A-Rod opts out of contract

[Mondogarage]

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Okay, so if the Dodgers do fire Grady, and hire Joe Torre and Mattingly, what are the chances they sign A-Rod, Posada, and/ or Rivera?

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Posada and Mo are resigning w/ NY. It's pretty much a given. Both will be getting 3 year deals for roughly $40 million. And considering that Torre dropped A-Rod to the 8th spot in the line-up in a playoff game, I seriously doubt A-Rod wants anything to do w/ Torre. And I'm sure the feeling is mutual.

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I agree it's pretty damn unlikely. Of course, a lot of Yankee fans were predicting in the "Where does A-Rod play next year" thread, that there was zero chance A-Rod was leaving New York, as well. But hell, I'm just asking opinions here.

I think the last thing the Dodgers are about to do is sign a bunch of mid-to-late 30s players, given the way they were sitting Kent, Gonzo, etc., late last season.

[manbearpig]

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but an entirely irrelevant in the real world, because it is an impossibility of actually happening.

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That makes a lot of things totally worthless then, no?

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Only if you define irrelevant and worthless the same.

But no, I would not take 25 players of Eckstein's statistical profile over 25 players of A-Rod's statistical profile. However, 25 players of A-Rod's personality would seem to have as much a chance of personality dysfunctionality keeping them from winning a World Series, as the talent level of those 25 players would have of getting to that point in the first place.

I'm not the only one who considers A-Rod subtraction by addition, either.

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Christ, how spelled out does this have to be for you?

Would you rather have 25 pricks who are all the best player at their position or 25 nice guy spark plugs who are just above replacement level?

This is a silly [censored] argument and I get tired of dealing with stupid [censored] people.

[Pudge714]

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Disjunction,
Leveling? Please?

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[disjunction]

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Disjunction,
Leveling? Please?

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Pudge,

Yes you are being leveled.

[Dids]

When I am ruler of the world, and get to decide who goes to stupid jail, I think I'm going to start with this thread.

[DesertCat]

"See those guys?" Leo said, glancing at the other dugout.

The reporter turns to see the NY Giants, led by their manager Mel Ott, taking the field for warmups.

"They are all nice guys. They'll finish in last place. Nice guys. Finish last."

[kevstreet]

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For all of those proclaiming the Yankees as a non-playoff team without A-Rod, could you please share your thoughts on the 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 teams?

How on earth did they continuously go deep into the playoffs without him then?


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QFT!!!

I've wondered this same exact thing for the last 3 years as the Yanks exited in the first round.

Oh and didn't 4 of those seasons end in a World Series Championship? How did they ever manage?!?!

[kevstreet]

Bob DiCesare: A-Rod’s exit leaves Yanks better off
By Bob DiCesare
Updated: 10/29/07 8:28 AM


So, Alex Rodriguez has elected to opt out of his contract with the New York Yankees.

Leave behind $72 million in guaranteed salary.

And all because he’s uncertain about the Yankees’ commitment.

That’s a good one, wouldn’t you say? A-Rod questioning how serious the Yankees are about winning? Isn’t that like questioning whether England’s serious about soccer?

Speaking about commitment to winning, has anyone forgotten that A-Rod is 7 for 44 with one homer and one RBI in his last three postseason series with New York? Has it slipped anyone’s memory that baseball’s highest-paid player has been one of its bigger postseason busts since the mega-deal was signed?

Agent Scott Boras said late Sunday night that his client is opting out of baseball’s richest contract because the Yankees are entering an offseason fraught with uncertainty. ARod wonders whether Mariano Rivera will be back, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte. He makes it sound as if the Yankees might not make a strong enough effort to win a World Series, forgetting, apparently, that New York took on his 10-year, $252 million deal when no one else would or could, and that they annually outspend Belgium.

Why doesn’t A-Rod just own up? He wants nothing to do with the playoff pressure that comes with being a Yank. The franchise shouldn’t have been courting his return to begin with. Granted, his presence boosts attendance and local broadcast revenues and further fortifies the Yanks’ image as baseball’s financial bully. Doubtless he just produced one of the finer seasons in big league history, batting .314 with 54 homers and 156 RBIs. But as October arrives and the pressures heighten, A-Rod’s been the ball at the end of the chain, a burdensome weight to tow.

One number echoes within the mountains of glorious statistics compiled by Rodriguez throughout his career: zero, his number of accrued World Series at-bats.

The trade that made him a Yankee bolstered his supporting cast, placed him at the heart of a fearsome lineup, yet has translated into postseason progress no more substantial than what he achieved during his tenure with Seattle. Rodriguez appeared in the American League Championship Series twice with the Mariners, once with the Yanks, and distinguished himself in none of the three. What you get for $25 million a season, or whatever upgraded salary eventually emerges from this latest round of fiscal absurdity, is a third baseman capable of leading a team into October but one who shrinks into irrelevance once it arrives.

The roster restructuring overseen by General Manager Brian Cashman has distanced the Yanks from their glory days of not all that long ago. Once baseball’s ultimate gamers, the Yanks have ceded that distinction to the Red Sox. It’s Boston, not New York, that strings together quality at-bats and pushes opposing pitchers to the point of exhaustion. Fact is, the Yankees are in far greater need of a Scott Brosius, a Bernie Williams, a Paul O’Neill than an uninspired (and uninspiring) A-Rod.

Yes, A-Rod’s extraordinary regular seasons enhance his team’s chances of making the postseason. And if that’s the extent of the franchise’s ambitions, bringing him back would have made perfect sense.

But the Yankees always have been about more than just making it to the postseason. They’ve been about winning world championships. In that regard, ARod wasn’t much of a return on their investment.

[JuntMonkey]

Mets: Reyes for Santana, then sign A-Rod. Ship championship.

[onlinebeginner]

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Mets: Reyes for Santana, then sign A-Rod. Ship championship.

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pretty sure he wants out of new york

i gotta see him going to the cubs... he wants to hit as many homers as possible... LA and SF are big ballparks... the division as a whole actully is a pitchers paradise as far as parks go