Dec 17th 2008 1:45PM by Andrew Johnson (author feed)
Free-agent first baseman Mark Teixeira is expected to make a decision on his new team in the very near future, potentially even in the next 24-to-48 hours. In the meantime, we’re all stuck devouring the latest scraps from the rumor mill.

On Tuesday, I wrote that Teixeira should choose the Orioles. Now, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney, Baltimore has essentially dropped out of the bidding, by refusing to upgrade its initial seven-year offer.
“The Orioles are out of it, unless Teixeira really, really wants to play there,” said one source.It’s not all that surprising that the O’s are falling behind in the chase for Teixeira. They can’t offer him the chance to be on a winner, at least right away, they don’t have the financial resources that the Red Sox, Angels or Yankees do and they aren’t a Tom Hicks-esque wild card in the bidding like the Nationals appear to be.

On the flip side of things, the Red Sox appear to have moved to the front of the line for Teixeira’s services. A general manager of one of the five teams involved in the bidding told Nick Cafardo of the as much.Continue Reading