How much will A-Rod Make?
 

Assuming he opts out of his contract how much will he sign for? This came out of a discussion DaddyTorgo, CoffeeWarlord, and I had last night when we met for drinks.

Poll choices coming shortly.

I also apologize as I forgot to give a 13th choice: "He'll insist on being paid in trout"

If it's not 30 or more, he needs a new agent.

Who is Boras going to get to bid against the Yankees? The Angels have made noises about not getting involved and I tend to believe them when they say they are not interested in spending 25% of payroll on 1 guy, especially with Vlad on the team at half what ARod would get.

Since this is all about Boras and has nothing to do with what Arod wants, I say he stays in NY and gets a piece of the team. Or, if the Yankees really do play hardball during the 2 weeks they have to negotiate once the season ends, I could see him taking less per year with another team and an even greater ownership chunk down the road. I don't think this contract is going to be measured in terms of dollars per year. I say he gets a piece of whatever team he signs with as a way to save face for Boras not getting $30M+ a year.

San Fran, both Chicago teams, even Boston. Lot of money coming off those books.

This poll should be revised to start with 28 (no under) and go up from there.

I guess if he's shredding a 3 yr/almost 90m deal, he should be expecting at least close to 30m per year. My guess is that he nabs at least an 7 or 8 year deal for in excess of 200m.

I could see San Fran as a legit target, but I don't think either Chicago could seriously bid on him. First, the Cubs can't even get their shit together to sign Zambrano, and they just added $300M in contracts last year. The White Sox...who the hell wants to play there, and would they really spend that kind of money? Can't see it at all. Boston, I could see getting in on the bidding just to up the ante for the Yankees, but I don't know. That pairing just doesn't seem like it would work, especially after 2004 when pretty much everyone said they were glad the Texas deal never happened.

Ksyrup, I think Boras showed last time that he's more than capable of getting teams to bid against themselves.

And that's why I said I think he stays with NY, but I think the deal will not be strictly cash, it will be creative to (a) make it affordable, (b) appease the Commissioner's Office (by way of the team that signs him), and (c) save face when he doesn't get the dollars he wants. Forget $30M, Boras is starting at $40M. No way he comes close to that, and once it gets out, he's got to show value for his client that comes close to matching what he first threw out there.

For the non-baseball followers, can someone give me a brief rundown of:

-what, if anything, it costs him to opt out of the remainder of his deal?
-how much he will be leaving on the table from his current deal? (years + money)

Doesn't cost him a dime, but he's leaving 3 years, $81M on the table.

Approximately 3 years and 80ish million is left on his current deal.

Ehh, I don't know if ARod would get a stake in ownership with the Yankees?

What about the Mets, who have shown a willingness to spend lately? Wouldn't stealing ARod from the Yankees give them a boost?

Boston will make a big push. Lowell's deal is up and they'll at least take a run at A-Fraud.

It's complicated though. I'd guess the Red Sox would try and move Manny in that case. They might be able too since his deal is almost up.

We don't really need him (I say that knowing it sounds stupid when talking about a 50+ HR guy). Reyes and Wright are the young cornerstones of the offense, and money will need to be spent on both corner OF spots and catcher this offseason, plus a starter. While the Mets are in great financial shape with the new network and Citi Field opening in 2009, they will still operate within a relatively reasonable budget. Omar won't commit $200MM to one player.

That thought depresses me. The though of A-Rod as part owner of the Yankees makes me happy.

you'll love him when he's on your team. always works like that.

you'd despise manny or ortiz if they were yankees.

No, Manny and Ortiz are interesting characters. A-Rod is a little bitch who was lucky enough to be born into a superstars body. I just don't see how he can come to Boston after the handbag incident.

Why not? The team is not 100% owned by Steinbrenner. There are small, fractional interests.

of course he can. it's been demonstrated over and over again how short the fans memories are when a guy is going yard for your team.

all they have to do is play well. if they suck it's another matter.

