According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, the New York Yankees are about to sign Mark Teixeira to a 8 year, $180 million contract.

And according to Buster Olney of ESPN.com, the Yankees and Teixeira have agreed to a deal.

Free agent first baseman Mark Teixeira has reached agreement with the New York Yankees on an eight-year contract worth more than $170 million, a source involved in the negotiations tells ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.

Obviously this isn’t the news we want to hear in Red Sox Nation. More on this as it comes out.

Update: The AP is reporting the deal is done pending a physical.

Update #2: Joel Sherman of the NY Post is reporting that the Red Sox were offering 8 years, $168 million.

According to Thom Loverro of the Washington Times, Mark Teixeira will be making his decision on where he’ll play today. Buster Olney and Peter Gammons of ESPN.com also confirm this as well.

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.

More on this as it develops this afternoon.

Update 1:15 PM: Alex Speier of WEEI.com passes along a timetable that lets us know that the  MLB offices are only open a half day tomorrow. He also passes this along from an acquaintance of Teixeira.

at least one acquaintance of Teixeira said that, while the first baseman prefers to make a decision by Christmas, he wouldn’t be shocked if the 28-year-old allowed the process to continue into the early weeks of January if he and agent Scott Boras believed that it would lead to a better deal.

Update 2:10 PM: Jon Heyman of SI.com says the Yankees are also involved. He also believes that Teixeira’s decision will come this afternoon.

Idiots: Apparently I missed this yesterday or they weren’t saying much but a fan was arrested yesterday for tackling New England Patriots linebacker Junior Seau on the sidelines during yesterday’s 47-7 thrashing of the Arizona Cardinals.  Todd Kobus of Attleboro, MA was in court today to face trespassing and assault and battery charges for tackling Seau. He will be back in court on February 17th. [MSN.com]

18 Straight: Rajon Rondo had 26 points to lead the Boston Celtics to a 124-105 win over the New York Knicks to give them their 18th straight win. The win also gives them a 26-2 record which is tied for the best mark in NBA history. Ray Allen added 18 points, Paul Pierce had 17 points, Kevin Garnett 12 points and 8 assists and Kendrick Perkins chipped in with 12 points and 12 rebounds. They were without the services of Glen “Big Baby” Davis who was hospitalized after a car accident this afternon. The Celtics will look for their 19th straight win on Tuesday night when the Philadelphia 76ers come to the TD BankNorth Garden. [ESPN.com]

Angels drop out of bidding: According to Tim Brown, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have dropped out of the bidding for Mark Teixeira leaving just the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals and New York Yankees vying for his services.

The Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon withdrew their offer to free-agent slugger Mark Teixeira and do not intend to continue negotiations with his agent, according to a source close to the negotiations.

Sources close to the process said Angels owner Arte Moreno concluded that Teixeira did not intend to play for the Angels and that his team was being used to drive up the price for the other interested clubs.

Also, a source said the Red Sox have not spoken to Boras since Thursday night, when Henry issued his statement.

Update:The Angels have confirmed to MLB.com that they have in fact dropped out of the bidding. [Yahoo! Sports]

Result

The snow was falling in Foxboro this afternoon and that usually means good things for the New England Patriots as they kept their playoff hopes alive with a 47-7 thrashing of the Arizona Cardinals at the Razor. The win moves the Patriots to 10-5 and with the Dolphins winning today as well, they remain tied for first place in the AFC East. The Jets are currently playing the Seahawks in snowy Seattle.

With the snow falling and the field covered, it was expected that both teams would run the ball most of the game. The Patriots did that rushing for 183 yards in the game while holding the Cardinals to 44 yards on the ground. The big difference though was the fact that Matt Cassel was able to throw for 345 yards leading the Patriots to scores on 8 of their first 9 drives to put this game out of reach by halftime.

This was a Cardinals team that is already headed to the playoffs due to the ineptitude of the other teams in the NFC West. But they didn’t play like a playoff team at all as they were definitely affected by the elements. They made some fundamental mistakes allowing the Patriots to get some clean hits on Kurt Warner and just couldn’t get anything down until a garbage time touchdown pass from Matt Leinart to Larry Fitzgerald.

