Probably Not

Mike Lupica has this bit in today's Daily News:

"There is only one way to make this right, if Rodriguez wants to stay: He goes to Tampa. Again: There are people close to the player, closer than Boras right now, who believe he is ready to do it and do it soon. That he knows he’s not going to break all the world’s records the way he did when he went to Texas. That what the Yankees were fully prepared to offer, a deal that could have gone to a total value of $230 million over the next eight years, was the best one he was going to get.

More than that, he has had a couple of weeks to think about the fact that maybe, just maybe, being A-Rod of the Yankees is the best place for him to be now and into the future, that he doesn’t have to shop himself around just because Boras wants him to, that he never even needed to opt out in the first place because the best offer he was going to get was the one the Steinbrenners never got a chance to give him.

And for the first time in his life, he takes money off the table."

Hmm. There are people close to the player, closer than Boras right now... And those people sound oddly like Scott Boras doing imitations of those people. Here's my unoriginal theory: If you have noticed, there are lot of "people close to A-Rod" saying a lot of things these days. A couple of weeks ago, a person close to A-Rod leaked it to the Boston Globe that the Sox were on the top of A-Rod's wish-list. That same week, another person close to A-Rod told a New York paper that the Yanks were still his #1 choice. What do these people have in common? They're all Scott Boras. In other words, Scott Boras spends 10 minutes each day going to a local pay-phone and calling reporters. He cleverly disguises his voice so that he sounds like Cynthia Rodriguez. In one bold call, he pretended to be A-Rod's infant daughter ("Daddy wanna Yankees...Poopie...Mike Lupica, please let everyone know that my dad, A-Rod, wants to play for the Yankees.")

In summary, A-Rod is probably not interested in coming back to the Yankees. He is interested in boosting his bidding price. But there are questions now about the market for him. Will he get what he and Boras want? Interestingly, the Angels and Dodgers, two teams linked to A-Rod, are reportedly the two most likely to land Miguel Cabrera. If either of them get him, there would likely be one less team to bid on A-Rod. Did Boras misread the market? Did the poorly timed opt-out give teams a reason to depress the market for his services? Meanwhile, Scott Boras is scheduled to make another call on a pay-phone sometime this afternoon. Did you know that A-Rod was a Mets fan growing up?

Comments

[AndrewYF]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2007/11/14/2007-11-14_yankees_set_to_bring_arod_back__on_their.html?ref=rss

Juicier story.

[Nick-YF]

Andrew, I just saw that after I posted this one. There's a new thread above about it. Kind of crazy.

[sam-YF]

that is nuts if its true! it would be amazing to give Boras the heave ho.

[Paul SF]

And for the first time in his life, he takes money off the table."

That's completely untrue. A-Rod took money off the table to come to Boston, but the union rejected it.

This consistently is neglected by those who love the "A-Rod is a greedy, mercenary bastard" line, but it should not be overlooked. If A-Rod is a greedy, mercenary bastard, why was he willing to take less money to go to a team? Hmmmm?

Of course, that actually gives Lupica's take, and the story Nick cites above, even more credibility.

[Nick-YF]

good point, Paul.

[Ron Newman]

If he went to Tampa, wouldn't the Devil Rays have to forfeit all of their games, because they would have no money left over to pay any other players?

[Paul SF]

That'd be Tampa, as in the Steinbrenner base of ops.

[Atheose]

Ron, Alex Rodriguez can play all 9 positions simultaneously! Haven't you been reading Scott Boras' weekly "Alex Rodriguez is God" newsletters?