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All the rumors of an extension of Alex Rodriguez's contract with the Yankees are pointless. Why? Because A-Rod has decided to opt-out of his remaining three years with the Yankees. The announcement was made by Scott Boras during tonight's World Series game. He totally jumped that 10-day opt-out period. By opting-out, A-Rod passes on the remaining three-year $72 million portion of his contract and has likely played his last game as a New York Yankee. Brian Cashman has previously said that the team would not bid for the 32-year-old 3rd baseman's services if he opted-out of his contract.
Boras said that Rodriguez, the probable AL MVP, was leaving because of the uncertain future of the team, "Alex's decision was one based on not knowing what his closer, his catcher and one of his statured pitchers was going to do. He really didn't want to make any decisions until he knew what they were doing." A report Friday said that the Yankees were ready to offer Rodriguez a contract extension of up to five years at $30 million.
The announcement leaves the Yankees without a 3rd baseman who hit .314 with 54 home runs and 156 RBI in 2007. Cashman and the rest of the Yankees front office need to fill that offensive void (which also created some distractions at times) as well as address the issue of manager, their veteran free agents, and how to climb back into championship contention.
So is it "good riddance, A-Rod!" Or is it "we'll miss you (at least a little)!"
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oh, its GOOD F&^%&*G riddance!!!!!!!!!!
Arod can't handle new york....that said, new york is gonna suck without him. it's a red sox world baby
In a way this might be a good thing for the Yankees. Yankees have to get back what they did during the 90s and play more small ball instead of everyone trying to hit home runs.
Yea, so much better to not have someone who hits over 50 homers, drives in over 150, and scores over 140 times. Much better to have someone who can slap it around out there.
Since money isn't an issue, (How much can he spend?) I'm not sure what he's looking for. He spent years with the last place Texas Rangers getting and earning his contact as the American League MVP. Not that many teams can really offer a shot at the post season every year, like the Yankees. No team can spend more than the Yankees. So maybe he is tired of NY or wants to play shortstop again or maybe thinks the 2008 Yankees are a sinking ship. There's a lot of young talent, but if other free agents won't come back, he could be right.
I think New York wanted A-rod back and wanted him to succeed while he was here (even if it was the most backwards underdog story of all time) after his early struggles. Unfortunately baseball is a business and Alex is worth more to a team without a succesful regional sports network, without a large internation following, and without record breaking attendence every year. Leaving New York like this will follow him for the rest of his career and that's enough for me.
#4 - don't forget, a-rod likes to get plenty slappy when he's running the basepaths.
He is just one of the many who are jumping off of the sinking ship. It is going to be a great time watching the Yankee's battle it out for second place against the O's next year.
HIS closer/catcher/pitcher? He practically just got here, and they make it sound like he's been around forever. Good goddamn riddance!
Boy, he'll sure look good in blue and orange... :)
There are going to be very very few choices out there for any serious money. It would be interesting to see if he signs for less money and Boras has to eat humble pie. Plus what other cities have the number of hotties that New York has? Does Las Vegas have a team?
I think he's pissed because he can't be captain of the team with Jeter on board, so he's taking his ball and going home.
I'm a diehard Yanks fan for life, but this is the start of a downfall back to when the Yanks was a sub .500 team. The Redsox did everything right and have a team that can win the division for many years to come. The Yanks are now officially a rebuilding team. Yeah, Jeter is still there but he can't do it all. The pitching rotation needs to be revamped quickly. We need a manager that can handle the pressure of NY, the fans, the media, the owner(s), the redsox, and stars on the team. I don't say good riddance to A-Rod, he did help the Yanks during the season but not the playoffs. I find it funny lots of people here are saying good riddance to a guy who had 50+ HRs and many of those walkoffs BUT no bad talking for Jeter who like A-Rod didn't show up in the playoffs. So I guess its true, Jeter can't do no wrong in NY. I guess Jeter can have his team back now even though A-Rod clearly proved that he was the best player out of the both of them. Maybe what A-Rod said in the article years ago was right, you don't fear Jeter. Now what bat can replace A-Rod, the Yanks better make a damn good replacement.
"Alex's decision was one based on not knowing what his closer, his catcher and one of his statured pitchers was going to do. He really didn't want to make any decisions until he knew what they were doing." I
If that's the case why opt out way before the ten day period? It bullsh*t, GoAway-Rod just wants to create drama and be the center of attention as is his way. So long, we won without you before and we will win without you after. Now let's spend that money on Johan Santana.
How can he EVER afford to spend that much money in a lifetime?
Scott Boras is horrible. UGH.
I'm really going to miss him squibbing out to the pitcher or swinging at strike three over his head with runners in scoring position.
I don't know what I'll do when the front and back pages of the tabloids in New York aren't splashed every other day with syntactically poor headlines documenting his latest adulterous romp.
And the people of the next fair city on the A-Rod tour will be the subjects of my unending envy when he lashes out at them for booing him in the midst of his next 0-for-22 slump.
Godspeed, Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez. You'll forever be an A-Bomb in our hearts.
#14 - If I were a baseball player I'd LOVE to have Boras as my agent! Ultimately A-Rod makes the final decision, whether influenced by Boras or not, and he chose the $$.
He needs to get out of NY, so Cubs or Angels seem the most logical. And if he ends up in an AL team, I'll bet he'll come back to haunt the Yanks.
Boras only has his interest at hand (money), and not what is in the best of interest of the player in terms of his career. He is greedy.
How is anyone here greedy? This is about getting paid what you're worth. I doubt any of you hypocrites would settle for a lower paying job. Athletes are no different. At the end of the day either the athlete gets the money or the ownership. The Steinbrenners would love for Arod to play for the love of the game because that would make them that much more richer.
I'm glad Arod opted out. NY never appreciated his talent. He should go where he would be appreciated -- and paid.
Arod is probably the greatest regular season player ever. That said, the Yanks don't need him. They scored more than enough runs. Just not when they counted.
The rebuilding is long overdue. They do need the small ball and solid pitching of the '90s. A team that should be more than the sum of its parts. This will be interesting, and I'm more likely to tune in than watch a group of mercenary brats like Arod pad their stats.
Good riddance.
Smitty, of course Boras is interested in money! You think he'd turn into Jerry Maguire overnite? He's A-Rod's agent and will only do what A-Rod decides, and A-Rod has decided that $$ is in his best interest. So Yank fans only have Pay-Rod to blame.
Boras inflates what players are actually worth.
I don't like it, but inflating a player's worth is any agent's job, not just Boras'. He's just better at it than most.
A price is not inflatted as long as a club is willing to pay it, it's just basic supply and demand. Salary is not an exact correlation between dollar and production. Boras is just a good salesman of a highly demanded product.
Attendance at Yankee Stadium increased by 1 million during Arod's tenure. Let's assume that the average amount spent by those 1 million people was $100. That would mean Arod brought in $100 million on stadium revenue alone -- not even bringing into consideration the increased viewership of the YES Network. For $25 million, then, Arod was pulling in at least $75 million for the Steinbrenners. Who says he isn't worth more?