Is the recruiting for Mark Teixeira taking on a life of its own?

It takes me back to the days when I wrote about college football recruiting for a newspaper in Florida. The phone calls came in daily with rumors about where Bubba or Speedy or any other blue-chip prospect might be headed.

Bubba' sister wore orange and blue at school. so he must be going to Florida ... Heard Speedy say something nice about Bobby Bowden. FSU's got him ...

The rumors about Teixeira are not that bad, but everything anyone says about the free agent - especially by those anonymous sources - gets magnified

So what do we think we know so far?

According to the media reports, it APPEARS (emphasize the word) that Teixeira will either land in Anaheim or Boston, with Washington as a long shot. The Red Sox APPEAR to be the frontrunner because the rich Red Sox can match any offer by the rich Angels, and Teixeira APPEARS to want to be on the east coast.

That all seems fairly clear, until you throw in the Y factor. The Yankees may want Teixeira and, all of a sudden, Red Sox fans are anxious.

Boston fans may have been interested in the Teixeira thing - but, hey, if it didn't work out, the Red Sox still have Mike Lowell starting, so it was not the end of the baseball world. But now that there is a rumor that the Yankees are interested in Teixeira, Red Sox fans are now rabid in their hunger for Teixeira. Got to have him!

According to the New York papers, the Yankees have not made an offer for Teixeira, so it does not APPEAR that they are interested.

Then again, if you follow "logic," then Teixeira is a natural for the Bronx. He's from Baltimore, just like another slugger who ended up in pinstripes - Babe Ruth.

Rumors, paranoia, fear of being out-bid ... Scott Boras is loving this.

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