SI: A-Rod to become a free agent

When the trade was made, he was considered a salary dump, no more. His decent season last year was written off by some as facing pitchers not familiar with him, etc.

 

What wicked said.

 

Boras clearly is the clubhouse leader for Biggest Douche in the Universe. How full of yourself do you have to be to e-mail Ron Blum (and who knows which other reporters) in the press box during a potential clincher of the World Series to deliver a decision that you'd have ten days to make after the series? And he works for A-Rod, so the buck stops with the player. And given A-Rod's history of not getting it, I'm hardly surprised.

 

In Boston, there were fears that he was over the hill. Also there were not-so-subtle (and unsubstantiated) suggestions that he'd been a 'roid guy who stopped using in '05. People here were pretty wary about getting him, and expectations weren't high.

 

The '05 season was precisely it. He was a 31-year-old who suddenly regressed to a .230 hitter. It was viewed as a likely trend rather than a statistical aberration.

 

The mere thought sickens me, Buck-Dub, but I recalled that move somehow working. Anyone dumb enough to give a living heart donor that kind of deal should be shot.

Yes, Theo, your team won in spite of J.D., not because of him. I know he had one hit. *Cue Bob Uecker's line from "Major League" here* ...

Scott Boras also just exposed himself as a bigger hypocrite - if that were possible. On a night when baseball should be celebrating a champion, one of its supposed biggest fans - that's Boras for those of you who haven't read stories written by his apologists - grandstanded by announcing that the highest-paid player in the game is opting out of a deal.

It's no secret I'm not much of a baseball fan. Self-important pricks like Boras don't help the sport's cause.

 

The Angels won't go near him. Moreno won't pay the salary and hamstring the franchise for a generation. It's not worth it.

 

First team to offer up 8 years-240 mil.......with player option after 5.

If I'm betting right now, it's a 3-team race.

Cubs
Dodgers
Giants

Outside looking in;

Yankees
Angels
Rockies

 

I wouldn't discount the Cardinals. There's a lot of dead wood on the roster they can cut loose to free up resources, and besides that, their ticket sales alone last season covered the expense of their payroll.

Paid. That's before they even sold a single Anheuser Busch product or red T-shirt to anyone.

They can easily make the jump to the $115-$120 M stratosphere next season.

 

Olney and his network have contributed to this A-Rod phenomenon. So has the absence of a salary cap, which is why the level of play continues to drop in most places outside of New York and Boston.

 

Heard Gammons for a second this morning. He said that it was telling that ARod interrupted Game 4 of the World Series to announce his opt-out and that it should be a warning--"buyer beware''--to the teams that get into the bidding.

 

I don't care which buffoon of an owner pays him an obscene amount.

I know it's not going to happen, but I'd like Scott Boras to call all the major league teams and get the same response: "We're not interested. Thanks for calling, and you have a super day."