openly said he is against playing on the west coast
Fact #4: Scott Boras openly mentioned his client's commitment to winning in the long run, and would not be against signing with a team that hopes to contend in two years time.
Fact #5: Peter Angelos will NOT let the Washington Nationals sign Mark Teixeira. (Some may argue this is an opinion...trust me, it's fact.)

It's shaping up to be a good Christmas for us, Orioles fans.