At the heart of it, I think that him playing for them leads to them sucking, or at least not achieving their full potential. A-Rod is definitely a Ewing theory candidate.

that's an odd force at work there

I don't think it's that odd. I believe he's a poor teammate and therefore makes his teammates less motivated to play well.

eh, ok. the league is full of assmunchers.

he's quite a force of nature then.

You'll see. Mark my words, you'll see.

Boston fans would bitch and moan for like 3 weeks, and then they'd realize how much better he is than "The Julio Lugo Experience" and be happy.

Us redsox fans are a fickle bunch.

you can't be wrong unless the red sox win the world series. whose fault will it this year if they don't win it? how about last year? surely there is a force in the clubhouse dragging them down.

ARod is too thick to play SS ever again. Or at least, to play it well, without spending some serious conditioning time in the off-season.

Hes not thicker than he was when he got to NYY.
Hes also probably still better than Jeter.

I'd love to see A-Rod in a White Sox uni. Means we could get rid of Joe Fucking Crede.

Gotta start the convo at $30m or there isn't a point in chatting at all. And someone will pay it.

Respectfully, I think when this is bumped in a year or so you will have been wrong about every single thing you've said in this thread.

I hope so, because then that will mean he's with another team.

I could see him giving the Yankees a big F You and not only leaving, but going to a team willing to let him reclaim SS. Not saying it can't happen, but I just don't see that transition back working very well at this point. And the more important point is that all of these hidden agendas of ARod's are secondary to Boras' money grab. ARod may very likely have to give in on playing somewhere more comfortable (West Coast) and his preferred position (SS) because with Boras as his agent, he goes where the top dollars are.

I really don't have a rooting interest here, except I hope he leaves NY because that makes them weaker by far. We should know fairly quickly whether he is going to resign with the Yankees, because if it doesn't happen before he opts out, I believe the Yankees will call his bluff and move on. He can't expect NY to give him the contract he wants after he opts out and costs them $30M of Tom Hicks' money.

thinking about it off the top of my head...why would A-Rod even need Boras at this point? Or at least why would Boras have any influence on what A-Rod wants to do?

Seems to me if you go on the premise of A-Rod being a grown man that he could make the call and at the most rely on Boras to dot the i's and stuff.

Maybe A-Rod is a gigantic douche or just a total dumbass. I have no idea but to me, if I'm him, a pleasant place to play with a chance to win is worth playing for even 20 million a year, Boras be damned.

Is that way off base? Seems like logical thinking.

So by him opting out, it ends up saving the Rangers owner a great deal of money? I guess I didn't realize how that cash payout when they acquired him actually worked.

Logical, but when you hire Boras, it is all about the money. They give him total control to make the deal.

Everything I've read suggests that no teams are willing to go as high as Boras wants, and that he will find some creative way to make the total financial package as impressive as possible, and that includes discussion of ownership. Because if he can't get a yearly average of $30-35M, then he's just cut his legs out from underneath himself. And Boras will never do that. His value to guys like ARod is to secure the best deal above and beyond what any other agent could get. Look how openly pissy he was about his lack of leverage in the Dice-K negotiations.

Yes, right now the Yankees are actually paying ARod less than they are paying Jeter. Hicks owes around $29M for ARod's last 3 years of his current deal. If he plays out or extends that deal, Hicks still pays that money. If he opts out, Hicks is off the hook and even if ARod re-signs with NY, it's a new contract and the Yankees pay all of it.

I remember hearing all the talk about ownership prior to his last deal. What ended up happening? Hicks bid against himself and the monster deal came to be. It'll probably go the same way this time, but with a different team taking the bait.

Hmmm, in that case George better get something done.

Ideally the conspiracy theorists would love to see the Yankees trade for Texiera at some sort of discount, and then magically see the yankees let Arod walk.

Could be. I'd say after the Yankees, the Giants have to be next in line. After that, I'm not really sure any team would be in it other than to jack up the price for another team. Will the Cubs even have an owner by November? Maybe if they let Zambrano go they'll over-compensate by going hard after ARod.