Waiting Game

For years, fans have drooled over the prospect of Mark Teixeira becoming a free agent so that the O’s could bring their favorite homegrown player back to Baltimore.

And apparently, it wasn’t just the fans who were drooling. For years, rumors have swirled like leaves in the wind about Peter Angelos wanting to bring Teixeira to Baltimore. Angelos believes that giving the fans a Maryland-born heir apparent to Cal Ripken will do wonders for attendance. And it doesn’t hurt that Teixeira also has the potential to hit 40 home runs a year in Camden Yards.

So now that Mark Teixeira actually is a free agent, what have the Orioles done to put Tex in one of those new O’s uniforms?

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

The Orioles appear to be playing their favorite game - the waiting game - waiting to see where C.C. Sabbathia will land to get the ball rolling on the 2008-2009 offseason.

I really didn’t expect the Orioles to come out of the gate, guns blazing, and blowing Teixeira and his super-agent, Scott Boras, away with an offer to bring Tex to Baltimore.

But I really wished they would have.

Because if the Orioles play the waiting game and lose out on Teixeira, they could find that all of their back-up plans are gone too.

It’s in the Orioles best interest to make their best offer to Teixeira now, and if he doesn’t agree to it, fine. Move on to the next option.

Making a good offer right off the bat would also appease some of the fans who tire of watching the Orioles sleepwalk their way through the offseason.

But, it appears that the O’s are content to hunker down and wait like a Star Wars fan in line for Episode III.

And in Baltimore, like always, the hot stove remains cold.