Aw, #%&@! Just when it seemed like the Lerners were going to spend some long term money for a great player by signing slugger Mark Teixeira, the Yankees swept in and signed him for $180 million over 8 years. Thanks a lot, agent Scott Boras.

The Nationals, who scored the third-fewest runs and homers in the Majors last season, sorely need a big bat, and first base would have been an ideal spot — Dmitri Young and Nick Johnson are both frequently injured, and neither were that amazing when healthy. Sure, Young won Comeback Player of the Year in 2007, but Johnson was basically a bust, missing all of the 2007 season and 130 games of the 2008 season. He's so fragile, they should call him the Faberge Egg. Teixeira, who was born in Annapolis and grew up in Severna Park, hit more than double the homers of the leading Nat last year (33 versus 14 for Lastings Milledge).

And it's not that the Nats didn't try to get Teixeira. After offering $160 million for 8 years, they supposedly upped their offer to about $180 million for 8. But alas, the deep pockets of the Yankees, who have committed more than $400 million in contracts in the last month, won out.

The Nationals have experimented with top players before, like when they had Alfonso Soriano for one year, but the long deal offered the 28-year-old Teixeira would have added to a decent young core of players, with Ryan Zimmerman, Lastings Milledge, and Elijah Dukes. Teixeira probably wouldn't have brought the Nats to the World Series, but hey, they might have broken .500. Maybe next year.