Boras & A-Rod To Yanks: Not Now, Call Us Later
From ESPN -
After the New York Yankees on Wednesday indicated they would break from tradition and negotiate during the season with Alex Rodriguez on a contract extension, his agent moved in quickly to define what it would take to keep the superstar third baseman playing in New York.
And that would be unprecedented millions per season.
In a telephone interview with the New York Post, Scott Boras said Rodriguez assuredly will become Major League Baseball’s first $30 million-a-year player.
However, Boras said he will not take up the Yankees’ offer to negotiate before the season ends.
“We are not going to be negotiating during the season,” Boras said. Boras insisted he could see no way that strategy will change, saying “This is Alex’s decision. This has been his policy, and I fully expect this to continue to be his policy.”
MLB sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney that the Yankees were willing to negotiate with Rodriguez — under the condition that he agrees not to opt out of his current contract after this season and that he agrees to tack on any extension to that deal, which expires after the 2010 season.
Even if his client doesn’t go the opt-out route, Boras told the Post that there are existing stipulations in the current deal that all but guarantee Rodriguez would earn a minimum of $32 million in both the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
“The way the provision operates, he either gets that or he can become a free agent after any of those seasons again,” Boras told the newspaper.
I have seen reports that say A-Rod’s team must increase his salaries for 2009 and 2010 by the higher of $5 million or $1 million greater than the average annual value of the non-pitcher with highest annual average value. This is where Boras is getting the $32 million.
So, this is what I’m thinking…Alex plays until the end of the season, and then uses the opt-out threat to get the Yankees to add five years to his current contract – at the cost of $160 million dollars – that will keep him in New York until 2015.
If the Yankees don’t offer this, then he goes…and takes a shot at getting an 8-year offer from someone else, for $250 million, or not.
Hasn’t this whole thing become nauseating already? Here’s the important quote: “We are not going to be negotiating during the season,” Boras said. “This is Alex’s decision. This has been his policy, and I fully expect this to continue to be his policy.”
In other words, he said he wanted to stay in New York, that he “loves” New York, but he’s going to wait to see what’s truly out there before making a decision, because God forbid he leaves a few million dollars on the table.
A-Rod has taken a TON of shit over his contract. He’s killed for it daily. It seemed to get to him enough that he was going to take a big paycut for Boston. You would think this would mean that he wouldn’t want another absurd contract that people could kill him over. But now his agent is talking about over 30 million dollars a year.
A-Rod and Boras suck at p.r., but if they were smart, they would extend with the Yankees at the current per-year price (25 million) and then they would be able to say “Alex stayed in New York for less.” They could somehow turn 25 million into a discount.
If the price tag really gets to 32 million, maybe they should let him walk. Everyone says hysterically “how can they replace his production?” They can’t — but they haven’t won with that production. Instead of giving him 32 million a year — and instead of paying Roger Clemens a million a start again — they should finally live up to the “young/cheaper” model Cashman wants, promote the kids, and spend their money wisely.
If I’m Cashman, I tell him and Boras that the Nov. 12 opt-out date is the deadline for negotiating an extension. If he wants to stay on the Yanks and get money from the Yanks, then that is the last absolute date. If he chooses to opt out, the Yanks shouldn’t be there. He’ll have to work on getting an 8 year $250 million contract with the wealthiest team in baseball out of the running.
~~~If the price tag really gets to 32 million, maybe they should let him walk. Everyone says hysterically “how can they replace his production?” They can’t — but they haven’t won with that production. Instead of giving him 32 million a year — and instead of paying Roger Clemens a million a start again — they should finally live up to the “young/cheaper” model Cashman wants, promote the kids, and spend their money wisely.~~~
I would ditto that.
A-Rod has taken a TON of shit over his contract. He’s killed for it daily. It seemed to get to him enough that he was going to take a big paycut for Boston.
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I think it had more to do with the Rangers being so bad more than anything else.
Anyway, as for his “I <3 NY” comments, remember how he acted when he was with the M’s. It’s the same thing over again.
A-Rod & Boras may suck @ PR, but they get results. $252M. And now we may see the first $30M/yr player. Now that I think of it, maybe their PR isn’t all that bad; a team wouldn’t throw that kind of $$ at a player if they didn’t think they were worth it.
This contract is getting obscene.
Something I found very telling (learned from watching THE BRONX IS BURNING) is that even the big hotdog himself, Reggie Jackson, didn’t just sign where the most money was. Steinbrenner actually offered him less than the Padres and 1 other team did (can’t remember which) but Reggie wanted to play on the big stage and saw other reasons for choosing New York — including a chance for another WS ring.
