Race for Teixeira heats up with reports that Nats raise offer

The Examiner’s Jim Williams has learned that the Nats have upped their contract offer to Mark Teixeira. (AP)

The Nationals made a decisive move on Monday in their bid to sign free-agent first baseman Mark Teixeira, according to industry sources.

The Examiner’s Jim Williams has learned that the Nats have offered Teixeira, 28, an eight-year contract believed to be worth between $178 and $183 million. That would be the highest known bid for the Severna Park, Md. native, who is also entertaining offers from his hometown Orioles and — reportedly still — the Boston Red Sox. Previously, the Nats’ best offer was a reported eight-year, $160 million deal and sources have pegged Baltimore’s offer at seven years, $140 million.

Officials with the Los Angeles Angels said publicly on Sunday night that they are out of the running for Teixeira’s services. Los Angeles acquired the two-time Gold Glove winner in a trade last summer and he helped the team win the American League West title.

Multiple media reports have also listed the New York Yankees as interested in Teixeira, but the club has yet to make a serious offer, according to baseball sources. Meanwhile, Red Sox owner John Henry sent an e-mail to several Boston media outlets last Thursday saying his team “was not going to be a factor” for Teixeira after a face-to-face meeting with agent Scott Boras.

So far, that proclamation has been widely interpreted as a negotiating tactic. There are no firm reports that Boston has pulled its offer as Los Angeles did. A range of media outlets still list the Red Sox — with their enormous fanbase and Word Series pedigree — as the favorites to land Teixeira.

Sources told The Examiner that no team has been eliminated from the chase as of Monday evening and Boras even went so far as to draft a letter to the Orange County Register stating the Angels were still under consideration if they wanted to be.