A-Rod, Met Wannabe

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yeah well, too bad.

Weepy Arod cries to John Harper how devastating it was rebuffing the Mets in 2000 for 252 Million dollars, and that his current Yankee love is just a way to make up for all that hurt.

It seems also that he's continuing to sell the idea that his posturing last off-season somehow hurt his bargianing position with the Yankees, and Harper is continuing to buy it.

In today's Snooze

[Guest AG/DC]

He's jumped ship twice, walked away from huge amounts of money on the table, and he talks about valuing loyalty.

Even in his Detroit scenario, he doesn't discuss the cost of jumping to Detroit and sacrificing loyalty. He talks about what happens if he goes to Detroit and doesn't win.

Remember that shortly after he signed with Texas he lobbied Boeing to move there also.

[metirish]

Amazing this fella is, in the piece he says that his daughter telling him how much she missed her NYC bed make him sit up and say WTF am I doing , yeah really WTF man.

[seawolf17]

A-Rod should really just shut the hell up. No matter what he says, he comes across like a dingbat. Just say you refuse to talk to the media and be done with it. It's not worth it, dude.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

To me the real dingbats are guys like Harper who are willing to believe anything he says.

[Fman99]

Someone let me know once this becomes newsworthy in any fashion. Thanks.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Because he's PayRod, 99. When he speaks, the reporters just can't help themselves.

[Frayed Knot]

I love this notion - also not questioned by Harper - about how he took a discount to remain a Yanqui; that there were $400mil offers just sitting out there waiting to be scooped up but passed over by the newly moralistic ARod.

And who here (besides me that is) thinks all this 'I'm not even talking to Scott anymore on account of this opt-out business' is all a big PR ploy?
Alex gets the contract he wants and Boras agrees to wear the black hat for the whole "misunderstanding" and timing of the opt-out drama -- but none of it matters since ARod's never going to need to negotiate another contract ever again.
Wouldn't surprise me a bit if Alex and Scotty are having slumber parties during the Yanx first west coast trip ... they're just going to have to keep it quiet.

[Guest AG/DC]

Does Boras get his cut of the deal or not? Isn't that all that matters?

[metirish]

AG/DC wrote: Does Boras get his cut of the deal or not? Isn't that all that matters?

I read when all this went down that Boras got his cut, 15%?

[Frayed Knot]

]Does Boras get his cut of the deal or not?

Yes he does -- (although no way is it 15%, most sports agents are working for like 3-5%).
Even though the ARod and Steinbrenner camps went out of their way to trumpet how Boras was shut out of the room during negotiations, Boras is still the agent of record and was in on approving the final deal even if he wasn't (directly or otherwise) part of hammering it out.

It's just that, since then, ARod has managed to mention (in about 30 or 40 places) that he's no longer speaking to Boras over all of this, but personally I think that's all a pr ploy designed to build up ARod image and ain't buying it.

[Centerfield]

You might not be buying it. Me neither. But Harper and everyone else in the press are buying it in bulk and then re-selling them on E-Bay.

[Guest AG/DC]

Well, then, if A-Rod wants to tell all his friends that I have cooties and a crappy collection of Atari cartridges, that's fine by me, as long as our financial understanding remains in place.

[Fman99]

="Rockin' Doc"]Because he's PayRod, 99. When he speaks, the reporters just can't help themselves.

Well, that explains why it's in the paper. Not why it's worthy of being there.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

True, Fman99. I guess I need to read more carefully in the future.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Speaking of ARod, Canseco's book claims Alex not only was "A known supplier of steroids," but he also was trying to sleep with Canseco's wife!

[Theoldmole]

she wouldn't take off the red dress?

[Frayed Knot]

="metsguyinmichigan"]Speaking of ARod, Canseco's book claims Alex ... was "A known supplier of steroids

Actually, what he is supposedly set to claim is that he introduced ARod to a known supplier.


And while we're on that subject, it's time the media stops treating Canseco as if he's the lone "honest" voice in the wind on this issue -- acting as if some kiss-and-tell comments from his first book (some of which he exaggerated for effect) make him the voice of authority on steroids because *Some* of the names he named also showed up on the Mitchell report. Good thing we had him there or else we would have never come up with names like McGwire and Giambi, huh?.

And has it occured to any of these guys lauding his "accuracy" why he knew of this ARod connection but somehow opted to omit the biggest name in the game from Book #1?

[seawolf17]

AG/DC wrote: Well, then, if A-Rod wants to tell all his friends that I have cooties and a crappy collection of Atari cartridges, that's fine by me, as long as our financial understanding remains in place.

You still have your Atari cartridges? Sweet.

[Vic Sage]

]Someone let me know once this becomes newsworthy in any fashion. Thanks.

="Fman99"] ="Rockin' Doc"]Because he's PayRod, 99. When he speaks, the reporters just can't help themselves. Well, that explains why it's in the paper. Not why it's worthy of being there.

it's "worthy" because the "worth" of news in our society is determined by its commercial value. Here's the syllogism:

A-Rod is famous.
A-Rod gives us an exclusive interview.
Ergo, A-Rod's interview is not only "newsworthy", it should be the lead story on the back page.

Any different determination of "newsworthiness" is oblivious to the time and place in which we live.

