A-Rod back with the Yankees?
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It is being reported by the Daily News that Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees have been engaged in contract discussions over the past few days. Rodriguez, today, validated those claims on his web site.
"...I reached out to the Yankees through mutual friends and conveyed that message. I also understand that I had to respond to certain Yankees concerns, and I was receptive and understanding of that situation."
Scott Boras, Rodriguez's agent, however, is not involved in these discussions and the Yankees, according to sources, want it to remain that way.
This development obviously raises some major questions: Will Yankees fan welcome A-Rod with open arms after opting out? Will A-Rod be willing to take the pay cut that will likely be required after he opted out and the Yankees lost the $21 million from the Rangers?
As a Yankees fan, I have my reservations. Although A-Rod carried the Yankees through this season, he didn't perform (again) in the playoffs. Then again, neither did anyone else. The Yankees likely don't make the playoffs without A-Rod and they sure didn't get knocked out because of him.
However, I would love to see A-Rod resign with the Yankees. It has to be on the team's terms, which is fine - they shouldn't cave to A-Rod's demands. Regardless of how he plays, A-Rod signing with the Yankees would be baseball's stick-it-to-ya moment to Boras. After Boras insulted the Red Sox, the Rockies, the World Series, Bud Selig and the entire fan base, he had the guts to turn around and blame the entire opt-out incident on Mariano Rivera and went so far as to insult Yankees fans and MLB fans again.
Boras's outrageous salary figures went as high as $35 million per year for his client. If A-Rod was worth more than the Yankees were offering (anywhere between $25 and $30 million) would A-Rod even be coming back to New York to talk?
It was reported by the Orange County Register that the Angels, who were considered one of the most likely destinations for A-Rod, were making him their "last resort". The market clearly isn't responding the way Boras had anticipated and he may be quickly realizing his client isn't getting $300 million or more. Boras likely convinced A-Rod that he could get plenty more than the Yankees' offer and that opting out was his best option.
Clearly, it wasn't and A-Rod may be back in Yankee pinstripes after all. If Rodriguez ends up back with the Yankees, it would help their situation immensely. As a Yankees fan, I'm happy to let A-Rod back into NY.
What I'm really looking forward to though is the embarrassment Boras will face if Rodriguez does, in fact, turn around and resign with the Yankees without Boras being involved in the negotiations.
Right around the time I posted this, John Heyman over at SI.com posted his own little piece on the same topic. Just some interesting little tidbits from his article:
"Rodriguez told the Yankees that he understood what he would have to do if he wanted to rejoin the team: Make up for the subsidy from Texas that New York lost when he opted out."
"The discussions are believed to be centering on a 10-year contract for about $280 million. They are also likely to include incentives that could put the total package well over $300 million."
