I Love ESPN

From a column on ESPN’s website:

If the market for A-Rod was so flimsy, why didn’t the Yankees say, “You had your shot to gauge the market — we’re starting from square one”? The answer is simple: They need A-Rod just as much as he needs them, and they want this reunion to go down with no hard feelings from Rodriguez’s end. If you think Boras didn’t realize this, and hadn’t considered the possibility of the Yankees getting back in the game, you’re delusional.

To be perfectly honest, Scott Boras did not expect the Yankees to totally distance themselves from the A-Rod situation when he opted out of his contract.  That’s why he was getting quoted in the papers saying things like, “I don’t understand what makes Alex any different from Jorge Posada or Mariano Rivera.  Why aren’t the Yankees negotiating with my client?”  And, in terms of “starting from square one,” this would essentially birth a bidding war for A-Rod’s services.  The market wasn’t there for A-Rod so why create it by offering a useless bid that will be outdone by another club, creating a level of economic posturing between organizations?  This is what the Yankees were trying to avoid, and–in the end–they did.  The last thing they needed to do was make it seem as though they were fighting for A-Rod.  Media outlets would love to report such a situation and you could bet that Scott Boras was hoping that would happen.

Here’s more from the column:

We’ll find out eventually whether Hank Steinbrenner was the hero here or the second coming of Tom Hicks. But you could make the case that the Yankees served as enablers for Boras and A-Rod, and caved big-time by relenting on their vow not to negotiate once the Texas subsidy was no longer part of the equation.

Obviously, the Yankees needed A-Rod.  Yes, they’re paying a ton of money for him over an extremely long period of timing, but, as of right now the contract makes sense (and the loss of the subsidy came into play).  Also, I don’t think it looks like the Steinbrenners (specifically Hank) caved in at all.  A-Rod called them, remember?  Steinbrenner could have said, “Sorry, go be a Toledo Mud Hen” but then that would’ve been bad for the team.  That’s the sort of egocentric concept that would leave the Yankees without a bunch of young arms and with Miguel Cabrera (yet without pitching).  Steinbrenner’s forgive-and-forget method will eventually leave the Yankees with A-Rod and young pitchers, or with A-Rod and Johan Santana.  You call that caving in?  I call that great for 2008.