[batmagadanleadoff]

="Frayed Knot"] And who here (besides me that is) thinks all this 'I'm not even talking to Scott anymore on account of this opt-out business' is all a big PR ploy? Alex gets the contract he wants and Boras agrees to wear the black hat for the whole "misunderstanding" and timing of the opt-out drama -- but none of it matters since ARod's never going to need to negotiate another contract ever again. Wouldn't surprise me a bit if Alex and Scotty are having slumber parties during the Yanx first west coast trip ... they're just going to have to keep it quiet.

I'll agree with you. I revived this old topic only because I came across the A-Rod Daily News interview for the first time just this morning. See what I'm missing because I didn't join the CPF until this week?

Still, I always wondered what really went down when the Mets - A-Rod talks broke down? Steve Phillips and the Mets had their story about how Boras and A-Rod made unreasonable demands and the A-Rod camp countered with their own version, incompatible with that of the Mets. And how can us people with no access to the parties every truly know what happened in that off-season?

When I saw him at Shea, attending the 2000 WS, I fantasized about a Met 2001 lineup featuring both A-Rod and Mike Piazza. Of course, A-Rod was still a shortstop back then so as an added treat, Ordonez would've been rendered superfluous, which to me, he always was anyway. So superfluous and at-batless, I should say.

You don't suppose that in the end, the Mets simply decided that they were better off with Ordonez, do you? I hope it never emerges that that's the reason why the Mets backed off.

[Guest AG/DC]

I don't suppose that. I suppose they decided that they were better off inversting elsewhere the money and dignity A-Rod and Boras were asking for.

[batmagadanleadoff]

="AG/DC"]I don't suppose that. I suppose they decided that they were better off inversting elsewhere the money and dignity A-Rod and Boras were asking for.

I don't really suppose that either. But somebody up there in Met brass land was a huge Ordonez fan, disproportionately out of whack with Rey's -ahem- skills. I know that Valentine couldn't stand Rey.

[batmagadanleadoff]

AG/DC wrote: I suppose they decided that they were better off investing elsewhere the money.....

Yeah. Like in Todd Zeile over Olerud the off-season before. Or in the off-season after, Mo Vaughn, the overweight by about 100 pounds (not that those things really matter) first baseman who hadn't played a game in a year and a half. They got Alomar that same year also, didn't they? Well, Vaughn and Alomar certainly form the core of a terrific team.

If it's 1995.

[Benjamin Grimm]

1. As I recall, the Mets made Olerud a competitive offer. They weren't able to overcome his desire to play for his hometown Mariners. You're implying that they preferred Zeile to Olerud, and that's just not true. Maybe they should have pushed a little harder to keep Olerud, but in the era of free agency, no team can just decide to "keep" a player. Sometimes they're set on leaving.

2. Alomar was NOT seven years over the hill when the Mets got him for the 2002 season. He was still seen as a top player. (Look at his 2001 stats in Cleveland.) Nobody at the time was saying that getting Alomar was a bad move. It turned out badly, but it was not a foolish trade by any means.

[Guest AG/DC]

You're deliberately missing my point. I in no way said or implied that they made other good choices, so please hang your frustration over somebody else.

Slappy's ship has sailed, as far as I'm concerned. if you want to dive in and swim after it, OK. But I didn't push you.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: 1. As I recall, the Mets made Olerud a competitive offer. They weren't able to overcome his desire to play for his hometown Mariners. You're implying that they preferred Zeile to Olerud, and that's just not true.

You're absolutely right. But you are recollecting an accurate report of but one version of the Olerud negotiations.

You might remember that there were also other reports circulating back then that the Mets didn't try hard enough, that Olerud was re-signable, and that the Mets waited until the very last moment to essentially match the Mariners' offer, or if not match the offer, then to increase it by only a nominal amount. In this other version, the Mets attempt at resigning Olerud was doomed to fail, given Olerud's family ties to Seattle and his verbal commitment to Seattle's earlier offer unless some other team were to step up and blow Seattle out of the water, which the Mets cetainly didn't. It's no surprise to me that in signing with Seattle, Olerud demonstrated that he was a man of his word, given what I saw in him during his too short three year Met stint. If you believe this version of the events, then you can reasonably argue that the Mets didn't want to resign Olerud at all, and instead, purposely extended an offer that the Mets knew would be rejected because all the Mets wanted here was plausible but insincere proof that they tried their best. This doesn't make much baseball sense because Olerud was one of the most effective Mets ever. But then again, these decisions are rarely about baseball only.

I'm not in a position to positively tell you where the truth lies because I simply don't know.

[batmagadanleadoff]

AG/DC wrote: You're deliberately missing my point. I in no way said or implied that they made other good choices, so please hang your frustration over somebody else.

I know that. I wasn't trying to disagree with you. I was merely using your quote as a starting point to point out what to me, were some of the other Met failures of that era. It was a nice seque from the Mets decision not to pursue A-Rod.

I should have made that clearer.

[Guest Triple Dee]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: 2. Alomar was NOT seven years over the hill when the Mets got him for the 2002 season. He was still seen as a top player. (Look at his 2001 stats in Cleveland.) Nobody at the time was saying that getting Alomar was a bad move. It turned out badly, but it was not a foolish trade by any means.

I didn't hear a single Met fan complain at the time of the trade, even though it involved the Mets giving up the former darling-of-the-farm-system in Alex Escobar.

It wasn't Phillips' fault that Alomar had a crisis of conscious and decided to give-up PEDs.

[Guest Triple Dee]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: I know that Valentine couldn't stand Rey.

Gee, which is more surprising;
1. The Genius disliking one of his own players; or
2. Somebody else disliking Rey-Rey.