WEEI: Bradford: Mark Teixeira, the One That Got Away From the Red Sox

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Standing in a hallway at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas on the final day of the Baseball Winter Meetings, Dan Duquette, when asked about the perceived miscast line thrown Teixeira’s way back in ’98, would only say, “We thought we had an understanding with him that if we drafted him and offered him money (in line with) a first-rounder he would sign with us. But he decided it wasn’t going to work for him and he went to Georgia Tech.”

A little while later, Duquette further simplified the end-game when it came to Teixeira’s decision.

“He made a career choice, to go to Georgia Tech, and it looks like it worked out pretty well. So what’s the point?” he said. “It’s his career choice. He could have chose to sign then, or go to Georgia Tech, so he chose to go to Georgia Tech to get a higher signing bonus (as the fifth overall pick in the 2001 draft), which he did. It worked out all right.

“There’s no hard feelings. There’s no resentment at all. We drafted him because we liked him. We offered him the money because we thought he had great ability and we liked him.”