SI.com is reporting that Alex Rodriguez's agent Scott Boras told the Yankees today that A-Rod is outing out of his contract.
Obviously, this is quite unexpected, considering the deadline to do so wasn't until 10 days after the World Series. The Yankees never had the chance to meet with Rodriguez in person and deliver their offer.
Now we'll see if what Brian Cashman, Hank Steinbrenner and other Yankees officials have said is really true, that they won't pursue A-Rod. Just a bluff? If so, players and agents can't ever trust anything they say again. You bet the Yankees know this.
Somewhere, Tom Hicks is celebrating. Now he doesn't have to pay part of A-Rod's salary anymore.
(Here's the link to the SI story, broken by former longtime Newsday scribe Jon Heyman. BTW, in case you're wondering, I'm posting this blog because Kat is understandably under the gun writing for the newspaper.)
What a twist. WHAT A TWIST!
So is A-Rod really going to be playing elsewhere next year? Sure seems like it.
Meet your Opening Day third baseman, Wilson Betemit.
Comments (61)
I HATE THIS BASTARD I HOPE HE GETS LOU GEHRIGS DISEASE SO BAD THEY RENAME IT "ALEX RODRIGUEZ DISEASE"
OOOOOOH IM PISSED OFF NOW!!
Buddy's p*ssed.
Boras didn't play by his rules.
He made the announcement before the WS ended ... officially.
Marianne, in your Caribbean hideaway -- Boras out-upstaged NYY.
A-Rod, rot in hell.
Sincerly,
Yankee fans
It may be a ploy. We'll see.
is this 100% fact or is it possible its not true??
Everyone including the NY Times has reported it during the last half hour.
Sorry guys I may not be around much longer...
Doc sais I have "Alex Rodriguez Disease"
Please don't come with the heartbreak all of a sudden.
He and BoBo noticed you didn't care about his Player of the Year award.
Red Sox win the World Series....
...and the Yankees die a slow death tonight!
What a great night all around in Boston tonight!!!!!!
The Death Blow in YankeeLand!
Seven more years of bad luck to come!
This buys the new manager a year of patience.
F***k Arod !!!
he better not come back here he will get rocks thrown at him.
F**K baseball
This non baseball savy GM is going to f**k up the team
F**k Lowell
F**k Crede
F**k Baseball
Arod has one point the team is acting clueless
BC may be right in not negotiating but what and whom is going to play 3b
and F**k the idea of cano playing 3B f**k That.
Mu scaza minke!!!!
Bon Von Gu
You Bouton
im off to arod.com to write him a letter about how angry i am. i dont care that he wont actually read it will still feel good. so yankee fans join me and tell arod how you feel.
You guys are retarded. You were probably the nimrods booing him when he was in a slump last season. I'm pissed too, but at the end of the day, I really can't blame him the way the fans treated him. It's like a wife-beater who can't understand why she finally one day runs away.
This doesn't make sense. He still has 10 days to make this decision.
If it really was about him being uncertain a bout the manager, posada, mariano, and pettitte why wouldn't he at least wait to see how things play out the next 10 days.
Makes me believe he does not want to be a Yankee.
Thanks for nothing in the playoffs Alex.
I really hope the Yankees stick to their guns and tell Alex buh bye. I could understand if the Yankees weren't really to offer him a new contract close to what he's going to get on the FA market....but they are. Go enjoy playing somewhere that'll b*tch that they can't field a good team around him because they spent their load on him, ie: Texas Rangers. Since all teams like to cry poor and the big bad Yankees ruin Baseball by spending money to retain their key guys.
Michael PTRS,
Why get all upset?
Let him go ... he is a mercenary. Seattle to Texas? Why not to the Mets?
Actually he could go to the Mets now ...
A-Rod disgraced himself and his kid and his wife.
He is not worth 30 million for 10 years. No one is. Not even Brigette Moynihan. Not Claudia Schiffer. If he invented a cure for Aids, then sure.
