Interesting point raised by Davidoff in his Newsday blog: the three year opt out isn’t about potentially getting an even bigger deal when he’s 31. Its about being able, assuming his health holds up, to go to San Fran when they can afford him (three years down the line, only two years are left on Zito’s disastrous deal). And the Yanks get Sabathia while he’s most likely to have maintained his health and effectiveness while giving the youngsters time to mature into solid major leaguers.

So are both sides just using each other as Davidoff says?

I guess we’ll know in three years.

Off the top of my head the Expos offered Reggie more $$ before he became a Yankee. Jack Morris, Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor took less $$ to play for the Twins. Mark Langston took less $$ than the Yanks offered to pitch for the Angels. Greg Maddux gave the Braves a discount to stay after his contract ran out. Pavano, Farnsworth & Tom Gordon took less money to pitch for NY…

No one else could’ve afforded Rodriguez or Sabathia, so they say, but you never know with these things; did anyone see the Jays signing Clemens? Did anyone see the White Sox landing Belle?

And Rodriguez fired Boras, IIRC. I believe one of the conditions of negotiations between Rodriguez & the Yanks was that Boras couldn’t be there. Even the contract that he signed, was in line with the contract that he signed with the Rangers.

It was a forgone conclusion that McGwire was going to SoCal after he was traded to the Cardinals. He wound up staying. How many times did Rickey go back to Oakland?

i don’t recall the amount, but didn’t pavano take less to come here? Also Beltran wanted to take less to come here…thats all i can think of atm

Raf, I challenge you to name three big-time free agents who have left a significant amount of money on the table (i.e., >$10 million). You won’t succeed in naming them because it pretty much never happens.

Why did they make such a high offer? Because Cashman bought into CC’s story, that’s my whole point. This is as pathetic as when the media spun the story about A-Rod humbly returning to the Yankees, hat in hand, willing to accept a mere $300 million, 10 year contract, when no other team in baseball would even be able to give him 80% of that figure. Scott Boras won that battle by realizing that the public needed some kind of story about A-Rod distancing himself from his agent in order to get the deal done. These agents just walk all over Cashman, it’s pretty pathetic to watch.

But I mean, on the bright side, we have CC. That is good. The Derek Lowe news is pretty terrible though.

~~I want to see if I understand this correctly

Obvious move that works: no credit
Obvious move that doesn’t work: no credit
Not so obvious move that works: credit (or luck)
Not so obvious move that doesn’t work: no credit~~

No, it’s more like:

Obvious move that works: no credit (or maybe a little credit)
Obvious move that doesn’t work: no blame
Not so obvious move that works: credit (or maybe luck)
Not so obvious move that doesn’t work: blame

He spun this ridiculous story about him wanting to stay on the West Coast, when everyone knows that every athlete in the history of the world always takes the money.
——————
Ok, then why
1. Make such a high offer
2. Bid against themselves

And other players have left money on the table, so that shoots holes in your theory that “every athlete in the history of the world always takes the money.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we got CC. But there was absolutely no doubt that we were going to get him considering all the money coming off the books after this season, how bad last season was, and fan expectations of breaking in the new Stadium with a good team. They were going to spend whatever they needed to get him. But CC’s agent undeniably played Cashman. He spun this ridiculous story about him wanting to stay on the West Coast, when everyone knows that every athlete in the history of the world always takes the money. Cashman was terrified of screwing this one up, and it shows.

“I want to see if I understand this correctly
Obvious move that works: no credit
Obvious move that doesn’t work: no credit
Not so obvious move that works: credit (or luck)
Not so obvious move that doesn’t work: no credit”

That’s essentially what Cashman haters go by. A CC signing should have happened no matter what, and basically, they’ll find a negative in each signing without realizing every contract has it’s own risks. S