Mark Teixeira and Payday Loans | Break the Jogjam

I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that Major League Baseball players would need payday loans, but there is a logjam in the baseball winter free agent market at the moment that relates to what Joe Sixpack faces when he has to juggle his budget to deal with unexpected expenses.

Former Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves first baseman Mark Teixeira (Teshare-a) is the heaviest hitting first baseman remaining on the baseball free agent market this winter. He’s a real offensive star, but no team has been able to ink him to a deal yet. Part of this may have to do with the fact that he and his superagent Scott Boras are asking for a 10-year deal, which has put off all acceptable teams except the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and… the Washington Nationals.

Yes, the Nationals

The old Vaudeville gag about the previous team in America’s capitol was, “Washington – first in war, first in peace and last in the American League.” That was the Washington Senators. Today, the Washington Nationals play in the National League, but they’re still bottom of the barrel.

Washington wants to put a face on their franchise for years to come, and a 10-year deal with Teixeira, a 28-year-old who is in his playing prime, would do nicely. But apparently the Nats and Teixeira are too far apart on the numbers. No fax payday loans couldn’t bridge the gap.  The same is true for the Angels, Red Sox and Yankees, aparently. None of those championship-caliber teams have a pressing need for the switch-hitting RBI machine, so what do we have?

We have a logjam

Until Teixeira signs with a team, slugging outfielder Manny Ramirez can’t because he fills much the same type of offensive need for teams (and he’s a Boras client). Even Boras’s pitchers, including solid B-list arms like Derek Lowe and Oliver Perez, are being held back by this long, drawn-out negotiating siege for Teixeira.

In past high-profile cases involving Boras, he capitalized on the uncertainty of unresolved negotiations, effectively holding general managers and owners hostage financially. But teams are in fear of the sky falling now, so the urgency isn’t there. Or perhaps it is Boras’s clients who should be worried about this logjam.

Why aren’t these teams biting at the chance to sign Teixeira?

One might say that the current economy has something to do with it – decreasing gate receipts – but there is more to it. The Angels’ have announced their exit from the sweepstakes, which has put the Red Sox in the position of frontrunners, even if they don’t truly need Teixeira. The Baltimore Orioles could use him, but have yet to make an offer for eight years and even the Washington Nationals, who seemed willing to overspend are pessimistic about their chances.

Are the Yankees legitimately interested in Teixeira, or has their motive simply been to aggravate their rivals, in much the same way the Red Sox feigned interest in CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett before their bank-breaking signings with the Yankees?

Where does Joe Sixpack come into this?

Ten-year contracts and multi-million-dollar contracts are pure fantasy to the average person, but here’s a kind of logjam we all face at one time or another. Let’s say your budget is tight for the holiday season. You’ve taken care of gifts, bills and groceries, with little left to spare. Then the unexpected happens. You now have a large medical bill to pay after a late night in the Emergency Room, and credit cards for your holiday shopping have come due.

How will you deal with this? You can’t afford late fees on your credit cards, as it’s never just the late fees. Your interest rates will go up and your credit report will be dinged for the delinquencies. You should look into payday loans to break up your budget logjam. It will free you up to think about the important things, like how you’ll retool your swing for a dream Major League tryout.