He was terrible in the Playoffs every single year he was in NY.
Seattle lost Randy Johnson in his prime, Griffey Jr. in his prime and then won like 120 games in a single season.
Without A Rod we go to the Anthony plan ...
3B Cano
2B Phillips from Cindy
We raid the Cards for Ludwick and Rasmus, Tampa gives up Kazmir and we get Phillips and Josh Hamilton from Cincy.
Then I wake up I know ... to Abreu, Damon, Giambi, Pavano, Igawa and another 200 million dollar, first round loss.
Cashman better wake up and fast. A few bold moves can fix things.
Every crisis is an opportunity. Even with A Rod we were the fourth best team in the AL.
So, let him go, greedy weenie!
The salary is disgusting to begin with. It's obscene like his wife's tank top.
Think of all the Igawas we can buy now with that money.
Anyway, why get all upset. We can't control anything anyway.
It's just a game and we will all be here spewing all winter and all spring and all next summer and all fall about the way the team is or isn't constructed.
If the Yanks wanted the best team, they could have it. Instead they want a purely international team ... and that isn't always the easiest way.
See the 1980 Olympic hockey team or even the Soviet Army hockey team. You need a unit. You need the right players, not only the best players.
I tell you Arod cant win for losing. I think a lot of people on here wanted this, and now you get it and he still a bum. What happend, that hole at third just got a lot bigger.
When the yankees don,t win sh*t next year who jeter gonna blame the Bat boy?
Fu(k baseball
and too think i defended this potato head Arod
Unbelievable. We all know this has nothing to do with the people on the team, it's all about the money. What makes him think that he's going to get more than the Yankees will offer? How does that even make sense? I really hope he becomes a free agent, realizes that nobody will pay him that kind of money, and begs the Yankees to take him back, thus making him Steinbrenner's permanent bitch.
Bomber,
I defended him too and I still say this is a huge loss for the Yankees. How in the hell are they going to replace 54 homers and 150 RBI in that lineup?
Damn Scott Boras! My guess is he's already got a deal with the Angels worked out, it's just a feeling I have.
Atticas, I know you've been away for a long time, but in this town we cheer the play, not the uni. When someone plays as badly as he did last year, we boo. No one is exempt, and 'poor little Alex' wasn't either. Get used to it, the same thing will happen to your next poster boy if he plays poorly, especially if he's overpaid.
Im sorry, I miss the boo for Jeter, Posada when they played bad. FREE PASS for the 4 RINGS
Ok ... no Cano at 3B.
Do you want Be-A-Mitt? That's like totally depressing!
I am sorry you are so upset ...
This whole thing is disgusting!
What does he want, 30 mil for 10 years?
Sorry that is insane.
What if Mickey Mantle or Tom Seaver or Bob Gibson or Sandy Koufax played today.
You'd have to give them the entire team ... here is the key ...
We can do a lot with that money.
We are not winning with him ...
It's time for a new plan.
I have presented mine like 20 times ...
BB is right Cashman is messing up the team with his horrible moves.
I wonder if Posada and Mo will go.
There is a lot of talent out there.
Find it and find it fast.
Now I am all upset reading everyone's upset posts.
It is great you all care so much. True fans. Amazing really.
I'm going to bed and read Fast Food Nation. Did you know when I was a kid the average child consumed twice as much milk as soda. Today it's twice as much soda as milk!
Everything in the world is upside down!
Including the Yankees.
Doug, guess you weren't a fan when Jeter was 0-for-April. Those who were heard him booed. Yes, at the Stadium.
Jim A
The only thing he is correct by is the retarded GM and Owners cashman is gone !!!
If I was the Yankees I would blacklist boras take all his clients on the team now and shoot them on 161st street
Mike FL, Larry FL, John G., Ant, Phucker...thanks for the bday wishes. Let's recap "my day"
1. AROD opts out so I get to tell my son, who is dressing up as you guessed it, ARod, for Halloween that his favorite player is gone.
