some facts/opinions on A-rod

[The Curse of ARod]

Fact: I retire to today, I'm in HOF walking with Clemens. Opinion: I'm the MVP this year.

[DesertCat]

I'm positive A-Rod re-signs with the Yanks. My reasoning?

1) He will only sign with a perennial contender that ensures he'll be in the playoffs every year. He proved that when he offered to give back $30M if Texas would trade him to Boston (which would have cost him another $20M in taxes). Texas taught him the misery a bad team can bring.

2) Texas's contract with A-Rod was widely panned as a horrible deal for texas. And this was a contract that covered his peak years, during which he was never injured, and during which his performance never declined. Every MLB team realizes that they can't commit 25% of their payroll to a single position player and be competitive. This means that there will be few suiters for A-Rod, all of whom will have $100M+ payrolls.

3) This limits A-Rods options to the Mets, Mariners, Cubs, Angels, Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox.

- Seattle is out, he can't win there, he burned his bridges and they probably don't have budget.
- The Dodgers are just as suspect due to poor performance by the front office. And the owner is probably too cheap.
- The Cubs are out, they are changing owners, the current ownership spent $400M on free agents in the last year and can't spend any more before they find out who the new owners are, and the new owners can't approve any new giant contract if they want to allowed in the club.

This leaves Boston, Angels, Yankees and Mets. A-Rod can probably get similar offers (with one exception) from each. His real questions are going to be, where will I and my family be happiest, and what will provide his greatest legacy?

If he goes to Boston, he'll be a turncoat, a traitor. And Boston is pretty grounded fiscally, they aren't likely to overpay. If he goes to Anaheim he'll have to move his family across the continent from home. If he goes to the Mets, he gets to stay in NY, but once again he's a turncoat.

Staying a Yankee guarantees he'll be able to build his legacy in the playoffs every year. He'll build his legacy as a Yankee. When he wins a World Series in pinstripes all of his playoff failures will be forgotten.

And the trump card is that the Yankees can offer him the highest annual salary. Not only due to their enormous resources, but also because they get to keep the $30M subsidy from Texas as long as they sign him to an extension of his current deal. For example if Anaheim offers him a 6 year $150M deal ($25M per year), the Yankees could match it by offering a 3 year $70M extension, for a total cost of only $120M over 6 years ($20M per year). Or they could offer him $30M per year at the same cost as Anaheims deal.

The reality is that no one is going to offer A-Rod $30M a year for his decline years of his thirties. Texas got lucky he didn't get hurt or didn't decline. But Boras realizes he needs to lock down an extension now, they don't want to go out for free agency when A-Rod is 35. They want to lock down an extension at the highest possible yearly salary now while he's still healthy and at the top of his game. But if he actually opts out, the Yankees lose the texas subsidy. So I don't think he will even opt out, he's using the threat to leverage the best possible deal out of the best possible team, the Yankees. My guess is he gets another four years at $25m per year.

[lastchance]

A-Rod really doesn't care about being a turncoat. Everything else is fine.

[Assani Fisher]

Agreed. Its not like Yankees fans have embraced him or anything. Why exactly would it be a turncoat to leave?

[tarheeljks]

[ QUOTE ]
Agreed. Its not like Yankees fans have embraced him or anything. Why exactly would it be a turncoat to leave?

[/ QUOTE ]

couldn't agree more. yankees fans will bitch about it, but if he leaves the i think a lot of the blame rests w/them

[Assani Fisher]

BTW this is complete crap:

[ QUOTE ]
The Yankees came in streaking, overcoming a 21-29 start to win the AL wild card. But they were done in by poor pitching, an insect invasion and the latest October vanishing act by Rodriguez, whose bat was quiet until a solo home run in the seventh inning.

[/ QUOTE ]


[ QUOTE ]
A disappointed crowd of 56,315 also might have seen Rodriguez in pinstripes for the final time. A likely MVP during the regular season, A-Rod was largely AWOL in the playoffs for the third straight year, striking out with two on in the first and again leading off the third.

[/ QUOTE ]
]http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap;_ylt=Ap2TqDj9N5NBKkM8XWfb7sk5nYcB?gid=271008 110[/url]


ARod's numbers for the series: 4 games, 4 for 15(.267 avg), 2 walks, 1 HR, 2 runs, 1 RBI

Not great, but why does he get singled out for a "vanishing act"? Derek Jeter hit .167 for the series btw.

[tarheeljks]

[ QUOTE ]
BTW this is complete crap:

[ QUOTE ]
The Yankees came in streaking, overcoming a 21-29 start to win the AL wild card. But they were done in by poor pitching, an insect invasion and the latest October vanishing act by Rodriguez, whose bat was quiet until a solo home run in the seventh inning.

[/ QUOTE ]


[ QUOTE ]
A disappointed crowd of 56,315 also might have seen Rodriguez in pinstripes for the final time. A likely MVP during the regular season, A-Rod was largely AWOL in the playoffs for the third straight year, striking out with two on in the first and again leading off the third.

[/ QUOTE ]
]http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap;_ylt=Ap2TqDj9N5NBKkM8XWfb7sk5nYcB?gid=271008 110[/url]


ARod's numbers for the series: 4 games, 4 for 15(.267 avg), 2 walks, 1 HR, 2 runs, 1 RBI

Not great, but why does he get singled out for a "vanishing act"? Derek Jeter hit .167 for the series btw.

[/ QUOTE ]

glad you brought this up. no way jeter's going to take [censored] for grounding into that dp w/runners on the corners. it's ridiculous to blame a-rod. if you want to single out someone, blame wang.

[jtg51]

I keep hearing people say the fans will boo A-Rod out of NY, but all I heard tonight were "M-V-P" chants every time he came up.

[bottomset]

[ QUOTE ]
BTW this is complete crap:

[ QUOTE ]
The Yankees came in streaking, overcoming a 21-29 start to win the AL wild card. But they were done in by poor pitching, an insect invasion and the latest October vanishing act by Rodriguez, whose bat was quiet until a solo home run in the seventh inning.

[/ QUOTE ]


[ QUOTE ]
A disappointed crowd of 56,315 also might have seen Rodriguez in pinstripes for the final time. A likely MVP during the regular season, A-Rod was largely AWOL in the playoffs for the third straight year, striking out with two on in the first and again leading off the third.

[/ QUOTE ]
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap;_y...?gid=271008110

ARod's numbers for the series: 4 games, 4 for 15(.267 avg), 2 walks, 1 HR, 2 runs, 1 RBI

Not great, but why does he get singled out for a "vanishing act"? Derek Jeter hit .167 for the series btw.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, newflash most sportswriters are dumb as [censored]

[nutshot2]

blame for the series lies on:

1. wang
2. jeter
3. posada