Finally she said, ‘I want you to be a Yankee,’ and it was a done deal.

WHU-PAH!

That was the sound of a whip cracking.

Is she hot?

And is she hot in the boring bleached-blonde baseball wife way, or a more interesting way.

I don't begrudge anyone for taking the contract where more money is offered, but enough with the BS.

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to work at my current place of work. While the other kids were playing in the park and chasing ice cream trucks, I would sit on the sidewalk across from the tall grey office building and picture where my office would be. I would enviously look at all the people going in and out of the cafeteria. My eyes would light up when the Staples truck would pull up. And on days they would get a new copier, I would miss school and wait around for hours, trying to get a peek at the new marvel that would auto sort AND staple.

When I graduated and they offered me a job to work there, I was confused. I asked my wife and she told me to do what makes me happy. I was still confused. Finally she said, "I want you to work in that building and stop sitting on the couch all day with your PS2 and bags of Doritos" and it was a done deal. Once they offered to pay me the most, it was a no-brainer for me.

Well, that doesn't really answer the important question.

It’s interesting to note that the Red Sox’ visit to Teixeira’s home in Texas came on Dec. 18, which is just a week before Christmas. If Teixeira’s comments can be taken at face value, he made his mind up a week before the Sox’ trip.

Well, that would help explain why John Henry came out of that meeting with the impression they were a non-factor.

Is she hot?

A quick Google image search suggests that she's very attractive, in a wholesome sorority girl, future mom kinda way.

Please don't link to BDD. The yellow toothed jackass who runs it is an unhinged, idiotic troll.

Looking for Leigh, I found out that CJ Wilson's fiance (now wife?) is hot, Buck Showalter's wife is looking pretty good, and Angela Barajas is smoking.

For you viewing pleasure:
Sons of Sam Horn's Hot Wife All-Stars

She's the brunette on the right.

http://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/uploads/05a.jpg

Cute, if a little mousey. She's no Jaime Kotsay.

I don't begrudge anyone for taking the contract where more money is offered, but enough with the BS.

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to work at my current place of work. While the other kids were playing in the park and chasing ice cream trucks, I would sit on the sidewalk across from the tall grey office building and picture where my office would be. I would enviously look at all the people going in and out of the cafeteria. My eyes would light up when the Staples truck would pull up. And on days they would get a new copier, I would miss school and wait around for hours, trying to get a peek at the new marvel that would auto sort AND staple.

When I graduated and they offered me a job to work there, I was confused. I asked my wife and she told me to do what makes me happy. I was still confused. Finally she said, "I want you to work in that building and stop sitting on the couch all day with your PS2 and bags of Doritos" and it was a done deal. Once they offered to pay me the most, it was a no-brainer for me.

That's great stuff. You only omitted the part about how you now work for the greatest office in the history of offices.

She's no Jaime Kotsay.

Not built like a 12-year-old. Gotcha.

In this picture, she looks a ton like his sister.

You'd figure that a good first baseman getting paid like an all-time great would have a little higher "batting average" than that.

You only omitted the part about how you now work for the greatest office in the history of offices.

I was going to say that, but I wanted to review my contract to see if there was an opt-out clause.

Jaime Kotsay

All I could think of was Jaime Escalante. She probably doesn't pronounce it the same way.

#5 is a great post.

For my part, I'm happy to say that I do pretty much work where I've always wanted to work, in a general sense, at least. So hooray for me. Right now, alas, I'm writing a depressing program note . . .

Screw you, Little Tex.

on days they would get a new copier, I would miss school and wait around for hours, trying to get a peek at the new marvel that would auto sort AND staple

As I've grown older, I've learned to understand and often even recognize sarcasm, but I hope you still realize that those copiers are genuinely the greatest and most baffling things ever.

Is New York City a miserable backwater with no culture or nightlife to offer, with no high-end private schools or attractive homes? Is the Yankees' 25 man roster stuffed only with odious sociopaths with no friends outside their own clubhouse? Does the franchise have a forgettable history of losing teams fielding unmemorable players?