2. Sox will probably win WS
3. Pats demolish my Skins
4. It's 11:38 and my wife fell asleep so no birthday/comfort....well, you know.
Yeah, it's been a good day. Goodnight all, I'm going to go grind my teeth for a few hours.
HAHAHAHAHA
Bomber
"Shoot them on 161st street"
I LIKE WHERE YOUR HEADS AT!@!!
Bomber, could we just horsewhip them on 161st St instead of shooting them?
You know, save the shooting for Alex and Boras?
Hooray!!!!!!! The Yankees don't need the likes of A-Rod.
Happy B-Day Jim A
Phucker, Gramps,
Serious I would Make life hard for all his clients especailly if they suck!
I would waive them basturds just eat the money. and decline all of the Boras calls but because of our pipsquaek GM who boras nuts is in his mouth he won't do that . BC talking tough is about to see what real kind of GM we have .
Stick should be rehired!!!
Torre is Probally home teabagging himself laughing
F**K BAseball
I'm trading him NOW from my PS2 squad
The TV news is filled with all these people losing their homes. The Dollar is being crucified. The war is financed with money barrowed from Communist China. And A Rod won't take 150 million for five years?
I remember when I was a little boy and Seaver held out for US$ 250,000 thousand from M. Donald Grant.
He said "I've got a family to feed."
That seemed tacky then ...
But 150 million on the table and you walk away?
Then freakin' go ...
How much do you need?
He's not happy with his wife so he needs a whore.
He's not happy with all these millions and Yankee fame so let him freeze in Frisco waiting for the Big Earthquake or a date with Nancy Pelosi.
Use that 150 million to find talent. Go to jails and find another Gates Brown or Ron LeFlore. Go to the inner cities. Find another Wang in Taiwan. Build baseball schools in Arizona and Fla. and California instead of China. Go to USC and Texas A&M and Baylor and find the best college kids. Hungry kids. Clean cut hard playing kids who love the game.
Make this a point to revolutionize the team.
Again, Seattle lost RJ and Griffey. Freddie Garcia and Cameron did well. Seattle was better without two stars. Why can't we do the same.
I know we have Cashman who at times seems out of sorts, to be kind.
I guess this hurts cause we didn't get anything in a trade.
But we are not the best team with A Rod anyhow.
There is more than one way to skin a cat.
As for A Rod, you can shear a sheep a 100 times but only skin it once.
Michael PTRS,
No sheep jokes.
Okay, now I am going to bed.
Yankees are now the Orioles
In a little over 2 weeks we have gone from the classiest franchise to one who no one wants to play with. Looks like it is the 80's again. The Steinbrenner sons are going to bring the new ice age to the Yankees.
Two words: Charlie Hayes.
The Yankees won World Series without any position player ranking in the top ten of the power categories. It is pitching that wins. The Yankees have some great young pitching coming up. Would ARod make next year's team better? Probably. But the Yankees have only won a single playoff series with him on the team. There are few people that believe that ARod would help any Yankees team in the playoffs. If he can't do that then he is useless. In NY, it is about winning in the playoffs not just good regular seasons.
Expect to see the Yankees go after Miguel Cabrera in a trade with Florida. Or, perhaps Aramis Ramirez if ARod ends up in Chicago.
ARod, has insured that he will never be fully loved by any place. He is hated in Seattle, Texas, and now New York. No matter where he ends up, the people there will always feel like he is just a gun for hire. ARod is probably comfortable with this, but it shows just how shallow he is. He will go down as one the greatest players of all time, but he is truly a loser.
