Just heard this on a blurb on ESPN radio. Assuming it true, just looking for opinions on whether any team will pay this, now that the Yanks aren’t gonna. Not really looking to debate if he’s worth the price of an entire franchise 
, just opinions on if any team will give it, if so, who will? And what happens if no one does? Does he not play next year, or lower the price?
Personally I do not think he will get this contract, especially when the Yanks only offered five years.
I can’t see it. But, I was stunned at the 250M contract he signed.
How can a team afford to be competitive with that much payroll tied up in one player?
Rumor says he’s following Mr. Torre to the Dodgers.
Screwed up big-time, Mr. Steinbrenner.
Here’s what I don’t get about the way Bor-Rod handled this situation. If you opt out of the contract, the Yankees are not going to resign you. Signing with the Red Sox will be a challenge, because he is so unpopular with that fan base, I just don’t see it being a good destination. Given his struggles in NY, the mets are most likely out of the running as well. Thats 3 of the deepest pockets in baseball you have just removed from your potential bidding war. I know A-Rod is great and all, but is just seems like bad business. How much do you realistically think a team is gonna drop on you, especially considering what a disaster his signing was for Texas? The whole thing seems greedy and ill-conceived.
Baseball contracts are like the old joke abouot the guy selling pencils on the street. A man says “how much for one of your pencils?” The pencil seller says, “Thirty thousand dollars.” The man replies “Thirty thousand? That’s ridiculous! How man pencils do you think you’re going to sell?” Replies the pencil seller, “Well, I only have to sell one.”
Rodriguez only has to convince one team he’s worth $35 million a year. Even if the other 29 teams laugh in his face, he needs just one sucker. In 2000, the Rangers were the sucker.
Of course, if you’re a GM trying to keep his job, the boost A-Rod would give you in the short run would make you kind of forget that the contract will be a disaster in seven years.
Will he get $350 million? I’d bet either the Angels or the Mets will be stupid enough to do it (the Dodgers would be an obvious choice but unnamed sources are now saying they’re balking at his demands) but I wouldn’t bet a lot. There’s three things to bear in mind here:
Last time out the Rangers were duped into offering him FAR more than anyone else did, and it’s not a guarantee Boras will be able to dupe someone again.
Rodriguez is not nearly as attractive a free agent now as he was then, simply because he’s 32 years old now. When the Rangers signed him they were signing him through his peak years. Now you’d be signing him through his decline phase. He’ll still be great, probably, but the likelihood is that he will decline gradually, and be an anchor by Years 8 or 9.
Economic studies, which MLB teams are becoming increasingly aware of, suggest that NO player is worth $35 million to any team. It’s unlikely any player’s marginal value is worth that much, year after year, in terms of how much additional revenue the player can create through his notoriety and getting him team into the playoffs. To be honest, the only team that could hope to get that much money out of A-Rod is the one that just said they don’t want him back. And he wouldn’t be worth that much in the latter part of the contract.
I think he’s a wonderful player; I’d love to have him as my shortstop. I think the accusations that he has a destructive attitude and is a choker are complete, unvarnished bullshit. But I just can’t see paying him that much; the money could be used to add far more value to a team. With $35 million you could sign two or three superstar-level players who’d add more value than A-Rod would. Grab Johan Santana and maybe sign a big bat.
Given that you’re a Jays fan, this is damning him with faint praise.
Don’t remind me. The damn Yankees are free now, but we’re still paying him. 
If I were GM of the Dodgers, I’d pay him $35 million/year. But only on a 5 year contract. After that he’s a waste of money that could better be spent elsewhere. But we desperately need a power hitter and a third baseman/shortstop, and this could be a “two birds” scenario. Sure, I could never afford the new prices for my preferred field level seats, but that’s a price I’m almost willing to pay. If it takes me sitting in the right field bleachers or the nosebleed seats for a few seasons to get the job done, so be it!
You mean the MVP season he struggled to this year, or the 174 home runs he hit in four seasons with the Yankees overall while winning two MVP awards? I agree that they probably won’t sign him, but just because they have players at SS and 3B. If the Mets found the money, they’d be dumb to be scared off because of his playoff results. Without him, the Yankees wouldn’t have made the playoffs last year and the Mets missed them. They’re not in a position where they can worry about choking.
But anyway - from the announcement in the middle of game four, Boras and Rodriguez have screwed this up from the start. The $350 million blew the Yankees out of the water. How is this guy going to be worth $35 million a year when he’s in his late 30s or early 40s? I don’t know how they can say that, or the bit about how his presumed chase for the all-time HR record will be worth tens of millions to whatever team signs him, with a straight face. It’s just absurd. They’ve alienated everybody, and I think he’s going to be disappointed with what he gets. It’ll be a metric shit-ton of money, and it’ll be more than $25 million a year, but it won’t be $35 million and I’m not sure it’ll be $30 million. The way he’s acted here is just feeding into the perception that he’s super-selfish - if you’ve got a bad team, you don’t need it, and if you have a good one and want to keep winning, you have to think twice about spending that much for someone like him.