You'd get the impression that money is the only reason to sign with the Yankees. Yup: they offered Teixeira boatloads of it. Sabathia and Burnett, too. But isn't there at least some chance these guys and their families just wanted to live in this particular city playing for this particular franchise with these particular guys?

But isn't there at least some chance these guys and their families just wanted to live in this particular city playing for this particular franchise with these particular guys?

Sure it's possible but it's hard to believe that's the primary factor when none of these guys signs until they've spent a month negotiating with everyone and their mother. Obviously NY has some appeal but if the factors you address are that important guys should be taking less to play there. Tex, CC, Damon, A-Rod, etc...have obviously not done that. I have no problem with what they did but it gets pretty annoying when every free agent (for every team, not just the Bombers) comes out and says "I always wanted to play here."

Obviously NY has some appeal but if the factors you address are that important guys should be taking less to play there.

Why on earth would anyone take less money to play for the richest club in baseball, one known for consistently outbidding its rivals with top dollar offers?

I mean, I like money. Don't you like money?

Obviously, a goodly proportion of the guys who sign with the Yanks do so largely for the dollar signs. But given that they are the most historically successful team in MLB, playing in a huge, vibrant city, and given that the players already on the team must surely have friends on other teams, you'd have to imagine someone just wants to play there. And why shouldn't these folks get paid as much as they are able to do so?

We'll never know which guys really mean that "always wanted to play here" stuff and which don't, so the barrage of articles damning each new Yankee player's greed for signing there gets a little tiring.

To put it another way...

Let's say you were a marquee free agent who'd always wanted to play for Team A, who just so happens to be among the wealthiest teams in the sport. Teams B, C, and D are also interested in you. Team B is also stupidly rich. Teams C & D aren't titans, but they have money to spend.

What would your wife say if, without you even speaking to Teams B, C, or D, you just strolled into the front offices of Team A and signed a below-market deal because you "always wanted to play there?"

I'm thinking she would eat you alive.

And anyway, didn't Teixiera turn down a higher offer from the Nationals?

http://masnsports.com/2008/12/for-teixeira-the-choice-was-ya.html

So he did take less money.

You'd get the impression that money is the only reason to sign with the Yankees. Yup: they offered Teixeira boatloads of it. Sabathia and Burnett, too. But isn't there at least some chance these guys and their families just wanted to live in this particular city playing for this particular franchise with these particular guys?

Sure it's possible. But take, for example, me. I really want to work in New York. The odds of my getting a job there are slim, especially in this economy, but I can guarantee that I would take a job with lower pay in order to work there. There are various other sacrifices I would also make in terms of the quality of the school and the workload. To me, that's what a person who really thinks New York is awesome and wants to work there looks like.

I really want to work in New York. The odds of my getting a job there are slim, especially in this economy, but I can guarantee that I would take a job with lower pay in order to work there.

That's not a fair comparison. You're comparing an employee going out and trying to convince someone to give him a job with a situation in which employers are seeking someone out and bidding on him.

Let's say a lawyer graduates top of the class Harvard Law and is sought out by several top law firms. There's one in particular he always wanted to work at, and not only are they his ideal place of employment, they're known for matching all offers. So he goes about collecting offers from the others to make sure that he not only works where he likes but drives up the price his well-heeled dream employers will pay. Does that make his enthusiasm for his new job any less legitimate?

You don't have to leave money on the table to go where you like if your preferred destination is likely to be the highest bidder anyway.

I'm not for a moment saying many players don't sign with the highest bidder, all other factors be damned, then lie about it. However, we have no way of knowing who's telling the truth and who isn't. So our insistence on crucifying every guy who signs a big money contract with a big money team says more about our resentment of how much ballplayers earn and how much rich teams can afford to spend than any real understanding of individual player's motives.

mrs teix at least doesn't look like a stripper.

interesting that a whole lot of you think that IF you make a lot of money THEN you should end up with a blond who looks like a stripper. or some brains-free cheerleader with fake boobs

jaime kotasy looks like a hooters chick. uck.