FU*K Cabrera , Fu*k Aramis
WTF 3b is being sponsored by weight watchers with those two blimps
give me a hard nose player
not one who looks like the diet plan that went away
You don't like those two? So what. The point is that you don't need an ARod to win. In fact, nobody has ever won with ARod. Focus on what matters - pitching.
with our GM???
good luck
Mark Feinsand of the NY Daily News was just interviewed on SportCenter, says he can see the Red Sox making a run at Rodriguez.
Says after all the talk he personally heard from AR of how he loves NY and hopes to stay, he's coming across phony. And coming across selfish making the announcement now this way without even hearing an offer.
I feel like sonny Black from Donnie Brasco defending this a**Hoolllle
This is a dark day in Yankee history. Two gut punches in the span of an hour. I mean it's not like either were overly shocking, just upsetting. One right after another like that though, ugh...
Dave,
Those teams knew how to win. They could bunt the runner over, they could hit and run, the pitching was alot better. We had a real problem doing those things so we had to hit hr.
-911 SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO BOSTON
The Soxs can have A-Bust. That now solves our problem of having two shortstops on the left side. Maybe we can actually get a 3rd baseman who can hit in the postseason. Lowell would be a good choice. We won 4 rings without A-Rod and it seems any team he is on never wins anyways.Let him walk.
Anonymous the Psychotic, we have taken a ballot and unanimously agree that you must immediately pick another team and blog to honor with your support.
My Condolences To True Red Sox Fans
This may seem like the greatest time in your life to be a Red Sox fan. And it might be...for a little bit longer. But take it from a Yankees' fan that it won't be as fun as you might expect. Bandwagon fans are about to come out of the woodwork sporting Boston hats and jerseys. Your team will be picked to win the World Series for the nest few years by every expert that has a voice. There will be no more pleasant surprises (ala 2004) but only the meeting of expectations, even if you win the World Series.
You will hear about payroll from every other teams' fans in baseball. They will point to how few of the guys in your everyday line-up you actually developed. Even your management might get greedy (who needs Lowell/Boone when we can land A-Rod/A-Rod).
Fewer and fewer of your "fans" will be able to relate to your stories about Mookie's grounder. You'll have to pick up at the ALCS comeback in 2004 in order to hold conversations.
I've been there. Most Yankees' fans have no clue that Don Mattingly was the best played in baseball at one time, or that Edgar Martinez is still my most hated baseball player of all-time for breaking my heart in 1995. So it will be for long-time Red Sox fans now, too.
So congrats. You have your dynasty. You are on top of the baseball world. But, as a fan of a team that has slowly fallen off of that very perch, I hat to inform you that it ain't all it's cut out to be.
A-Rod - Good Riddance. Boras made a good business decision. He'll get at least $30m per.
We have a TEAM now.
I hope that Andy, Jorge and Mo come back and Girardi is manager. Then I feel good about our team.
Phuck A-Rod. Never liked him.
The Nation does not want Arod. Ww would like to keep the World Series MVP Mike Lowell for a few more years! (something Arod will never see or ever be!)
Looks like it didn't take another 86 years to win one like you all said it would?
Enjoy last place for the next several years to come.
The Yankees are officially .....dead!
The 2007 World Series Champions: The Boston RED SOX!......AGAIN!!!!!
and many more to come!
RS Nation...
so that's two in 86 years
I still think this is endgame with the A-Rod and the Yankees but the start of negotiations. There is really no other team around that afford or get near the price that Boras and A-Rod want, except the Yankees. I doubt after announcing he is opting out of his contract in the 8th Inning of Game Four of the World Series, that the Red Sox is that enthuse to strike a deal with him, besides there are not going to be alot of happy players in the clubhouse with A-Rod, if he signs with Boston.
If Mark Cuban buys the Cubs, he may opt to give Boras and A-Rod want they want, but I don't see many street smart GM, willing to comply with Boras borderline extortion attempts....
If A-Rod does not sign with the Yankees in 10 days, get ready for the Yankees to offer Mike Lowell a hell of a contract offer: I can see Lowell take it if the Red Sox only offer him a three year contract with a four year option.
