I was going to ignore the articles written about Alex Rodriguez over the past few days. Nothing more than filler, I said to myself, something to write about when there's nothing to write about. After all, it is February. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized this isn't going to have a happy ending.
I'll go on record and say the Yankees did the right thing in keeping A-Rod at the end of 2006. Yes, the fans were in his head (again), he had another bad post-season (in fairness, he wasn't the only one), and he was dropped to eighth in the order - probably the biggest slap in the face he's ever received in his pro career.
Still, I believed the Yanks, if they traded him, would not acquire anything comparable to what they were giving up and they would also miss his offensive production.
Now, I'm not too sure.
I'm going to ignore the stories of the near mini-riot caused at Barnes & Noble. A-Rod's at the point where he can screw up a cup of coffee. Or the fact that he's written a children's book about an underdog kid named Alex (I know - ridiculous) who battles through adversity to become the President of the United States or something. These things will disappear at the start of the year.
But this opting-out-at-the-end-of-the-year-thing isn't going to go away. It's going to last all season. So not only will A-Rod have to answer questions about his hitting in the clutch, fielding, relationship with his teammates, etc. this season, he will also be peppered repeatedly about his contract status. So far, A-Rod is saying the right things:
"My situation and my only goal is to win a world championship, and I'm going to take it day to day. And that's about it."
I'd like to believe that, but we all know it's about money. And what team in baseball has the most money? Yep, the Yanks. Oh, want to play on a contender? Yeah, that's the Yankees too. So, A-Rod will be asking the Yankees to give him more money after his four years of "uneven" service? That will go over well with everyone.
The only way this doesn't become a distraction is if the Yanks start out hot and run away with the AL East. Also, A-Rod has to have an MVP-type season and become the driving force in the lineup, culminating in getting the winning hit in the seventh game of the World Series and delivering championship number 27 to the Bronx.
Piece of cake.
I'm still rooting for you A-Rod. Even though you make it really, really, really tough.
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There's no way A-Rod gets more money after this season, at least not on a year-to-year basis.
He's making $25M/year now, if he opts out, there's no way he's going to command that again on the open market.
The only way he opts out is if he has a disastrous season, and finally admits that he can't hack it in NY.
I think his ego is too big for him to admit that. He'll keep blaming everyone but himself.
We're probably stuck w/ him until someone blows our doors off w/ a trade offer (and he waives his no-trade clause) or his contract runs out.