but i am not getting why you think that ballplayers should all HAVE to marry females who look like mrs damon/mrs lima. because you sure nuff snipe at the ones who don't

like someone said on that sam horn thread -

"The hottest of ballplayers wives are almost all "car show girls" (Semi-hot slutty looking chicks with great bodies). I have yet to see a single classically-beautiful girl that is married to a ballplayer"

leigh teix is one of the very few baseball wives who doesn't look like a slutty cheerleader

- oh yeah

and as for going to the highest bidder,
well, i remember having conversations about the living in ny back during the carlos the jackal fiasco

some people WANT to live in ny
don't ask me why

but hey FA have worked their asses off for 6-10 YEARS for the privilege of getting to work where they WANT to, so if they WANT to go there or to whoever pays them the most, i don't begrudge them this

I really don't see where I spent any time resenting anything.

My point is merely that I'm highly skeptical of the truth value of a set of claims that obviously, at the least, double as public relations. It's certainly possible for a person or a corporation (Mark Teixeira being - in the words of Jay-Z - a business, man) to believe honestly the things that make up their public relations campaign, but I don't think it's best practice to take that as the most likely interpretation in the absence of other evidence.

MCoA, the argument that we may as well assume greed in these cases because it's true more often than not is fairly sound, as far as it goes.

Still, Teixeira is a poor case for analysis on this point anyway, because as noted above, he did reportedly turn down more money from elsewhere (the Nationals) to play for the Yankees. Instead, he's more of a test case in how driving up one's price need not be taken as proof positive that a claim of "this is where I wanted to be all along" is phony.

Eliminating the Nats leaves the Yankees and the Red Sox as the other two bidders. Given how much his wife's preferences seemingly played into the choice, I don't find it hard to believe that in this case, it really was a matter of preferring one over the other.

The point I am trying to make is, if a player wants to be a Yank and has the chance to get the Yanks and Sox bidding against each other, why on earth wouldn't he? It's still going to end with him where he wants to be. Why should he sacrifice potential earnings to prove his enthusiasm for one club over another?

Sammy's Corked Whine Posted: January 07, 2009 at 01:25 PM (#3045483)

The point I am trying to make is, if a player wants to be a Yank and has the chance to get the Yanks and Sox bidding against each other, why on earth wouldn't he? It's still going to end with him where he wants to be. Why should he sacrifice potential earnings to prove his enthusiasm for one club over another?

- you got a good point

thing is that you get damm tired of ballplayers making up shtt about "i always wanted to be a yankee/redsox" when they say that

the ONLY ballplayer i know who i believe actually WANTED to be a yankee and was willing to take less money is carlos beltran

hehhehheh
hehhehheh

The point I am trying to make is, if a player wants to be a Yank and has the chance to get the Yanks and Sox bidding against each other, why on earth wouldn't he? It's still going to end with him where he wants to be. Why should he sacrifice potential earnings to prove his enthusiasm for one club over another?

I don't think he should. I never said he should. My point is merely that absent evidence, I'm not going to take his post-signing PR campaign as an honest reflection of his psyche or family dynamics.

I think Tex's wife is really cute. She's far more attractive than the "car show girl" types.

some people WANT to live in ny
don't ask me why

It's because they get sick of hearing "Houston" mispronounced. You'd be surprised at how many players mention this as the deciding factor in choosing to sign with the Yanks.

In this picture, she looks a ton like his sister.

A good friend of mine married a woman who could easily pass as his fraternal twin (his own sister, ironically, looks nothing like him). They routinely get confused for brother and sister, so much that they've coined the term SWB: Siblings With Benefits. Ew.

In this picture, she looks a ton like his sister.

Was just thinking that. Still, I agree with #31. She's very cute and it's kind of cool to see a player married to a woman who doesn't look like a "car show" babe.

When a Canadian hockey player signs with (or gets traded to) the Toronto Maple Leafs, they almost always mention how the Leafs were their favourite team, that it's great to play in a huge hockey town, how it is a dream to play for the Leafs, and this is where they were always hoping to end up.

Then reality sets in, the team sucks, the media slaughter them 24/7, and they can't wait to get traded.