There’s not much more really to say as it was a complete domination by the Patriots of the Cardinals. Let’s hope the Seahawks can give the Patriots some help tonight and make the Patriots control their own destiny instead of having to rely on help from other teams.

Scoring Plays

1^st Quarter

• NE – LaMont Jordan 1 yard run (Stephen Gostowski PAT)
• NE – Jordan 3 yard run (Gostowski PAT)

2^nd Quarter

• NE – Kevin Faulk 15 yard pass from Matt Cassel (Gostowski PAT)
• NE – Wes Welker 11 yard pass from Cassel (Gostowski PAT)
• NE – Gostowski  38 yard field goal

3^rd Quarter

• NE – Randy Moss 76 yard pass from Cassel (Gostowski PAT)
• NE – Gostowski 35 yard field goal
• NE – Gostowski 24 yard field goal

4^th Quarter

• NE – Gostowski 30 yard field goal
• ARI – Larry Fitzgerald 78 yard pass from Matt Leinart (Neil Rackers PAT)

Offensive Player of the Game

Matt Cassel was 2o-of-36 for 345 yards and 3 touchdowns

Defensive Player of the Game

The entire New England defense.

Turning Point(s) of the Game

The snow falling at Gillette Stadium. The Cardinals hadn’t played a game in the snow since 1983 when they were in St. Louis.

Continue reading →

During the UConn Huskies overtime win over Gonzaga yesterday, Hasheem Thabeet was called for a taunting technical foul after a monstrous dunk to start overtime. I’ll let you judge for yourself on whether or not this was the right call.

In the words of Charles Barkley, this was a “turrible call.” In my humble opinion, Thabeet was just showing a little emotion coming back down the court. Luckily for UConn it didn’t end up hurting them.

Manuel Aristides Ramírez Onelcida: Could former Boston Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez be terrorizing his former team by wearing the New York Yankees pinstripes in 2009. According to Mark Feinsand, Manny thinks it could happen.

According to a source, Ramirez has told friends that he is confident the Yankees will offer him a contract of at least three years, one year longer than most team officials have said they would want to go.

[New York Daily News]

Could the whole Mark Teixeira saga be coming to an end in the next few days?

According to Lyle Spencer and Bill Ladsen of MLB.com, Texieria could be making a decision on his future in the coming days.

Decision day could be right around the corner for Mark Teixeira, according to a Major League source familiar with the negotiations. The source anticipates the free-agent first baseman’s highly anticipated announcement within the next few days.

The source believes the Red Sox remain in the lead for Teixeira’s services in spite of the statement by principal owner John Henry on Thursday night.

“This is going to end the old-fashioned way,” the source said, maintaining that money will not be the decisive factor. “He wants to be on the East Coast, and his wife wants to be there. I believe the decision will be based on family and geography.”

The source places the Nationals second in the Teixeira derby. It is believed the organization has been pitching Teixeira, known for his intelligence at the plate and diligence off the field, on the notion that the club has the potential to follow in the Rays’ golden path.

At the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas, the Nationals extended an eight-year, $160 million offer for Teixeira. The source believes the Red Sox offered fewer years, but that the dollars and the exciting lure of The Nation might be enough to land Teixeira.

“If it’s based on long term,” the source said, “Teixeira will take the Nationals.”

If we are to believe the source , it sounds like it’s down to the Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals. So it’s a matter of whether he wants to win now or win in the future if that will even happen.

Let’s hope this ends in the Red Sox favor and we’re having a pre-Christmas press conference announcing the newest member of Red Sox Nation.

Dan Roche of WBZ-TV in Boston also offers some thoughts as well regarding the whole Teixeira saga.

Mel Thomas Book Tour: The book signing by former UConn Husky Mel Thomas that was scheduled for tonight at the East Haven Irish-American Center has been postponed due to the snow. The event has been rescheduled for December 29th.  The signing at Monaco Ford in Glastonbury tomorrow is still on though. [melthomas.com]