Oh, A-Rod
You can get the story — and commentary on it — anywhere, but if you’re looking to kick back with some “A-Rod re-signs with the Yanks” reading, I’d suggest Replacement Level Yankees Blog’s post and the comments after it.
This one, I do have an opinion on, to wit: Rodriguez has a little work to do on himself, perhaps, in terms of thinking for himself, and taking a stronger hand with Boras, who at day’s end works for him and not the other way around. The grapevine has it that Boras overestimated what the market would bear and that A-Rod approached the Yankees on his own in order to discuss a deal; I don’t know if that’s true, although I imagine we’ll hear from “sources in Tampa” over the next few days. If that’s true, good on him for trying to straighten the situation out.
But I’m with Mahnken on this one. I ain’t making the guy a bridesmaid or anything; who cares. He’s the best player in the game, he’s vital to the team, and we will tell stories about him to our grandchildren, and if you’re a Yankee fan and you don’t want him back, you’re high.
Boras didn’t seem to know how much money other teams have, really, which is weird because it’s not like all his clients work for the Yankees. It’s just — hey, the Tigers would’ve liked having A-Rod on the team, and they might’ve been willing to pay a high price, but this high price? We just don’t have the money for it!
I’m not one of those people who harps on how rich the Yankees are all the time, but really, there aren’t many teams with that kind of money for payroll. If you want a Yankees-type salary, you’re probably gonna have to play for the Yankees.
So this has nothing to do with A-Rod or the Yanks, but I saw a commercial yesterday for the Die Hard (what, like 15, right?) DVD. There was no announcer or even many printed words. It was just Guyz Nite singing in the background! Just wanted to congratulate Mr. S and friends!
I forget what channel, but it was probably either Spike or CBS since those are the two I remember watching most yesterday.
Did you see this article? http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/071114&sportCat=mlb It echos your sentiment, but not only for Yankee fans. I don’t really like the guy, and in fact was hoping for him to go to the Tigers or Sox just to really piss off some of my friends, but he’s got the numbers and he delivers. So he’s slappy and whiny and a prima donna but so are a lot of other players, namely one Manny Ramirez (maybe not so slappy). If he helps us get to next October, then ok. We wouldn’t have made it this year without him, most likely.
My thoughts are complex. It is fairly clear to anyone that followed that GM meetings that the Boras/A-Rod asking price was just too high. Also, if the Yankees did pay that, I would have been pissed. They need a bullpen, something awful. And $350 million is prohibitive to most teams, even the Yankees. If they traded away the young pitchers for Miguel Cabrera, I don’t think I would have been able to breathe for a couple of days. Not that he sucks… he’s just not as good. Especially considering the crap that we call a bullpen in the Bronx these days. And that is what matters to most people, even the fans. We want a player than can field the ball, that can hit the ball, and won’t be ashamed to wear pinstripes.
A-Rod cares about money, sure. I have a part of me that thinks that he has been singled out because he is so talented and also seeks money unabashedly, like he is the only player in MLB that has an extravagant contract. Does the Red Sox nation realize that J.D. Drew is the second-highest paid player on the team? And yeah, he doesn’t suck, but is he better than Youkilis or Ortiz or Lowell? And yeah, Drew is a Boras client. The players union probably loves that this type of bidding goes on, because it helps to increase salaries. A-Rod might be the most visible target, but don’t blame him because his name can be turned into “Pay-Rod.”
All I can say is that I want him back, and I am interested to see how he’ll do under Girardi. I hope for two things. One, I hope he learns that baseball is a game that needs a solid team that has genuine accord. Two, I hope he learns this within a couple of years. I think he a ways to go before he truly sinks, skill-wise, and I want to be there to see him get a ring with my team.
It’s nice to hear someone NOT hatin’ on A-Rod for a change. He’s still booed mercilessly every time he plays in Seattle (in fact, periodically people still throw Monopoly money at him when he’s at bat), and man, do I wish my town would get the hell over it. He’d never be welcome back on the M’s (at least, not by the majority of the fans), and that’s our friggin’ loss, in my opinion! Yes, he can be an idiot — but I would’ve left Seattle in my 20’s for a bigger paycheck myself. They don’t ALL have to be Edgar Martinez, M’s fans!
