Rodriguez Opts Out!

[Frayed Knot]

"Alex Rodriguez notified the Yankees on Sunday that he's opting out of his record $252 million contract, SI.com has learned.

Rodriguez's agent Scott Boras said he sent word of the opt-out in writing Sunday and left phone and text messages for Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.
According to team president Randy Levine, the Yankees were unaware of Rodriguez's decision.


This comes after the Yanx had been trying to arrange a meeting but Bor-Rod had been putting them off and are now officially blowing them off.
According to what the Yanx have been saying all along, this ends any chance that he'll be with their club next year.

I'm suprised they bailed without even hearing what the Yanx were going to offer (reported recently as 4 to 5 extra years and $25-30/per). Boras must either think (know?) that he has a fish on the line that's willing to blow past those numbers or that ARod was so unhappy in Yanqui-land that he'l take a similar or lesser deal just to get outta Dodge.

[metirish]

Not unexpected but still a WOW, yeah it's a surprise that they didn't even hang around to listen to what was to be offered.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

OK, this is one time when the truth got me!

I saw the thread title and assumed it was a joke referring to ARod not showing up for his Hank Aaron Award tonight.

I'm glad he's out of there. And it leaves a huge, gaping hole for the MFYs.

[DocTee]

Leaves 72M on the table. Incredible. Here's hoping he gets injured this offseason and never plays again. j/k

[Guest Edgy DC]

Frayed Knot wrote: Rodriguez's agent Scott Boras said he sent word of the opt-out in writing Sunday and left phone and text messages for Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

"B- AROD SEZ L8RG8R. U SUK. JTLYK! LOL! -S"

Is that contractually binding?

[metirish]

Mike Lowell will probably be happy to hear about this, Boston apparently won't over two years for him so the yankees will probably give him three or four.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

]According to what the Yanx have been saying all along, this ends any chance that he'll be with their club next year.

Here's hoping they try to blow this off the back page with an astonishingly bad managerial hire, then a few win-NOW trades. But I'd be surprised if they really walk away.

See ya, Rod. Job at Shea if you need one but it's BYO tent.

[Frayed Knot]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: OK, this is one time when the truth got me! I saw the thread title and assumed it was a joke referring to ARod not showing up for his Hank Aaron Award tonight.

I would never do soemthing like that for one very good reason .... I'm not clever enough to have thought of it.
If I was, of course, I would have done it in a heartbeat.

[metirish]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Here's hoping they try to blow this off the back page with an astonishingly bad managerial hire, then a few win-NOW trades. But I'd be surprised if they really walk away. See ya, Rod. Job at Shea if you need one but it's BYO tent.

From the NY Times.

Steinbrenner, a son of George Steinbrenner, the Yankees� principal owner, offered no hints as to who the choice would be. But a person who has spoken with the Yankees� decision-makers said he felt strongly that Joe Girardi would get the job. The person spoke on condition of anonymity.

[Fman99]

How great. Look at this line from ESPN.com's article:

"Boras said during a telephone interview that 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.' "

What a line of horseshit that is. I love it.

[metirish]

Not mentioned there was that Rodriguez also said that all those guys might not be there but the piece of shit Jeter would be.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Typical MFY activity, trying to steal the thunder from the Red Sox on what should be their night.

[Guest Edgy DC]

So win-win for the Sox that it basically redefines win-win.

[Valadius]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Lowell and A-Rod switch places.

And has anyone else noticed just how much of the blowhard gene Hank Steinbrenner has inherited from his father?

[Frayed Knot]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Typical MFY activity, trying to steal the thunder from the Red Sox on what should be their night.

Well the team had nothing to do with this one. In fact, they have to be horrified.
They've been getting the best player in baseball for approx 70 cents on the dollar (and would continue to for the next 3 seasons) and now they're being told that not only is that discount out the window but that any new deal is going to cost even more than the one you were getting a discount on.

This is not a good day in Yanqui-land.
The only person in NY sports happy about this story breaking tonight is Chad Pennington.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Chad and me.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

If Lowell and ARod switch, I believe that would make him the second World Series MVP not to return to his team the next season. The first? Ray Knight, of course!

There might have been another since Knight, but I'm not sure.

[Guest Edgy DC]

John Wetteland.

[Gwreck]

Also Jack Morris.

[Guest attgig]

didn't wright saying something about moving over for arod?

[Benjamin Grimm]

What does JTLYK mean?

Wright offered to move to second for Rodriguez earlier this year. I think I'd rather see him move to first and the Mets could deal Delgado. (Or move him to catcher! JTLYK!)

If the Yankees are really out of the picture as they say (and that remains to be seen) then this is nothing but good news.

When the Yankees got Rodriguez, I never would have dared hope that he'd play four years for them and never appear in a World Series game. Despite the two MVP's, the A-Rod in the Bronx thing didn't turn out badly at all.

Despite the fact that Rodriguez is prissy and snively and likes Toronto lap dancers, I'd welcome him to Flushing. My guess though is that his most likely destination is Wrigley Field.

Should be interesting to watch this story continue to unfold.

[metirish]

It does remain to be seen but here is Hank.

] "It's clear he didn't want to be a Yankee," Hank Steinbrenner told the Daily News last night. "He doesn't understand the privilege of being a Yankee on a team where the owners are willing to pay $200 million to put a winning product on the field. "I don't want anybody on my team that doesn't want to be a Yankee."

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I love it. Hank is just as a big a douche as his dad ever was, maybe even more since it's apparent he hadn't learned anything.

And I love the cigarette they picture him with. This morning's Daily News back cover is awesome.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I don't want anybody on my team that doesn't want to be a Yank... Hey, where's everybody going?

JTLYK! = text message shorthand for "Just to let you know!"

Yes, I looked it up.

When did they become Hank's team?

[metirish]

In my happy haste I forgot to add this quote.

] "We're not going to back down," Steinbrenner said. "It's goodbye."

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yeah, I'd say he's taking this well.

[metirish]

Hank is used to dealing with horses so maybe he thinks what worked there will work in the Bronx, this could be a laugh for a while.


More.....

] "I'll tell you this: the commitment from my family is '78 through '96," Steinbrenner said of the team's direction. "We will never go 18 years without a championship again. That's our commitment."

[Benjamin Grimm]

Then they have eleven years remaining on the desperation clock.

[soupcan]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Wright offered to move to second for Rodriguez earlier this year. I think I'd rather see him move to first and the Mets could deal Delgado.

My initial reaction is that I do not want ARod on the Mets. But that's really kind of stupid isn't it? He is at least the best player of this generation and in the prime of his career.

Wright, Reyes and ARod in the same infield looks pretty sweet on paper and I'm not the one (technically) paying the salaries so why should I care how much ARod makes?

On the other hand, offense wasn't the Mets problem this year and Alex doesn't appear to have the greatest effect on teams chemistry-wise.

Good luck with this one Omar.

[MFS62]

I think he'll go to the Cubs.
He likes Pinella, and that would be a great park for him to play in if he is going to compile career stats. Also, he will be compliling them as a shortstop.
But if the contract is going to be more than 7 years, it might be an AL team, so he can finish out his career as only a hitter.

Later