A-Rod Opts Out

[Timmer]

Well, Alex Rodriguez has now opted out of his contract with the Yankees. The Yankees have said repeatedly that they won't negotiate with him once he opts out, so it looks as if he's gone.

This is a situation where Hank and the new skipper, along with Cashman, can determine which way they will operate the club going forward. Do they revert to Steinbrennerism and try to bring in some veterans (especially if they can find a marquee name) to replace A-Rod, sacrificing the young talent, or do they stick with the kids?

Or do they do some kind of mixture of the two, going after a big bat in trade or free agency (Hunter? Dunn?) and trying to deal for Santana, but keeping the kids together as much as they can?

I wonder if Baltimore, lacking OFs, might have interest in Damon, especially
if they move Tejada.

Damon, Karstens, and Kennedy for Tejada and Bedard? (Bedard is an established lefty ace and he's young!)

It should be an interesting offseason.

[Timmer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/sp...ts&oref=slogin

Alex Rodriguez is not attending the general managers meetings, so no general managers have been throwing thousand dollar bills or offers at him. But his agent, Scott Boras, isn’t ready to entertain any offers yet.

When Boras has a major client on the market, teams are required to conduct themselves the Boras way, that is, however Boras wants them to.

For example, one of the reasons Boras was said not to want Rodriguez to meet with the Yankees before he opted out of his contract was because he didn’t want the Yankees to make him an offer. When the Yankees persisted, Boras told them the only way they could meet with Rodriguez would be if they put a minimum of $350 million on the table.

To their credit, the Yankees opted to pass.

Since Rodriguez opted out of the contract the night of the final game of the World Series, Boras and a confidant of Rodriguez have tried to promote a meeting with the Yankees.

Boras has sounded indignant that the Yankees have said they would not negotiate with Rodriguez as a free agent, since they are negotiating with the free agents Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada.

The more Boras talks the more he sounds like he thinks he erred by orchestrating the opt-out clause with Rodriguez. Maybe Boras was calling the Yankees’ bluff, and now may see that they are serious about not talking to A-Rod to play third base. Any agent with a player like A-Rod for a client would want the Yankees to drive up the bidding. The question now is if there is anyone else to drive up the bidding? Boras has almost always achieved his goals for his superstar clients, finding some team to bid big. But is there a team among the other 29 prepared to make his and A-Rod’s day?

With the general managers available at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, I identified some possible bidders and asked if they had an interest in Rodriguez.

Tony Reagins of the Angels said: “Obviously we don’t know the expense or what his offer would be, but we have interest. I think we have to look at what the landscape of that situation is. We would definitely consider an opportunity to improve our club.”

Arte Moreno, the Angels’ owner, has said privately that he would not use such a large percentage of the team’s payroll for one player.

“I can’t speak for Arte directly, but we’re open to discussion,” Reagins said. “We want to see what the level of interest is around the league and we’d want to be in the mix. The fact that Alex is available is intriguing.”

Are the Angels prepared to pay $30 million to $35 million a year?

“That’s hypothetical,” Reagins said. “We don’t know what the price is going to be. When we get to that point, we’d have to take a strong look at it. There are numbers that are being thrown around, but I don’t know how much merit they have. It could be that. It may not be that.”

Brian Sabean, the Giants’ general manager, isn’t at the meetings. Dick Tidrow, the assistant general manager, answered the question.

“I think we would obviously kick the tires,” he said. “But it’s a long shot.”

Although the Giants could use a superstar to keep AT&T Park filled and help pay off the bank debt, a major league official has said that they couldn’t afford A-Rod. The person did not want to comment publicly about another team’s finances.

Ned Colletti of the Dodgers said: “We’ll have to wait and see. I haven’t heard from Scott. I don’t know if they have interest in being there or not. If they have interest we’ll see where we go. It’ll take a long time to play out, I’m sure.”

Jim Hendry of the Cubs said: “He’s a great, great player. I know he has a longstanding relationship with Lou Piniella. Anybody would love to have him. In our situation we’re very happy with Aramis Ramírez at third. In the overall scheme of things, for the dollars it would take, we have other needs — in the outfield, speed-wise, maybe a little more pitching.

“For that kind of volume of dollars, I don’t see a way that would make any sense because we’re very happy with our guy at third. To commit that much more to one player and not address the other needs we have when we already have an All-Star caliber third baseman is really tough to do.”

Theo Epstein of the Red Sox said, “We’re attempting to sign Mike Lowell and we’re not going to figure out any other alternatives until we see how that process plays out.”

Dave Dombrowski of the Tigers said, “We do not have interest.”

Larry Beinfest of the Marlins said: “We have no plans to pursue A-Rod or engage in any negotiations for him. It makes no sense to have a player who takes up most, if not all, of our on-field payroll.”

