Teixiera to the Yankees

I'm pretty cool with it. For one thing, my dad is a Yankee fan, so he can consider it a 180 million dollar present from my team to his. Tex is not going to the Red Sox, and that's cool too. Putting him on that team would have made them too good, and that would have been bad for my stomach.

With Tex signing in New York, the Angels will get the 26th pick in next year's draft. Red Sox would have only given us the #30 pick, and if the O's or Nats had ponied up the money, then the comp pick would not have been until the second round, probably number 50 or higher.

Had Tex signed with the Nationals, another danger is that they would have dealt Nick Johnson to the A's. Now Nick may never be healthy enough to play baseball again, but if he were able he is one of the single most talented hitters in the game. I don't want to take the chance that Oakland gets him (in his free agent walk year) and he actually is healthy for a year. That might be enough to make them dangerous, though having them miss out on Furcal eases a lot of my worries.

Next June the Angels will get back to back picks, the Mets and Yankees, at 25 and 26. Their own pick is #33, and there's also a slew of supplemental picks for losing Tex, K-Rod, and Jon Garland. The only thing that could have made things better would have been if say the Cardinals decided Darren Oliver satisfied Tony LaRussa's lefty reliever fetish before he accepted arbitration.

Tony Reagins has quite an opportunity to restock the farm system next spring. Tony, if you read this please pay no heed to MLB's recommended slot bonuses. Pick the talented, high upside guys who slip because of bonus demands. Overpay if you have to, because even spending like a drunken sailor on the draft carries far less risk, in terms of wasted dollars, than one year of a bad free agent signing. Like Matthews.