I dunno. I wouldn’t understimate Boras. I think, in the end, he wanted the Yankees to pony up the cash. Let’s see how this all pans out for his second stint. It could be interesting.
A-rod’s an A-hole, but if Yankee fans boo him for exploring his options and then ultimately settling for less money to stay with the team, they’re assholes as well, especially since they’d be pretty crappy without him. And signing an aging Mariano Rivera for 3 yrs/45 mil I don’t think was all that bright.
Agreed. Treating your biggest investment harshly isn’t a good recipe for success. Rivera is the best closer in history. Eventually he has to break down, right?
Ah, you’re so negative. 
I think they look a lot smart than Scott Boras, which is impressive from a team that has made some less-than-smart moves in recent years, and paid through the nose for far inferior players.
The “we won’t chase him” thing was about money, not principle (I know the team said otherwise), and basically, they stuck to their offer and it looks like they’ll get Rodriguez to take it. That’s about as well as you can do in a contract negotiation, even if it’s a lot of money. Despite the opt-out and his 2 MVPs in four years with the team, he’s basically getting a contract extension at the same price and not a raise. So he made himself look like a jackass in front of New York fans and baseball at large for nothing. He could have just played through his deal and probably gotten a similar contract in a couple of years without proving that he was as greedy and shallow as everybody suspected.
As for me? I still like watching him play, and I don’t need to convince myself he’s a nice guy. I never suspected he was, although I thought he got a bad rap. In baseball, the nice guys do steroids and the bad guys want to get paid - I’d prefer to pull for upstanding citizens and decent people, but it is what it is. I was prepared to say “good riddance” if he left, as the team could have put that money to good use, but they’re better in the near term with him around. They unquestionably would have missed the playoffs with him this year.
The Yankees are paying Rivera more than he is worth at this stage, but he’s a New York icon and part of the team’s identity. He’s been on 4 Series-winning teams, he’s the best closer ever, and their plans for next year hinged on him closing so they can start Chamberlain. They can afford to pay the New York tax on him.
I really don’t think the fans will boo A-Rod over this. They may well boo if he gets off to a bad start*. The spin on this is A-Rod returned with contrition and BoreAss[sup]TM[/sup] came off looking bad and like a bigger asshole then he was already perceived to be.
As far as Mo, has he accepted yet? I am OK with the 3yrs/$45m as we should get two more years of solid closing and have no alternatives. The dumb part is he would have signed a two year extension in the spring for probably around $24m. Now he wants to wring a little extra out, probably for pride. The Yanks have no good alternatives. They need to keep Mo, they really want Joba in the rotation. I believe this is the right move. If he turns out not to be a good starter, than he goes back to the bullpen. In the meantime, there are several other youngsters that may train to be Mo’s eventual replacement. I think it is very likely that at age 41 he will be the most expensive setup guy in baseball history and at this point just consider that a bonus for Hall of Fame service rendered.
Jim
- Yankee fans can be particularly stupid when it comes to A-Rod.
ETA: Marley23, I think we are going to have to meet up at a game next year.
Actually a doper game outing might be fun if we could get any interest. We would have to settle for nosebleeds I think.
How do you figure?
He’s not taking less money to stay with the team. It looks like he found out that nobody wanted to pay him $30 million or $35 million a year for ten years. Even if the Dodgers did offer $150 million over five years, the Yankees offered way more (I doubt he could get five years for $130 million at age 37). And if the fans boo him, it’d have more to do with his disingenousness than “exploring his options.” They’ll get over it if he keeps playing like he did last year and stops acting like an idiot.
We really do.
It feels like Boras is the big loser here, but I’m not so sure. Aren’t we calling the biggest contract in the history of sports a bargain? I wonder just how little he has to do with dealing with Hank & Cashman, and if it’s what we’ve been led to believe. It seems like reports are backing off the whole “A-Rod went around Boras” angle.
I have to wonder if everyone involved isn’t just pawns on Boras’ chessboard.
Oh, and count me in if there’s a doper baseball gathering.
Yeah, but that’s because they wanted the Yankees to offer $350 million, and got something like $270 million. It’s tons of money either way, but it looks like Boras failed to get what he wanted for his biggest client.
Yeah, that was more tactics I think. They supposedly met with Rodriguez alone yesterday, but they weren’t going to demand that the player negotiate his own contract.
I don’t anyone is calling the contract a bargain, I know I am not, I was just justifying how the Yanks and Mets could afford it.
In the end; A-Rod only pawn… in game of life.
Sometime after the tickets go on sale, I will do some looking for some likely dates and start a thread on it. I figure maybe in January or February for the thread. Maybe if there is enough interest we can do the whole tour thing to. They have some package deals that are affordable.
Jim
They are wrong if they boo him specifically for opting out, especially since the contract he is now supposedly going to accept is “reasonable”. He’d have been stupid not to explore his options, you never know what crazy offer might come your way. If he gets booed for striking out, saying something stupid, fine, but not for opting out and then coming back and accepting a deal for less than what was first demanded. That’s a decent ploy in negotiating in any job- ask for much more than what you really want, then “settle” for less.
