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The Washington Times is reporting that an announcement is expected today on where Mark Teixeira will play starting next season.

According to the major league baseball source, there are strong indications it is the Boston Red Sox who will emerge the victors.

A major league baseball source has told The Washington Times’ Thom Loverro that there will be an announcement today regarding the future of free agent first baseman Mark Teixeira.

While the source declined to discuss specifics, there are strong indications that the Red Sox will announce that they have landed the highly-coveted slugger, who has been courted this off-season by several major league clubs, including the Angels, Orioles and Nationals.

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I have no credibility on the source, but hey it’s something to toss out there.

Sons Of Bill Simmons is reporting that the Boston Red Sox and Mark Teixeira have agreed in principle to a contract for a reported eight years.

Sources have confirmed to Sons of Simmons, that the Boston Red Sox have agreed in principle to an eight-year deal with first basemen Mark Teixeira. Details are still sketchy at the moment, but it looks to be for around $170 Million dollars, not the $195 Million that agent Scott Boras was asking for.

I would imagine we’d know either way by the end of today since Teixeira has said he wants a new team by Christmas and it would be unlikely to wait until Christmas Eve to make the decision.

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Here’s the latest from Peter Gammons:

Most free agents probably read Red Sox owner John Henry’s cryptic e-mail in regards to the Teixeira negotiations, which probably was a rewrite of something he wrote to Frank McCourt when he was negotiating to buy McCourt’s house outside Boston, which, roughly translated, might have read, “If you can get $30 million for the house, you’d be wise to take it.” McCourt didn’t, and Henry got the house for considerably less.

One source close to Teixeira said Friday that the two sides are not that far apart, and the conciliatory and civilized nature of those words made it obvious that Teixeira likes Mr. Henry’s neighborhood, he just wants the kitchen and heating system redone as part of the deal. Teixeira is a very bright man who might be willing to take Washington’s money (if it has been offered) or go back to Anaheim or welcome the Yankees into negotiations; he knows what he thinks he is worth, and he knows Scott Boras’ math says the Red Sox could sign him, Jason Varitek and Lowe and be right around last season’s payroll.

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John Henry has sent out a email in which he says the Red Sox apparently won’t be a factor in the chase to sign Mark Teixeira.

“We met with Mr. Teixeira and were very much impressed with him. After hearing about his other offers, however, it seems clear that we are not going to be a factor.”

If what Henry said is true, this is a shocking development in the Teixeira sweepstakes, which most around baseball felt Boston was ahead in.

However, unless the Yankees came swooping in and offered some ridiculous contract, which isn’t entirely impossible, one would still have to think the Red Sox have a chance to sign Teixeira given his preference to be on the east coast and play for a contender.

Teixeira could accept a lower offer to play for Boston instead of say signing with Washington for what is thought to be a higher offer, but a team that is no where near being ready to compete.

Also unknown is wether Henry and Theo Epstein have left Texas or if they are still there and will possibly sit back down with Scott Boras and Teixeira again later this evening or perhaps tomorrow.

While Henry’s words make it seem like Boston is out of it, I wouldn’t count them out until Teixeira’s putting his signature on a contract elsewhere.

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Theo Epstein and John Henry are reportedly meeting with Scott Boras tonight in hopes of finalizing a eight year deal for $184 million.

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The OC Register is reporting the Boston Red Sox have offered Mark Teixeira a eight year deal worth $200 million.

The report would blow the offers from the other teams completely out of the water and if true means we can expect a Teixeira press conference at Fenway by the end of the week.

Dan Patrick reported on his show on AM 570 that the Boston Red Sox have made first baseman Mark Teixeira an eight-year, $200 million offer.

If so, that blows the reported eight-year, $160 million offers by the Angels and the Washington Nationals out of the water.

Patrick said Monday morning: “If it’s true they’re offering $200 million to a career .290 hitter, it’ll be interesting to see what the Angels do.”

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Here’s a quick rundown of happenings around the world of Red Sox blogs.

» Ian at Sox& Dawgs gives us a brief rundown of known offers for Mark Teixeira, like me, Ian hopes he is sporting some of those new uniforms and hats unveiled Thursday by the Red Sox.

»HidekiOkajima is running a marathon tomorrow, the Red Sox wish they had known so they could have discouraged him from doing so.

» Within an hour last night there was a report of an offer from Boston to KenshinKawakami and then a denial by an unnamed baseball source. The source called the reported $21 million offer over three years to be not accurate, the brief post by Amalie Benjamin ended with the line “The Sox apparently have not made an offer to Kawakami.”, whether that last part was also from the source or an opinion from Benjamin could be vital, as a denial of the reported offer without the last line could suggest an offer was made, but not for the amount reported. I am waiting for a response to an inquiry to Benjamin regarding that.

»Cyn talks about Major League Baseball refusing to increase the amount of money given to minor leaguers each day for meals. The amount currently sits at $20 and an increase of $5 was approved by the General Managers last month in California, MLB officials failed to even present the proposal to owners.

»Cyn also has a Did you know post, I’m guessing she’d rather be in the boat then under it.

» Red is getting his bunker ready.

»Headwarmer is apparently sick of the hype and has decided to watch Oprah.

» Paul gets all number nerdy again over at YFSF as he takes a look at just who Mark Teixeira is.

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Perhaps the Boston Red Sox should have incorporated some Japanese text into their new logo yesterday.

Already with three Japanese pitchers on their 40-man roster, the Boston Red Sox have now reportedly made the largest offer to KenshinKawakami and his accepting the offer is probably now just a formality as he has expressed a lot of interest in signing with Boston.

According to Nikkan Sports, the Red Sox have offered Kawakami $21 million over three seasons to join the back end of the Red Sox rotation.

Many around baseball have suggested recently that Boston should focus on signing starting pitching as opposed to going after Mark Teixeira, but that never made sense for a team with three aces already to spend heavily on the high priced, high risk starters on the market.

With this move Theo Epstein shows why he is one of the best General Managers in baseball.

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From Boston.com

Though there is no indication that any deal is imminent or that the Sox have done anything more than kick the tires, the Sox have expressed some interest in the pitcher, according to a source. The Sox made Pettitte an offer several years ago when Pettitte signed with the Houston Astros after leaving the New York Yankees, though part of Pettitte’s desire to pitch for Houston at that time involved Roger Clemens’ presence with the Astros.

This year, Pettitte earned $16 million while going 14-14 with a 4.54 ERA for the Yankees. The 36-year-old seems likely to return to New Yorj this offseason, but the Red Sox could be a fit later in the offseason if certain elemnts fall into place.

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