Speaking as a Yankees fan who doesn’t really like A. Rod…
I don’t understand either the Yankees’ decision or A. Rod’s. Both sides have screwed themselves royally.
Yankee fans may hate to admit it, but they NEED A. Rod. He carried the team to the playoffs with very little help. Without him, they probably wouldn’t have reached the post-season at all. Without him, the present Yankee team looks mighty weak for next year. Letting him go was DUMB. Unless the Yanks can get 5 quality pitchers with the money freed up (highly unlikely), letting A. Rod go is likely to be a disaster.
But so was A. Rod. Nobody else can pay him as much as the Yankees could, and if he’d stayed with the Yankees, the Rangers were still picking up part of his salary. If money was the most important consideration to A. Rod (and it always is), the only smart move was to get the best deal he could from the Yanks.
My hunch is, the Yankees and Scott Boras played a game of Chicken and they crashed. Boras blew it big time, and he knows it. The Yanks were the only team that would have paid approximately what Alex wanted, and even if Alex wanted to go elsewhere, he NEEDED the Yankees in the bidding to drive up the price.
There are still teams that could use him, and they’ll pay him very well… but nowhere near what Boras is asking.
Both the Yanks and A. Rod lose… which undoubtedly makes Theo Epstein giddy.
His 250 million contract was a bit much I agree, but at least it lasted only through age 35 or so, whne he’s still probably going to be putting up great stats. This one would end when he’s around 43. I can’t imagine even if he were guaranteed to hit 50 hr and 150 rbi for the first five years, it would be worth the declining stats of the last five. 5 years at 35 mil per I can see a few teams doing, I’m not sure about 10. Is any other player even making over 20 mil?
The Yanks don’t need A-Rod. They have a team full of good hitters. Replace A-Rod’s 156 RBI with a guy who drives in 60, they still score more runs than Boston. Maybe you steal Mike Lowell from Boston, get 120 RBI and save yourself 20 million a year to sign Johan Santana, who might actually help you win a postseason series.
Personally, I’m more interested in getting an ace pitcher than I am getting another bat.
Oh, and SCSimmons, I’m pretty sure Texas is off the hook once A-Rod opts out.
I’ve heard the Mets too, and just don’t get it. You are a strong team (collapse aside), with Wright and Reyes. Is A-Rod an upgrade over those two? I guess. He’s probably an upgrade over just about any SS or third baseman. But if I have Wright and Reyes and an extra $35M/year sitting around to help cement my status as an elite team, why would I throw it at A-Rod?
Well, because then you move David Wright to second base and have the best infield in baseball for a few years. It would blast the payroll to smithereens and make it next to impossible to improve in any other significant way, but I think I’d do it still. Add Rodriguez to that lineup and the Mets cruise into the playoffs. Maybe they still don’t beat Boston, but they could have beaten the Rockies, and that would have been a much more successful season than the one we actually had.
I think one reason that so many people “don’t understand” what Rodriguez is doing here is that everyone has bought into the media-driven hypothesis that his decision is and was always going to be entirely about the money. It’s about the money, in part, of course - Scott Boras will be sure of that. But I remain convinced that there was no way Alex Rodriguez wanted to return to the Yankees unless they blew him away financially to an unprecedented degree. Why would he? No one involved in that franchise - not the fans, not the broadcasters, not upper management, arguably not even his fellow players - ever appreciated him or even liked him. No one gave him due credit for what he accomplished. It was clear that he could play in the Bronx for ten years and hit 500 home runs in those ten years, win the MVP six times, and he’d still be labeled a choker every time Chien-Ming Wang had a bad playoff series.
So I think he basically said, screw it. If I’m going to put up with this crap, they’re going to overpay me to do it, and big time. If they don’t want to overpay me, then I’ll take slightly less money and go somewhere were the prospect of my departure actually bothers the fans. Which is exactly what I’d do if I felt disrespected at my job and knew there was a substantial market for my services with my competitors.
I’d love for him to land with the Mets, but I think the Cubs are the most likely suitors. The Dodgers would also be pretty cool - he’d fit very nicely into their lineup.
I’m not trying to dig, but you’ve tried to get “ace” pitchers for a couple years in a row.
Carl Pavano’s stats the year before he was a Yankee:
18-8 (2 CG) / 3.00 ERA / 222.1 IP
Jaret Wright’s stats the year before he was a Yankee:
15-8 / 3.28 ERA / 186.1 IP
Randy Johnson’s stats the year before he was a Yankee:
16-14 / 2.60 ERA / 245.2 IP
Roger Clemens’ stats the year before he was a Yankee:
7-6 / 2.30 ERA / 113.1 IP (abbr season)
Don’t get me wrong, you guys have had plenty of good starting pitching in recent years. Not enough I guess, but it’s been there. It just seems that a lot of the time you get excited about acquiring a new shiny starting pitcher they have tended to disappoint. Though, if you are referring to Santana specifically, he would probably be a real big lift.
Oh, and I’ll give you a dollar if you don’t mention Matt Clement in any reply to this.
