Yanks, A-Rod Have Contract Outline

its a sad day for baseball today

We can only hope that, 5 or 6 years from now, when NO ONE will be able to deny how bad a signing this was, that baseball GMs and owners will finally clue in. But I won't hold my breath.

Its no coincidence Selig was crowing about MLB's record profits, Boston announced a huge ticket price hike for '08, and this story all broke on the same day.

A-Rod wants to be a Yankee? Please, spare me. ARod wants to be a Yankee because they're the only team stupid enough to pay 27 million to a guy who is so un-imposing that he doesn't even draw an intentional walk with 1st base open and a man on second in the 9th inning of a tied playoff game.

I'm still baffled by incentives for suprassing an individual career record. Can the commish possibly allow that? Such a contract is unprecedented in sports, no?

Nah, the way for A-Rod to show he really wanted to be a Yankee would have been to not opt out in the first place. It's not a coincidence that his "change of heart" coincided with his brief foray into a market that didn't looking promising.

And don't confuse Yankee-criticizing for Yankee-hating. Sure, I'm not a Yankees fan, but I give credit where it's due. Nothing the Yankees have done thus far has improved the team. They've simply retained what they had last year, but at an exorbitant cost. For some inexplicable reason, they have put forth a 10-year deal where no other team even whispered that it would give eight.

Would I want A-Rod to hit 40-50 homeruns for my team next year? Financial considerations aside, sure. But it's tough to be jealous of a $275M contract.

It's like being jealous of the kid who paid $600 for the XBox 360 with the gold faceplate because it's a special edition. His faceplate sure is shiny, but for $350, mine plays the same games.

I'm with donuts, I don't hate the Yankees. For all the money the league is making, the Yankees were the only team to _lose_ money in the last revenue report I saw. I simply can't respect the way they throw money around unwisely and overpay for aging players. But Torre they asked to take a pay cut. Go figure.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the chasing the record bonus clause. I cannot really think of a way they could possibly word that so it would be legal. If that is deemed illegal what is going to happen to this contract offer? The yankees are in pretty deep they would probably have to guarantee more money. Although I kind of doubt the spineless commishioners office will actually stand up against the obvious infraction since it is the mvp and the yankees.

The reason people still talk about Arod is becuz he's 1 of the best players that ever lived, plays multiple positions, including SS, is about to win an MVP, and is movie star handsome, eloquent for a baseball player, a dynamic media personality, the record holder for most HRs in a single season by a righty hitter in yankees stadium (the yankees have had some good f-ing right handed hitters so this says a lot), is already a hall of famer, and is marching towards destroying the all time HR record....

27 mil per? He should be getting 35....

Wow…

For the last 7 years or so Tom Hicks has been the laughing stock of the industry because he issued one of the worst contracts in the history of sports. 7 years later the Yankees make him look like Albert Einstein when they get flat out screwed by, well, themselves…

This has got to be the single stupidest thing I have ever witnessed, and I mean seriously... I know people say that all the time, but this really is bad to the point where it very well could be the dumbest move I have seen an organization ever take part in. What we have is a team saying they will offer X contract, a player saying he was to leave, his agent saying he wanted Z, not a single other team expressing anything as far as serious interest in the player and the Yankees bending over to offer up not only 50+ million more but also incentives up to the point where the player will receive a portion of the teams revenue? Uhh, did the Yankees miss the part where . And what the *F* were they thinking to offer a portion of their revenue??? Had he stayed on the market he may not have been able to get anything more than a 5YR deal, yet they offer 10 at “well over 300M with incentives” AND revenue sharing???

Really, I think Metafrantic said it best with “right now the Yankees are so poorly managed I'm literally embarrassed for them”. Seriously; any random grade-schooler you pull out of 3rd period would be able to negotiate a better deal then this. It’s almost like they are just giving the players a blank page and saying “please draw up the contract we are going to be giving you”. Don’t they have a single person in the front office who is questioning why they would outbid themselves to the point of offering a percentage of revenue sharing?

If I was Cashman I would quit the day this deal is announced ~ he will never be able to get another job in his life unless he runs away from this sinking ship and declares his lack of involvement in this mess. I imagine there are 29 other front offices around baseball laughing their asses off over this disaster…

…just wow…

"BSox, ARod will already be making upwards of 6M more than the next highest paid player in baseball next year ~ you seriously think he’s worth 13M more than #2?"

Well, considering #2 is Jason Giambi, at this point he could probably make that argument. And that's not saying much. It just underscores the lunacy of the contracts the Yankees have been shelling out for the past several years.

"a dynamic media personality"

Since when does Arod have a personality? I am with you on the other points though (although it is still a little early to say the home run crown is such a lock).

Possibly the craziest thing about this deal (and his last one) is that if bonds does not play next year Arod could become the highest paid player for an entire career before his 33 birthday.

"How can people seriously root for that team…"

They make the playoffs every year. How can people seriously root for the Royals?

So I understand some of the critiques of this contract -- however I'm not sure its as one sided as everyone is making it out to be. A-rod is the best third baseman available, what's more he doesn't cost prospects the same way Miggy does. Yes, he's insanely expensive, but the strength of the the Yankee front office is cash -- so why not spend it?

Now, I'll grant that during the tail end of this contract (say the last 3 years or so) A-rod will be a highly overpaid DH. But, at that time he'll probably be chasing the all time home-run record -- and that will be fun to watch. It will certainly generate some degree of interest and advertising bucks for the yanks (maybe not 27 mil's worth, but still...).

Ultimately the Yankees are a better team with A-rod, and they have the money (people who cite "4 championships before A-rod 0 after" are being ridiculous), so why not?

The Yankees still need a legit ace to be sure, but as I understand it we're still going to make a push for one (fingers crossed for Johan). By paying 270mil we keep A-rod's production and keep our prospects for a possible trade (again hopefully with the twins).