High and Tight.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

It's Probably Pretty Official, He's Back

Just need to dot the i's and cross the t's, but third base is no longer a question mark.
Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees have agreed to the outline of a record 10-year, $275 million contract, a deal that potentially would allow him to earn millions more if he sets the career home run record.

The amount of the guaranteed money was revealed by a person familiar with the negotiations who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn't been finalized. A-Rod and his wife met Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., with brothers Hal and Hank Steinbrenner, but the parameters of the agreement were set in place last weekend.

"The meeting was a final get-together," Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said. "He wanted to make sure myself and my brother knew that he was sincere and serious."

The Yankees still must draft the agreement with Rodriguez's agent, Scott Boras. Asked whether the only remaining details were putting the deal on paper, Steinbrenner responded: "pretty much so."

To paraphrase Cashman, "goodbyeeeeee Wilson Betemit."

Also, my newfound love affair with Lil' Stein continues. Yes, he is loud and talkative and probably too much so, but while he's talking all the time, he's also agreeing with every one of Brian Cashman's talking points. He seems to really have bought into Cash's philosophies.
Steinbrenner said Rodriguez was given bad advice by Boras during the time before the decision to opt out.

"Boras did a lot of good things for Alex through the years, and Alex knows that. I mean, obviously, he's going to look to Scott's advice on everything," Steinbrenner said. "That's not unusual today. It's not like he's the only one. And if an agent gets out of line or makes bad decisions, then that's going to hurt the player. And obviously, that's one of the things that happened here."

Steinbrenner said he thinks that had Rodriguez tested the free-agent market, he would have gotten a more lucrative contract and cited the interest of the Los Angeles Dodgers, led by new manager Joe Torre, and perhaps other teams.

"There are a few cynics who say, 'Well he really couldn't get this there,'" Steinbrenner said. "Trust me, he would have gotten probably more. He is making a sacrifice to be a Yankee, there's no question. ... He showed what was really in his heart and what he really wanted."

Now that he's staying with the Yankees, will A-Rod get a Yankeeography on YES?

"Well, we'll see," Steinbrenner said, chuckling.

Labels: a-rod, little stein

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 5:50 PM 1 comments

Sometimes, Sportswriters are NOT Morons

I swear, this is not turning into the All-Alex-All-The-Time Blog, although I do appreciate when people consider it a good source of information.

Often I slam sportwriters (seriously, it has happened before) in regards to their idiotic ideas and biased or outdated attitudes that they continually perpetrate upon a generally wide-eyed and gullible public.

However, sometimes kudos are also in order. John Harper gets it. If you want to see a very good take on the A-Rod/Steinbrenner/Boras/Cashman relationship, it's a really good read.

Labels: a-rod, brian cashman, good sportwriters, john harper, little stein, scott boras

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 2:33 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

A-Rod to Be a Yankee Again. For Now. I Mean, We'll See.

Mark Feisand may be better at predicting the future than Tyler Kepner.

After all the back and forth we've listened to in recent weeks, it looks like Alex Rodriguez is headed back to New York after all.

As first reported on the Daily News Web site this morning, A-Rod and the Yankees have been talking behind the scenes about a deal to bring him back to the Bronx, and it looks like it will happen in the very near future.

This is the right move for the Yankees. They bring back the best hitter in the game, at the price they wanted to pay him to begin with. The deal should be in the range of 10 years and $275 million, which gives them back the $21 million they lost from Texas when A-Rod opted out.

For Rodriguez, it's the first step for him to restore his image, which has taken a beating since the opt out was announced during the World Series. Rodriguez comes back to New York on a lower contract, and he'll now finish his career in pinstripes.
I think Feisand's math is a bit off as far as giving back the Texas discount. While it's true that contract would have been less than Rodriguez would have made had he accepted the initial offer, it seems to be a little bit more for the Yankees to pay.

It seems John Sterling also confirmed through a "source" that the deal is "100% done."

I really don't know how to think or feel about this yet, but if nothing else this is a HUGE slap in the face to Scott Boras, because if Alex did this on his own it's practically admitting that Boras ignores the will of his high profile clients. I also believe it means he won't get a cut of the contract, which would be extra sweet.

UPDATE: Hank Steinbrenner says A-Rod "wants to be a Yankee."

It appears at this point that he wants to be a Yankee.” Steinbrenner said in a cell phone conversation.

Despite so vigorously stating they would not negotiate with A-Rod after he opted out, the Yankees are entertaining this surprising new development because Rodriguez is willing to take sacrifices.

“The reason we didn’t entertain it in the first place is because of the opt out and the loss of the Rangers money and so forth,” Steinbrenner said. “But at this point it appears he’s willing to make sacrifices to be a Yankee. Basically that’s it in a nutshell.”

In his statement, Rodriguez referenced potential sacrifices -- which would include taking less money to account for the $21 million subsidary from the Rangers he cost them by opting out.

If Hank is making such statements... well, a dealis probably close.

Labels: a-rod, little stein, scott boras

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 2:17 PM 3 comments