So what we have here, it seems, is a rather high-stakes game of poker. Does Mark Teixeira really have better offers? Are the Red Sox really prepared to walk? Or are Scott Boras and John Henry just playing another game of chicken with other people’s money?

Were this anything but a high-profile negotiation between the Red Sox and Boras, we might actually have greater reason to believe the missive.

But both sides have a history of lying. Especially to each other.