I love watching A-Rod play (less when he’s on the Yankees, I will admit, but hating the Yanks is in my DNA, so it’s not really my fault), and I confess I was glad to see him get this all worked out.
Now, how many days until Spring Training again?? I’m ready!
Sars, your last paragraph is my favorite thing that’s been said on this topic in the last 48 hours. Brilliant.
I have loved A-Rod since the Mariners, I think he’s punished for being awkward socially, but he’s the best player I personally have ever seen. I said it.
DOD, trust me, we are well aware how much money Drew isn’t earning. But to compare his contract to Ortiz’s and Youk’s is just silly: JD Drew was a free agent with half the world bidding on him, whereas Youk is homegrown and Ortiz’s knee problems earned him an unconditional release from the Twins. OF COURSE their contracts are smaller! And the Sox were able to offer Drew that much money in part because some of their other players came so cheap. A much better comparison would be JD Drew to Jason Varitek, who was also a free agent that other teams were interested in and who was also represented by Boras. His contract, I think, is quite reasonable.
My point is that no team is immune to signing overblown contracts, but there are plenty of quality players with reasonable deals. So when A-Rod opts out of the biggest contract in sports history, which includes a stipulation that he remain the highest-paid player in baseball, just to be the highest-paid player by a slightly bigger margin? Yeah, I think he deserves the criticism he gets.
I don’t give a flying hooty-toot about the size of the contract. Pay ’em whatever the market bears. I do care about its length. Ten years is just too long. For anybody. On any team. Ye gods.
Alex didn’t stick out the last 10-year contract he had (and he didn’t stick it out TWICE), he’s gonna stick this one out?
I was looking forward to being rid of the every day A-Rod-drama-on-the-back-page gig. His solipsism annoys me, but if I focus on the on-field stuff, I’ll be able to muddle through.
I’ll hate to be proven right if it’s 10 years before the Yankees win another World Series, though….
Manny Ramirez is a good comparison, because it also touches on the differences between NY and Boston: Ramirez is every bit as whiny as A-Rod, and lazier (though endearingly goofy), but A-Rod is seen as a total drama llama, whereas Manny’s quirks are sort of just our cross to bear…
And believe me, we have every idea how little value we’re getting out of JD Drew’s contract. I remember the SI poll that asked players who does the least with the most talent — the top two vote-getters were Drew and Wily Mo Pena, at that time both with the Red Sox. He certainly has the potential to be worth the money; he’s just not doing it at the moment.
Anyway, my thoughts on the whole A-Rod thing basically boil down to “come on, Sox, give Lowell the damn fourth year already.” Sure, he’ll be in decline by then, but it’s not like we can’t afford it, and it’s not like giving Tek the extra year ended up being such a bad idea. And yeah, we could go after Cabrera or someone… but he just doesn’t have the Muppet eyebrows we need for the job.
Damn, and here I was hoping he’d sign with the Mud Hens.
Oh, and speaking of Boras – Kenny Rogers fired his ass. Check it out:
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071116&content_id=2302080&vkey=news_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det
Rogers wants to stay with the Tigers. Boras was running around acting like he might consider another team and shooting down offers from Detroit. Rogers firing him makes it *very* clear that he’d had enough of Boras’s tactics, and that he’s more interested in his career than his paycheck. And at this stage of his career, he certainly has that luxury, but: combine that with A-Rod (who IS very interested in his paycheck) apparently excluding him from initial negotiations with the Yankees, and the Red Sox going behind his back with Matsuzaka last year, and I’m wondering if Boras is gonna need a reality check if he wants to extend his own career.
We now have our goal for Challenge ’08: we raise $200K, Sars has to get A-Rod to wear a matching dress. I request lavender chiffon.
A-Rod basically said in interviews exactly what you said, Sars: that he needs to remember that Boras works for him (and not the other way around) and that he has to take responsibility for Boras’ tactics. I’m not a huge fan of A-Rod (basically because I’m pretty sure the Rangers are *still* paying part of his last contract), but he is a good player who probably deserves to be paid what he can get.