Winston-Salem, NC -- The hottest topic in baseball right now isn't the league championship series taking place in Cleveland tonight. Whether it's the entourage of the New York media or the attraction of numerous dollar signs, A-Rod and his pending "out-clause" have dominated the sports headlines. A-Rod couldn't have had a better regular season before entering the free agent market. He just concluded the 7th year of his whopping 10 year, $252M contract -- still a record seven years later. In this 10 year contract, A-Rod has an "out-clause that allows him to void the contract after the seventh season if he desires. "I read in John Schuerholz's book, "Built To Win" that the Braves were the second highest bidder that winter in the A-Rod sweepstakes. The Braves offer was for 10 years and $126M -- exactly half the amount of money that A-Rod received. The optimal solution, as a Yankees hater, would be for A-Rod to "opt-out" and receive far less (expected) money from another team. The worst solution would be for him to not opt-out and remain with the Yankees. I'm sure that Texas Rangers owner, Tom Hicks, would agree with me on that last statement as he is on the books for a $19M subsidy to the Yankees for the final three years.The oddest thing that I've heard/read about this scenario is that the Pittsburgh Pirates may be involved in the bidding! If he does opt-out, I think A-Rod will end-up with one of the teams from Los Angeles. The Dodgers really could use a marquee player to market their team around and add some stability to that lineup stuffed with talented rookies. Not to mention, they could use a bat in that weak lineup.
After reading the great Buster Olney's blog this morning, I completely agree with him on how this situation will play out:"I expect Alex/Boras to present NYY with a figure (Alex will sign for this now without testing the market -- a one-time opportunity for you guys to have exclusive rights -- or he's going to test the market and you can bid like everyone else, but without Texas' subsidy.') Yanks either bite down at that figure, or they don't and Alex is a FA. The real question is whether they can stick to their guns and not bid at that point. A marquee free agent without the Yanks as a buyer is not in the strongest position."
2 comments:
There's also talk of Chicago Cubs. They are willing to spend money, and there's a lot less pressure to win. Plus a Sweet Lou reunion would take place. Personally, I'd like him to go straight to Boston and help them dominate the Yanks for another 5 years or so.
Couldn't agree more. While I'm not a Sox fan, I'd love to see him "switch sides." It would sound like the spaceship taking off when he returned to The Stadium.
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