Now I read where a “source” says Rivera is insisting on a guaranteed 4th year, even though I don’t think anyone else is offering anywhere close to the 3 year deal the Yanks are offering, so he may be setting himself for a similar caving in. And yeah, if the Yanks want to give him 3yr/45 mil as a reward for over a decade of great play, I guess I can understand that.
Obviously we need to wait to see what the final numbers are, (including what sorts of very reachable incentives are included) but I think people who are claiming Boras failed are missing a point. He threw out a ridiculously obscene number, ($350 million) but is now on the verge of getting A-Rod signed to only a slightly less obscene number. A contract where A-Rod is guaranteed about $200 million more than what was left on his last contract. One that will pay him huge sums of money when he is in his early 40s – even if he is unable to play.
Boras throws out these ridiculous numbers all of the time, it’s his job. I’m sure Boras wanted to get some sucker to pony up $350 million, but he knew that was a pipe dream. And now the Yankees are signing A-Rod for somewhere in the neighborhood of $270-$300 million, and both they are their fans are spinning that they are signing him at “below market value”. But that is only based on the market value thrown out by Scott Boras – obviously if no one wanted to pay A-Rod $35 million a year that is not his market value. Boras made similar inflated claims with Damon and Dice-K recently.
Even I would draw the line at a 4th year unless the price per year is a lot lower. I would go as high as $52 million only because it is Rivera we are talking about. $60 would verge on insane even by Yankee standards. I also heard he wanted $18m per year for 3 years. The $15m is already too high, but I can sort of explain it away as a bonus. I don’t think anyone else will come near this offer.
The only thing working for him is that there really is not a closer I know of available.
WreckingCrew, you are missing a big point, this contract is basically $21 million less than what the Yanks were already offering before BoreAss[sup]TM[/sup] embarrassed himself and A-Rod with the World Series opt-out interruption.
Jim
To the team owners, yes. To the media/public? No way. He bends, he looks dumb.
On top of that, he flopped spectacularly at his attempt to claim collusion that no one would offer A-Rod what he wanted teams to offer A-Rod. He thought he could scare owners into better offers with that threat, but all he heard was laughter and crickets chirping.
Luckily, they won’t boo him for opting out. They might boo him for saying he really really wanted to be a Yankee and then saying - through his actions, of course - “Actually, I don’t even want to talk to the Yankees. I want to play for whoever gives me the most money.” I know it’s a common lie in sports, but he was pretty disingenous. In general, however, they’ve been way too hard on him in the last few years.
Ultimately, I have to think Rivera is coming back - I don’t know who else is going to offer him anything close to $15 million a year.
Like I said, lets just wait until the final numbers are down on paper. I have heard anywhere from $270 to $300 million so A-Rod might not be out that $21 million afterall. And don’t forget the old incentives and perks that might also come into play.
As for Boras - I am no way defending him. The man is an ass. But he is also just about to sign his client to the biggest contract in league history, and collect an eight figure check in the process. And his own PR machine will begin to spin once the deal is inked about what a great deal this is. And at this point in time, almost every fan in the nation hates him, so I don’t really think he cares what we think, as long as his clients are happy and the GMs are scared.
Oh BTW - I just saw a report where A-Rod gets 9 Million from Texas as part of the opt-out clause, so he might only be out $12 Million. Maybe we can hold a bake sale.
Ok, we will wait, but again the Yanks were offering the deal I mentioned before negotiation started, so I still don’t think Boras did his prize client any good this time and he not only hurt his own reputation that really is piss poor anyway, he also hurt A-Rod’s reputation. This is a reputation that generates money through ad revenue. So he might have actually harmed his client this time around. Nothing that another MVP season would not erase, but still.
Finally, at very least, he really pissed of the Red Sox brain trust and they appear to be less willing to do business with him. Not that they won’t, but it still hurts when the #2 payroll team hates doing business with your agent.
Jim
You mean the same Red Sox who are paying Boras client J. D. Drew $70 million over 5 years - after a similar opt out clause.
Oh, BTW - I’m a Red Sox fan, so I’m all for the Yankees signing A-Rod for 10 years. When he blows out his knee in 2012, they will be paying him $27 million a year to be their 3rd base coach. 
Yep, those Red Sox. I think they were honestly pissed by the World Series announcement this year.
Any 10 year contract is a huge risk for just that reason. The only one I ever felt good about was Jeter’s. Still, all the said, on a risk vs. reward level. A-Rod pursuing and breaking the despised Bond’s record in Pinstripe makes this risk a lot more palatable. This is nowhere near as stupid as the Giambi deal. I would say it is more on par with the Winfield deal. It might well bite us on the ass, but damn is he a great all around player.
Jim
Its possible the hard feelings about the game 4 announcement will linger, but around here the general feeling is that Theo and Boras are too tight anyway.
My gut reaction - barring any serious injury of course - is that this deal will look pretty good for 5-6 years, mildly annoying for 2-3 years and be terrible for the last 2 years. It depends on how long it takes A-Rod to make the 3B to 1B to DH transition.
Just for laughs - look at Bond’s numbers this year at age 42. 340 ABs - .276/28 HRs/ 66 RBIs. (.480 OBP and a 1.045 OPS boosted in part by a mind blowing 132 Walks) Those would be pretty good numbers for a 42 year old A-Rod, but tough to swallow at $27 million (or so).