I don't think A-Rod and Boras wouldn't opt out, if they are truly opting out of his contract, unless Boras has been talking around the league, and what bozo owner is willing to offer A-Rod a ten year $300 million contract.
YANKEES STICK TO YOUR GUNS!!!!! LET HIM GO!!!! NOW MAKE SURE YOU SIGN RIVERA AND POSADA ALSO MAKE SURE PETTITE STAYS!!!!! Those players are true Yankees. They are winners not a selfish primadonnas!!!!!
We now need to move on. I am a Arod fan, but I am a Yankee fan first. We need to get going make a few good moves GET PITCHING. Lets not spend days talking about Arod. Let us to move on.
Send A-Rot an email message at:
http://arod.mlb.com/players/rodriguez_alex/email.jsp
Real classy to break the story of opting out during the World Series game...being played by other teams.
Who want a guy who thinks he is more important than the game itself?
F-Rod - He's always been about Me-Rod. The 30M they were going to spend on him can vastly strengthen this team and make it young. 30M is what the Marlin's entire payroll was when they kicked the Yankees butts in the WS.
AAAWWW Don't be so Sad Little Stanky Fans...Torre and ARod are just the Start of a Mass Exodus! The Torre and ARod Disasters are just the Beginning...Next will be Mo, Petite and Posada! Hello to Fenway and The World Champions Mr. ARod !!! To LOSE the Best Player and Manager in about one Week...SSnnff, SSNNFF! Little Stanky LOSERS Stop Your Crying Already!!!
Dear RS Nation,
How quickly you all forget about the 80 Plus years of being losers :( I can wait the few years it takes to put a together a winner, and sure it won't be 80 years. In the meantime, why don't the RS pick up another ego? Just have the Carpenter’s Union to widen the doors for Manny and A-Rod Heads. I'm sure it will be a perfect marriage between to such selfless players. Oh, I just remembered the added bonus Jason V can get to punch A-Rod in the face on a daily basis.
Dear Richt
I hope you're not Crying too much in your Beer! It's OK, Poor Baby...You can be Jealous of the World Champs...your chance will come in another Ten years...maybe shorter if SteinGrabber can Buy More Players! Oh, by the way congrats on landing a skipper. Too bad you pissed off Don Mattingly! ....This just in...Donnie Baseball JOINS the Mass Exodus...He is now Manager of the Cleveland Indians (LOL)!!! Maybe Mattingly will throw down Giardi like Pedro thre down Zim (LOL) !!!
Another self centered ego-maniac ex-yankee player. What a shock. That is the yankees. How many more money grubbing whores have come to ny recently besides the hated Pay-rod? Giambi,Mussina, Damon, Clemens again, Pettite again, Johnson. Who will it be this year? Who's going to be the next soul seller to play for the devil? The yankees suck and always will.
you guys are dumb, arod sucks anyway, we need miguel cabrera. a-rod is never going to win a world series, ever.
yeah, arod will suck the energy from any team he plays for. he's worse than Barry Bonds when it comes to being desperate for attention. He's a one man show, not good for the team.
A-FRAUD sucks! I loved to hate him but now that I see it clearly, I hate him period. Glad he is gone, so phony. The Yankees don't need stink like him.
BUCKFOSTON - they have an oger (ortiz) and an a$$ (ramirez) and whole bunch of freaken idiots. Start counting, how many rings do we have more then you? Just because you won don't mean $h!t. Funny how alot of you are quick to jump on the bandwagon. All I got to say is:
ENJOY THIS BECAUSE IT WILL BE ANY TIME SOON BEFORE YOU EVEN SMELL ANOTHER SERIES WIN. YANKEES WILL REBUILD AND RELOAD. NEW STADIUM AND A HEFTY PAYROLL. I CANT WAIT TILL WE RIP SOX FANS HEART OUT AND HAND IT BACK STILL BEATING.