If Arod leaves he will have to deal with the ugliness of the fact that he came to NY to win a WS, choked several times in the post season, and slithered out of town for more money.
In some ways I think this might be the factor that keeps him in NY. His reputation and likability seem very important to him — why would he want to be known as a guy who just chases the biggest paycheck?
Montreal. The Montreal Expos(!) were the other team that offered more $$ than the Yanks.
You people are something else. Nice to see the truth — some of you are acting like cornered animals. No offense, but all this vitriol for one man’s contract? He will get 30+ regardless of whether or not he opts out.
Choker, greedy, hypocrite???? Priceless. It is visceral reactions like these that more than justify any reason he has for exploring the market and getting out of here, no matter how much he loves NY and wants to stay.
There is nothing hypocritical about waiting till the end of the season – NOTHING. It is ONE of the smartest things he could do. If as you say, Baileywalk, he is killed for an existing huge contract, while would he sign another in the middle of an abysmal Yankee team season?
It doesn’t make a whit of difference to me how much Rodriguez is compensated. I don’t see a dime of that $$.
He stays, he stays, he goes, he goes.
The widespread acceptance that there is a team (or a group of teams) out there willing to drop $250MM for 8 years is nuts. Remember that Boston didn’t even want to pay A-Rod 16-18MM/yr or he’d be a beanbrain right now. Not only can’t I see anyone paying 30MM/yr for 8 years, I’d be shocked if anyone paid 27MM/yr for that length. Everyone points at the Angels, but Vlad is their highest paid player, making 14.5 MM/yr. Can’t see them doubling that. Said it a long time ago, the absolutely nutty contract the Rangers signed (and the associated 81MM over the next three) will very likely result in A-Rod staying in NY. Boras is blowing smoke out of his ass. A-Rod has to leave this year if he’s going. The reports I’ve read say that, unlike ’07, the opt-out clauses in ’08 and ’09 are only triggered if he’s not the highest paid player in the game. No one is going to make more than 27MM/yr. There might be a couple of 20MM/yr contracts out there (Santana and Ichi come to mind) but those are not even close to triggering a “poverty” clause for A-Rod. Now, some owner might do something stupid (Hicks proves that it’s possible), but no one in their right mind has ~30MM/yr for one player penciled into their plans for the next few years. For what it’s worth, the Tribe just broke open the piggy bank and signed Hafner for 4 years at under 15/yr. According to ESPN, here are the 2007 salaries for the top 5 OPS guys in baseball… Bonds – OPS 1.101 @ 15.5MM, A-Rod – 1.078 @ 27.8MM, Ordonez 1.050 @ 13.2MM, Chipper – 1.011 @ 12.3MM, and Carlos Pena 1.004 @ .800MM/yr!!!!!! According to USA today (http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/top25.aspx?year=2007), there are only 3 players making over 20MM this year and they are all on the Yankees. There are only 11 making more than 15MM, and 5 are on the Yankees!! 30MM/yr contracts ain’t happening for a long, long time.
“You people are something else. Nice to see the truth — some of you are acting like cornered animals. No offense, but all this vitriol for one man’s contract? He will get 30+ regardless of whether or not he opts out.
Choker, greedy, hypocrite???? Priceless. It is visceral reactions like these that more than justify any reason he has for exploring the market and getting out of here, no matter how much he loves NY and wants to stay.
There is nothing hypocritical about waiting till the end of the season – NOTHING. It is ONE of the smartest things he could do. If as you say, Baileywalk, he is killed for an existing huge contract, while would he sign another in the middle of an abysmal Yankee team season?”
Posted by: Tarnished at July 12, 2007 02:40 PM
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Good to hear from you ARod.
And that is the reasoning behind Boras’ strategy…playing the Yankees against themselves and their own paranoia. If ARod really wants to stay in pinstripes, he’ll have to leave some shekels on the mesa…if not, fine, go with God. Adios and see what the strippers on the Left Coast are like.
amen, Johnny!
Interesting that most are now beginning to see this the same way that I’ve been talking about it for two seasons now.
lol @ ‘poverty clause’
and be careful of those ‘contract year’ guys. pavano, burnett, giambi, beltre, beltran, farnsy, etc.
and be careful of those ‘contract year’ guys. pavano, burnett, giambi, beltre, beltran, farnsy, etc.
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Why did you stick Giambi’s name in there? He wasn’t a walk-year guy. Giambi was an absolute beast every year he was in Oakland.
From ’99 to ’01, Jason could make the argument he was in the top five of all hitters in the league. He was just as good in ’02 for the Yanks, and then of course injuries slowed him down (though he did have 41, 32, and 37 homers in subsequent years).