Bill Bavasi of the Mariners said, “We’re not a player.” Bavasi added that he continued to believe that the Yankees would be the best fit for Rodriguez. “The Yankees need a third baseman,” he said.

Two of the three executives questioned at random — Andy MacPhail of Baltimore and J. P. Ricciardi of Toronto — said they had no interest. The third, Kevin Towers of San Diego, said: “Do I have interest in him? Absolutely. Do I think we’ve got a legitimate chance to sign him? No. I’d have a hard time paying one guy a third of our payroll. We wouldn’t be able to compete.”

Omar Minaya of the Mets didn’t mention Rodriguez yesterday. The day before, he said he would look at Rodriguez like he looks at all free agents. Some people inferred from that comment that the Mets were interested. They are not.

The only way that would probably change was if Fred Wilpon, the Mets’ principal owner, had a dream that the Mets won the World Series next October with A-Rod in their lineup.

Looks like there isn't that much of a market for A-Rod.

[Timmer]

I'd love to see what the price would be for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis.

[YankeeMike]

I really hope that A-Rod and Boras have over-estimated his value to teams. Looking for a 10-year, $300-350 million deal seems absurd, and I think most teams saw what it did to the Rangers several years back when he got the first big deal.

As for replacing him, I'm not sure who's out there at 3B. Names I've heard, in addition to the obvious Miguel Cabrera, are Hank Blalock, Joe Crede and Chipper Jones.

Given those options, I'd pass and try and deal for Tejada and move him to third. Cabrera is young and ultra-talented, but I don't know if he has the determination and drive you'd want from someone on your team. Girardi managing could help or hurt, but I don't know how they got along during Joe's one year down in Miami. I also don't know what Florida would want back, as Hank's made it clear that the "Big Three" aren't available:

ESPN - Yankees won't trade young pitching for Cabrera - MLB

Blalock is only 26, but seems to have peaked in 2004. His numbers have been declining ever since. Crede doesn't seem like a bad option, but he's only got one year left until free agency, and Boras is his agent so you know where that's heading. And Chipper is certainly in the twilight of his playing days.

[Habsfan84]

I didnt expect him to go back.

He will be a big name for teams this offseason.

[YankeeMike]

It appears that so far, teams are balking at paying him $30 million/year.

Good!

[rottiesworld]

Well I heard Arod is crying now and wants to talk to the Yankees about staying with the team. I guess he figured out that he is not going to get that much money so he goes crying back to the Yankees. I wish the Yankees would make him wait awhile then give him a big pay cut maybe 15 mil a season just so he could see that you can't screw around with the team and also what has he done in the playoffs and World Series.

[Timmer]

Re-signing A-Rod, which I didn't think would happen (and hasn't officially yet), would save the young, tradable talent to go get Santana. Put him in front of Wang, Moose, Hughes, and hopefully Pettitte and we've got a terrific rotation. And if they use that rotation, in whatever order, they could leave Joba in the pen. Suddenly, all aspects of the pitching staff are stronger.

I'd still go sign a couple of relievers, however. Or trade to get them, if you can do so at a reasonable price. I'd love to see Brian talk to Washington about the suddenly-tradable Chad Cordero, just 27, who has already had a 40+ save season wiht a noncontending team. I might be willing to send Ohlendorf to DC (and the Nats' assistant GM, Mike Rizzo, is a former executive with Arizona, where Ohlendorf came from.) I also like the idea of signing Jeremy Affeldt

Unfortunately, it looks like the Twins want Cano in a Santana trade. (I suspect that Melky might also appeal to them because Torii Hunter is gone. They'll also want young arms. They'd like Hughes or Chamberalin, but I think if Cano is in the package, they might settle for Kennedy and Horne.

If Robbie goes, who plays 2B? Betemit? If Melky goes, do they sign someone like Rowand?

Then there is the talk of signing Mike Lowell for 1B.

Anyway, the turn of events with A-Rod is surprising, but I'll be happy to have him back in the leinup when it's official (the media is reporting within a few days.) Remember when Bernie was a free agent and we thought we'd lost him, then he called Steinbrenner to sya he wanted to be a Yankee and he took a bit less to stay? A-Rod is starting to resemble Bernie in that regard.

Bernie, BTW, hit .281 in 2006, his last year (so far, at least.) Right now, the Yankees' backup OFs look to be Shelley Duncan and Bronson Sardinha. Could Bernie outplay them?

[Nicknemo2]

arod did not say all that stuff about opting out and leaving the yankees, it was all his stupid agent. arod went back to the yankees and apoligized for his agent, and signed a contract completly without his agent. and his agent still gets payed for the deal.