Rangers likely to deal Teixeira

Friday, June 1, 2007 | Feedback | Print Entry

Scouts are telling tales of tension between new Texas manager Ron Washington and first baseman Mark Teixeira, and saying that this is making it more likely that the Rangers will deal Teixeira, who is eligible for free agency after next season and -- being a Scott Boras client -- is unlikely to sign an extension.

Tried to get some response from the Rangers on these points, but there was none, and Rangers GM Jon Daniels tells Evan Grant he's not going to respond to media speculation all summer. Fair enough.

Called executives with other teams, who said they had not yet been made aware that Teixeira was available in a trade. But if and when Daniels does begin the process -- and that seems inevitable -- there was unanimous agreement that he will have a very difficult challenge of trying to make a trade palatable for the Rangers and its fan base.  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

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