Almost there.

Alex Rodriguez and the Yanks agreed on Thursday to an "outline" of a 10-year, $275 million contract to keep the slugger in the Bronx. The deal would break the record setting 10-year, $252 million contract that Rodriguez signed with the Texas Rangers in 2001.

The money is both plentiful and obscene, but A-Rod has a chance to make even more -- reports say at least $300 million -- as he climbs up the career home run ladder.  The two sides are negotiating a pact in which Rodriguez would earn more dough when (if) he passes Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762) on the all-time dinger list.  Of course, the Yankees would also benefit monetarily once (if) the chase is on.  And if you haven't heard, it looks like Bonds won't be adding to that total after Thursday's events.

This is a tricky area since MLB forbids teams from weaving payment to certain individual stats, but I'm sure the bankers and brokers will discover the necessary "language" to make it happen.  Hank Steinbrenner is doing his best to come up with some creative doublespeak:

“These are not incentive bonuses.  For lack of a better term, they really are historic-achievement bonuses. It’s a horse of a different color.”

I guess.

OK, it's been a whirlwind 48 hours for A-Rod and the Yanks (and the fans, too) so let's take a quick look at the winners and losers in this deal.

THE YANKEES:

The Bombers stated that they wouldn't negotiate with Rodriguez if he opted out of his contract and they stuck to their guns (sort of).  For the most part, fans and media applauded the hard stance even though it created a gaping hole at the hot corner and in the lineup.  The Yanks explored trades (Miguel Cabrera, Joe Crede) and the free agent market (Mike Lowell) for a replacement third baseman, but those choices seemed very remote.  Still, the team didn't buckle.  In the end, Rodriguez came "crawling" back to them.  The Yanks are still dishing out a boatload of cash, but they got A-Rod to take less (sounds crazy, but the Yankees were prepared to offer an extension that would have brought Rodriguez a 10-year, $289 million deal before he decided to bail), knocked super-agent Scott "Evil" Boras down a peg and inked the best player in the league for a decade.  I'm sure Hank is very proud of himself.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ:

These past few weeks must have been a living hell for the image-conscious superstar (if such a thing exists for multi, multi, multi, multi-millionaires). The decision, timing and way A-Rod opted out of his contract was met with contempt from all sides.  I'm sure Rodriguez expected some blowback from his strategy, but I don't think he really understood how vicious the backlash would be.  I also think he was shocked that the Yanks came out with such a straight forward "get outta here" once he exercised his option.  But, this is America and if you can play baseball then you always have a shot to get back in with people's good graces.  A-Rod reached out to the Yankees and told them how much he loved the pinstripes, the city, the fans and blah, blah, blah.  Rodriguez got the Yanks to open their hearts (and their wallet) and got the club to top his record-setting deal from 2001.  Not too shabby.

SCOTT BORAS:

The man may be the devil, but he gets teams to pay through the nose for his clients and that's what good agents do (I guess).  But Boras misfired from the start by announcing A-Rod's opt out during Game 4 of the World Series and then trying to blame the timing on the Yankees.  He later relented.  Then he tried to blame Rodriguez's poor post-season stats on Mariano Rivera.  That didn't go over too well.  Reports then began that Boras was looking at a $350 million starting point for A-Rod's services.  That left everyone shaking their heads.  Boras then absorbed a punch to the solar plexus when the Yanks told him they didn't want him in the room while they negotiated the new A-Rod deal.  But in the end, Boras still comes out a winner.  Rodriguez remained his client and he's about to sign the richest contract in the sport.  If you can't be good, be bad, baby.

By my calculations, it looks like everyone is a winner.

Let's see if this translates on the diamond.