[Triumph36]

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I don't understand the obsession centered around debating these baseball contracts, especially when most of the debating is between NYY and BOS fans. I realize that if I was, for example, a KC fan and the Royals made a deal like this, it would be a huge risk and could hinder their progress for an extended period of time...but I'm not. I'm a fan of the New York Yankees, a baseball team. I care about their performance on the field, and that's it. Alex Rodriguez is the best position player in the MLB, and he will (most likely) be playing on the team I root for. I can't complain. I know that acquiring A-Rod is in the baseball team's best interest because they are able to take the risk.

Sure, there is a huge uncertainty about the ability of A-Rod in 7-8 years. Are they overpaying him the last few years? Who knows?

I do know that the people involved with the A-Rod negotiations know SLIGHTLY more than us about the risk/reward in this deal. I also know that if they are willing to give this deal to A-Rod, then it's in their best interest. Whether their best interest is winning baseball games, profiting from the deal, or both, I doubt the Steinbrenner's would make a deal if they figured the probable outcome would set them back (baseball-wise or financially).

I laugh when a person comes on here trying to ridicule a deal because of what they have heard on ESPN.com. For example, people complaining about the length of the deal when you haven't even heard of other deals over 7 years? Maybe, just maybe, there are discussions between clubs that don't get reported.

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Hoya -

This is the fundamental question of intelligent sports fandom. We can only speculate. It can never be known who would go where for what money, or why players go the places they go - whether there's something more or less than money.

In baseball, especially in New York, a lot of contracts are negotiated through the media, so it's easy to delude ourselves into believe we've got all the information. We don't.

That said, it's really not a good contract - but I will enjoy seeing A-Rod on the Yankees next year.