Red Sox as new Yankees . . . developing.
Meanwhile . . .
A-Rod opts out of the final three years of contract. Story here.
In times like this, if only for comic relief, one looks for the requisite Scott Boras helping of crapola, and here it is:
Boras said during a telephone interview Rodriguez made his choice because he was uncertain whether Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte would return to the Yankees.
"Alex's decision was one based on not knowing what his closer, his catcher and one of his statured pitchers was going to do," Boras said. "He really didn't want to make any decisions until he knew what they were doing."
Hilarity. Hey, Boras, A-Rod just made a decision. Or aren't you his agent or something? Ten days before he had to.
Oh, well. Accusing Scott Boras of lying is about as useful as accusing a cow of taking a dump in the barnyard. They're going to do it, and be unashamed about it, so why waste your breath?
For heaven's sake, when A-Rod went to the Rangers seven years ago, for seven million more per year than anyone else was bidding, it was his contract in and of itself that prevented the Rangers from pursuing "a closer and a statured pitcher." (They could only get Chan Ho Park, and for that they had to throw fifty million to the winds.) Luckily, the Rangers already had a catcher in Pudge (who was, by the way, plying his trade for several million a year below market value, in part because he felt at home as a Spanish-speaking Central American in Texas), but the pinch of A-Rod's contract was, in part, the reason for Pudge's departure--and a major reason why the Florida Marlins and Detroit Tigers won pennants, and the Marlins the series in 2003.
"A closer and a statured pitcher." My eighteen year-old English students come up with better explanations for why their Hemingway essays are a week late.
The Yankees have said to A-Rod, again and again and again: Opt out, and you and we are finished. You want to talk extension, fine, and we'll fill your sacks with gold. But we won't get into a bidding war already $20 million in the hole (20 mil being the precise amount the Yanks would have to make up, as an opt-out would relieve the Rangers of their share of A-Rod's contract).
Well, I hope they stick to it.
For myself: I'm not bitter, I don't feel betrayed, and when A-Rod comes to a ballpark near me I won't boo at all. I only hope the Yankees stick to their guns and say something approximating the following:
A-Rod, we had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the Sun, and we join together now in wishing you a fond farewell.
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2 comments:
This might sound like sour grapes, but I'm happy. Seriously, I'm not an idiot, I'm aware of the fact that without A-Rod the Yanks are not even in the post-season.
BUT
Look at the Yankee's incredible teams from 1996-2001 They never had a guy even get a sniff at MVP. Never had a guy hit more than 30 HR's (I think I'm right on that one, to lazy to look it up, but almost certain) they won as a TEAM. They won with chemisty, and won with pitching. A-Rod is NONE OF THOSE THINGS!
His post-season pathetic performance alone should halt any Yankee fan from shedding a tear from his departure. I'm mean there's bad and there's REALLY BAD.
I'm sad that Donny Baseball with be gone, I was hoping that the Yanks would win a Title with him on the bench in some sort of capacity. Thus getting him a ring.
Happy about Girardi.
Yeah. The irony is that Mike Lowell was 1) let go by the Yankees in pursuit of more pitching, and 2) the sticking point in the Yank's pursuit of Beckett.
The Marlins said: you can have Beckett. But you have to take Lowell back, him and his 18 mil.
The Yanks, who had A-Rod, said no.
Playoff MVP: Beckett.
WS MVP: Lowell, at third.
The Yanks need the next O'Neill, the next Tino, the next Scottie. Not a Hall-of-Famer among them, but what brass when it counted.
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