The Red Sox couldn’t get a deal done with the Rangers in 2003, so the Yankees swooped in and stole Alex Rodriguez. The Red Sox couldn’t get a deal done with the Damons in 2005, so the Yankees swooped in and stole Captain Caveman. The Red Sox couldn’t get a deal done with Mark Teixeira in 2008, so the Yankees swooped in and stole the prize first baseman. 

The thing is, do the Red Sox regret how things played out with A-Rod and Damon? Certainly not. Will they regret how things played out with the Teixeira negotiations? Time will tell. Still, he didn’t make sense in Boston, not when the team would have to trade Mike Lowell.

It’ll be interesting to learn the behind-the-scenes dealings here, but the bottom line is this: Teixeira makes sense for the Yankees. He didn’t make a lot of sense for the Red Sox.

If the Red Sox were like the Yankees, they would have overpaid for a player they didn’t need — simply to spite their rival.