Time To Talk A-Rod

Alex Rodriguez has exactly one month to decide whether to opt out of his contract.  This is going to be a hot topic for the next thirty days, and of course the top offseason story if he does opt out.  Let’s sum up the latest.  The info comes from six similar articles, which I’ll just link to at the bottom.

• Any major event deserves an acronym, and Scott Boras has coined one for Alex Rodriguez as he heads toward free agency.  Boras’ term is IPN – Icon, Performance, Network.  In other words, A-Rod is famous, he’s an awesome hitter, and he boosts the Yankees’ TV revenue.  We needed a new acronym for that?
• Reminder: Texas is on the hook for $21.3MM of the $91MM owed to Rodriguez for the 2008-10 seasons.  This obligation disappears if he opts out.
• Brian Cashman again said that not negotiating with A-Rod if he opts out would be his "strong recommendation," but hinted that others have a say in the decision (read: The Boss).  This is the first public crack in Cashman’s stance.
• Boras will obviously push hard for Rodriguez to opt out and sign a landmark free agent deal. 
• We’ve seen the ten-year, $300MM estimate thrown around quite a bit.  Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News ups the ante, suggesting Boras could find a team to pay $400MM over eleven years.  Screw it – someone should just pay him one billion dollars over 29 years and get it over with.

References:  Newark Star-Ledger, New York Times, Hartford Courant, New York Post, Newsday, New York Daily News