In this picture, she looks a ton like his sister.

mrsidiom's brother married someone who looks a lot like mrsidiom. While I compliment him on his taste, it's a little creepy.

I don't think he should [turn down the chance to get the Sox and yanks bidding against each other]. I never said he should.

You did though (in post 24), say that people who sincerely want to be somewhere take less money to be there. Even if Tex hadn't gotten and rejected a higher offer (and reports are, he did), it doesn't mean he couldn't have legitimately wanted to be a Yank and still had the business sense to use the Sox to drive up his price.

This is my point: the only evidence Tex is being greedy is the voice of cynicism. That's it. He turned down more money from Washington and while he did take the bigger Yankee offer over the Boston one, I can hardly see where him saying he simply preferred New York is that hard to believe. It's not like he's Luke Skywalker choosing between the light side and the dark side. They're just two rich East coast AL contenders in big cities. He says his wife liked the one city over the other. my wife would probably feel the same way. It's not exactly like A-Rod claiming he thought the Rangers were about to begin a dynasty.

I can't fault anyone for hanging onto that cynicism, but I am inclined to give the guy a pass.

Sammy, maybe you are right and he really does want to play and live in NYC and I can see why he would.

In my opinion though, you have to be dumb as #### to appear at a press conference where you are announcing that you will get $180 million to play for the next 8 years and then say that you always wanted to be there. Especially when you were just negtiating with other cities. It's ok to get the best deal you can, and if he wants to come out next year and say that he loves NYC and is happy he signed there and wants to be there forever, fine by me. But, you don't have to be a cynic to roll your eyes when every guy who gets a fat check to come play there says that it was his first choice. Not saying he's lying, but if you have any common sense and are even minutely aware of public perception, don't be a dumbass and say that you always wanted to be there when you are announcing that you are among the highest paid players in baseball now. Just say you are happy too be here and want to win a championship and other cliches from their handbook. Just no "this is where I really wanted to be".

You did though (in post 24), say that people who sincerely want to be somewhere take less money to be there.

No, I said that if he had taken less money to be there, that would be evidence that he was telling the truth. I don't ask him to accept one contract or another, I just interpret the facts as they is.

OK, so what evidence is there that he's doing anything other than telling the truth about wanting to be a Yankee?

For the record, I'm not a huge fan of Teixeira and my second favorite team is "Anyone Playing the Yankees."

I just find all of the predictable condemnation and hand-wringing after every big contract to NYC tiresome.

if you have any common sense and are even minutely aware of public perception, don't be a dumbass and say that you always wanted to be there when you are announcing that you are among the highest paid players in baseball now. Just say you are happy too be here and want to win a championship and other cliches from their handbook.

This is actually the best argument I have heard--that Tex should have had the sense to avoid coming off as a d-bag.

I can argue that even if he wanted to be a Yank he had the right to use the Sox to drive his price up. I can argue that it's completely plausible his wife simply preferred NYC. I can even point out the Nats' offer as evidence that it wasn't all about money.

But I cannot argue with the notion that, however pure his motives may or may not have been, he ought to have had the sense to have seen this backlash coming when he led off the press conference with "I always wanted to be here."

Because even if his first grade picture had shown him in a Yankee cap, even if he had the NY logo tattooed on his bicep, even if he'd named his kids "Babe" and "mick," he should have known that it was as predictable as the sun rising in the morning that he'd be pilloried as a greedy jerk for taking a big money deal to play for the Yankees.

I'm not even arguing about whether or not he really is a greedy jerk or not, only pointing out that the assumption he is is tiresome.

There are plenty of cases of players transparently going into situations purely for dollars, but when a marquee player accepts a big check to take on the pinstripes, the particulars are rarely as interesting to people as the opportunity to grandstand about greed in baseball, shallow players, the need for a salary cap... pick your hobby horse, they're all there.

No, I don't begrudge him signing with the Yankees or his negotiations or even question his reasons. I even like Tex, although a little less now that he is a Yankee :). But yeah, his comments, at the very least, a little naive.

Tex should have had the sense to avoid coming off as a d-bag.

I'm sure A-Rod will teach him all the right things to say so he does not come off as a d-bag going forward.