Hicks: Teixeira rejected $140 million offer Owner says deal would have kept star player with Rangers for eight more years 03:16 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News [email protected] CLEVELAND – The Rangers did not let Mark Teixeira go to Atlanta without a fight, owner Tom Hicks said Tuesday as the seven-player deal with the Braves was completed. Hicks confirmed the Rangers made Teixeira an official long-term contract proposal more than two weeks ago in a last-ditch effort to keep him. The proposal would have kept Teixeira in Texas for eight more seasons at a total for approximately $140 million. The deal would have included a mutually agreed figure for Teixeira's last year of salary arbitration in 2008 and another seven years worth $18 million per season. Teixeira was making $9 million this season, the second year of a two-year deal with the Rangers. He is eligible for arbitration next season and is expected to receive between $12 million and $14 million per season. "I've always loved Tex as a player," Hicks said Tuesday by phone from California. "I was personally involved in signing him and I wanted him to be a face of this organization, along with Michael Young, for the long term. "I thought we made enough of an offer to keep him a Ranger for life. I'm disappointed he turned it down, but I think we did everything we could to keep him. Now, we've got some very good young players coming here and I feel with some good moves and free-agent signings, we can be a championship team." Hicks said he met with Teixeira's agent Scott Boras two weeks ago when the club was in Anaheim and extended a formal offer within 48 hours of the meeting. The reply: Teixeira was not prepared to make a long-term commitment at the moment. Only a week before the meeting, Teixeira had claimed the Rangers had never approached him about an extension. He reiterated that stance after the club left Anaheim and traveled to Oakland. A Rangers source, however, said the club had made "overtures" to Teixeira on at least three occasions. On Tuesday, as Teixeira hastily checked out of the Rangers hotel in Cleveland to try and make a flight to Atlanta, he declined to comment on anything Rangers related. Asked if an extension proposal had ever been brought up to him, Teixeira said: "I'm not talking about any of that. I'm an Atlanta Brave. That's done. I'm very happy. That's it." In exchange for Teixeira and lefty Ron Mahay, the Rangers got catcher-first baseman Jarrod Saltalamacchia and four minor leaguers. Rangers medical officials had no issues with an MRI on left-hander Matt Harrison's shoulder and he was included along with 19-year-old right-hander Neftali Feliz and 18-year-old shortstop Elvis Andrus. Also, the Rangers will receive 20-year-old left-hander Beau Jones. Jones has split the season between low Class A Rome and high Class A Myrtle Beach. Saltalamacchia, Andrus and Harrison were ranked as the Braves' top three prospects by Baseball America in its preseason prospect handbook. All three were also among the top 100 overall prospects in the minors. The Rangers had only one prospect, Eric Hurley, in the top 100. ============================================================================== 希望明年談續約的時候，鐵爺會記得自己說過的話 -- W L ERA G SV SVO IP H R ER HR HBP BB SO WHIP AVG K/9 H/9 1 3 2.13 47 2 --- 38.0 22 10 9 4 3 22 42 1.16 .172 9.95 5.21 4 5 2.49 74 38 45 72.1 47 24 20 5 1 37 104 1.16 .180 12.94 5.85 1 2 2.89 59 24 27 53.0 42 25 17 5 2 48 77 1.70 .210 13.08 7.13 2 2 3.09 30 19 23 32.0 25 13 11 2 2 16 36 1.28 .216 10.13 7.03 Atlanta Braves 49 John Rocker --

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