Alex Rodriguez was loved in Seattle. After a couple decades of disappointment, they had new owners with some money to spend, and were finally becoming a contender. His free agency was approaching, and he said it wasn’t just about the money.
And then Texas offered him $252 million. It was just about the money.
I going to get myself into deep water, but the **Yankees ** are better off without A-Rod at $35m per year for 10 years or even $30m per. The **Yanks ** were apparently willing to give a 5 year extension at around $28m. I actually think he was probably worth this to the Yanks as he translates into higher ratings for the YES network and he among the best offensive players in baseball. His possible pursuit of the HR record will be worth much box office and ratings to any team, but the Yanks are already set to capitalize on it. The Yanks will sell seats with young pitching however and continued playoff appearances.
I think the **Mets ** could realize a huge windfall, even paying a fortune and moving Wright to 1st. Their network lags way behind YES and this would be a huge boost. They are moving into a new park and he would go a long way to filling it. The big problem is that Citi Field will only seat 45,000 in Queens and dimensions leave it a pitcher’s park. A-Rod has enough power to overcome this, but still he will be older as he approaches the record.
Dimensions: Left field: 335 feet; left-center: 379 feet; center field: 408 feet; right-center: 391 feet; right field: 330 feet.
The **Cubs ** want him but have no ownership that can move on this and probably won’t have a new owner until late spring at the soonest.
Red Sox, fans don’t like him; owner is pissed at him and Boris for the Game 4 arrogance and stupidity. More importantly, they just won 2 in 4 years and know pitching is what won. They cannot sell any more seats, they already charge the highest ticket prices and NESN does great, second only to YES for income. They won’t pay $350m for 10 years unless they get a sudden case of the dumbs.
Dodgers: Always possible, they have a huge pitchers park however. Frank McCourt has been frugal in his spending, but maybe the Torre contract is signaling a change. They could afford it, he would in theory bring their attendance back up, they could use a great bat but can he seriously pursue the HR record in Chavez Ravine? It might not be a great fit, but I would say this is one of the few teams that would pony up the cash.
Angels: They need someone to work with Vlad, I think they can afford it, the stadium is a little better fit and they might be willing to shorten the left field walls in a few years. I still think this is the likeliest place.
**Darkhorses: **
Seattle: They have the money and attendance has been below 3 million for a few years now. They would seriously have to consider pulling in the left field fence if they wanted to spend this kind of money. I don’t think it will happen, but it is not impossible, especially as it will keep him from the Angels. They did surprisingly well this year and A-Rod might put them back in the post season.
Baltimore: The owner is not too smart (about baseball), the stadium is a great fit, he could spend it, if he wants to. A-Rod probably won’t need to worry about his post season performance. 
**Detroit ** or Florida: ha-ha-ha. They won’t pony up the money, give me a break.
Jim (Not that I have been thinking about this at all)
I heard the Yanks were willing to give 5 years at 30 per, in addition to the 80 or so mil already owed on his old deal. Boras allegedly told the Yanks not to even come to the table unless they were prepared to give 10 yrs/ 35 mil per.
How is it not? He had to have realized his contract with Texas would have crippled them, and rendered it impossible to attract big name talent. He has now made close to 200 million dollars, yet he still wants to sign a contract for $350 million more. Almost any team that would give him that much money would digging themselves a huge hole that they may not be able to get out of. Hell, only thee years before signing A-Rod’s $252 million dollar contract, Tom Hicks bought the entire team for $250 million! These people really went out on a limb for him. It’s selfish, plain and simple.
If he wants to win an ring, he needs to take a “pay cut”. Not to mention the hubris of anyone thinking they are worth that much money on the field. You don’t sign a contract dictating you be the highest paid player if you are more concerned with winning and not money. Especially since money, at that level, brings no greater happiness for the most part. The contract, and that clause specifically, emphasize where his true priorities are. Even his announcement that he was opting out was selfish as far as timing is concerned. A-rod is baseball’s Kobe Bryant. Extremely talented, but too childish and selfish to truly make his teammates better and win the big one (alone).
Horseshit. First, point me to a team who takes comfort in one of their player’s personal accomplishments and lack of true team success. It’s all nice and good to have a perennial MVP candidate on the team, but if he can’t help you win a championship, it is all hollow.
Next, plenty of people have reached out to him, befriended him, etc. But, he has somehow not gelled with these people. He has had these issues everywhere he has been. He has also been called disloyal and a choke artist everywhere he has been .
Even Joe Torre had to meet him to ask him to change his demeanor.
He has gone 1 for 14 in a playoff series. Sorry, but he has choked. The Yankees are all about the post season. It may not be fair to expect the players to perform all the time, but you know going in that their season begins in October. This is why they hire the big guns at ridiculously high salaries. You can’t bitch about fairness when you knew that was the case going in.
The Yankee offer was in the ballpark. The stipulation on the deal was that the additional years be added onto the ones he opted out of.
You laugh, **What Exit?, ** but Detroit could have been a destination. Right now, I’m kind of happy that it isn’t.