Midday rumor round-up: Teixeira, Pettitte and Keith Law

Lots of rumors flyin’ around right now. Let’s wrap ’em up.

• In his Winter Meetings live-blog at 1:23 p.m., Ken Rosenthal got an unnamed rival executive saying that CC’s opt-out is a bad idea. Either he’s great and makes more money or he’s terrible and the Yanks are on the hook, this rival executive said. Of course, if the market flattens, it’s quite likely that no one would pay more than the nearly $100 million that Sabathia would be leaving on the table. We’ll deal with that when the time comes along.
• Rosenthal also notes that the Yanks are in talks with A.J. Burnett, Derek Lowe and Andy Pettitte. He believes that the Yanks and Lowe are not as close as had been previously reported. Burnett expects the Yanks to top a deal from Atlanta believed to be five years and $80 million. I say pass.
• Tom Verducci, largely silent at the Meetings so far, reports that the Red Sox may target John Smoltz. I guess they too need to the fulfill the overpaid, old injured guy spot on the roster that Curt Schilling will vacate.
• Within the same piece, Verducci says that the Rangers have asked Andy Pettitte if he would be interested in pitching for them. So far, we’ve heard that the Dodgers, Red Sox and Rangers now are all interested in Pettitte, but the lefty remains interested in only the Yanks so far. He may have to wait until Derek Lowe, A.J. Burnett and Ben Sheets are signed by whichever team signs them until the Yanks are ready to welcome him back.
• Jon Heyman says that Mark Teixeira will get $200 million from someone, and that someone, according to Mike DiGiovanna, might just be the Nationals. While this signing would put Teixeira close to home and drastically improve Washington’s club, they still have way too many holes to fill and no internal pieces really available. Teixeira would be the center piece of a bad club as he was in Texas, and I’m just not sure he wants to do that. Dollars, however, talk. I think, by the way, that Teixeira is not destined for the Yanks despite how perfect he would fit in with this team.
• And finally, a hearty RAB congrats to site-favorites Keith Law and Rob Neyer. The two of them — along with Will Carroll and Christina Kahrl — are now officially members of the BBWAA. This is a long overdue move, and I can’t wait to see Keith’s reaction when his colleagues are the ones are awarding Jason Bartlett MVP points.