Alex Rodriguez would welcome a trade from the Yankees under the right circumstances, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports. Rodriguez won’t ask to be traded, but he has told close friends he won’t block a deal as long as he’s going to a large-market team.
The Marlins, Angels, White Sox and Dodgers could pursue the slumping 37-year-old, Nightengale suggests. Rodriguez can block any trade and has five years and $114MM on his contract, so he won’t be easy to move. At this level, dollars figure in as much as talent. "They're not trades. They're business deals," Brewers GM Doug Melvin noted.
Baseball executives suggested to Nightengale that Rodriguez is worth $7-10MM per season at this stage in his career. Manager Joe Girardi has benched Rodriguez against right-handed pitching, an indication the Yankees doubt his ability to produce. The Yankees and Marlins have reportedly had preliminary discussions about a deal involving Rodriguez, though both sides have publicly denied the reports.
I wonder if Atlanta would be a viable destination…
NO NO NO!!! We don’t need the distractions. We just had Chipper (an aging 3B) retire, it’s not time to add another one. Also, A-Rod has been in decline in his last 5 years (Check his OPS, you’ll see it).
I don’t care how much money the Yankees eat, it’s not worth it.
Atlanta has, for more than two decades, been a club that places a premium on clubhouse harmony. It’s hard to see them going in for A-Rod and all of his baggage under any circumstances. I’m not saying he’s a bad guy, mind you. Just that he’s a magnet for controversy.
I completely agree. I’m not sure the Braves would take A-Rod if the Yankees paid all his salary.
As the last ARod fan left in NY, I hope this doesn’t happen and he stays with the NYY for the remainder of his career.
He’s going to get tormented the rest of his career every slump he goes into from here on our. Not sure NY is the best place for that.
You’re not the only one…
Are you really a fan of “Arod” or are you a fan of his production (or at least prior production)? Arod is just not a like able guy in my opinion.
The idea that anyone can be a fan of a person they dont know is pretty silly.
People know enough about Arods character and when compared to someone like Jeter I think most would agree they prefer Jeter. I mean Arod kissing himself in the mirror or flirting when his team is losing in the 9th says a lot about him.
“Arod kissing himself in the mirror”, you realize that was a photoshoot right. The fact that the media makes a big deal of these little things is pretty funny.
When a guy is already seen as arrogant, one of the last things he should want is to have a photo released were he is kissing himself n the mirror. Doesn’t help his public image.
Don’t worry your not the only one. My family is killing me as I try to find any little excuse for him this postseason (even though there really is non) but I hope it doesn’t happen either
He has something like 5 years left on his deal, into his age 42 season. His production has declined every year recently. If he keeps up this pace he will be a much worse version of Jason Bay
Going to L.A.
go to anaheim
Howard for Arod. Who says no?
Yanks and Phillies. Yanks because of Tex and Phillies because of being an NL team.
Howard can DH when Teix isnt injured. ARod can still field 3rd, a position Phils need to fill
Yeah but for how long, and Howard is cheaper and more productive even with his injuries
But howard isnt more productive…
It’s not about productivity…it’s about getting rid of albatross contracts. Both teams help each other…although Philly media is worse than NY. But Howard can still hit and would hit TONS of HRs in the Bronx.
Yeah, cause Ryan Howard makes perfect sense for the Yankees
His value comes from his ability to hit home runs which he would do a lot of in Yankees stadium as a DH. His numbers as a pinch hitter are very good as well so he’d be very useful during inter-league.
I don’t think either team would do it but it’s not that far out there from a Yankees perspective. From a Phillies perspective, you’d have to wonder how long he’d be able to play 3rd base.
Record attempt for most dislikes ever may be successful.
No, I think I have that record oddly enough :p
Seriously, though why trade A-Rod, when you can send a message and just simply cut him.
What message is that?
That the Yankees are the richest and dumbest franchise in the world?
Why would they ‘simply cut him’? And not get ANYTHING in return?
That trade actually makes sense money wise. A-rod could end up playing 1B in a few years and Howard would be DH in NY. He’s also hit 50+ HRs and K around 225 times. Their salaries are a wash and Howard is 5 years younger. The trick is getting A-Rod to accept a trade to Philly. I believe Howard has no-trade protection too.
Love the random use of the quote by Melvin…
The Yankees would have to get something of value back. His numbers in the regular season show that he’d still be better than any stopgap player. He’s still a 2WAR play iirc. Also, I can’t see NY resigning Chavez to start or looking into the free agent 3B pool for an answer, which has nobody that’d out perform A-rod anyway. Wright, Youk, and Wigginton all have club options I believe.
Youk’s will likely be declined or so we hear.
Well the Marlins have nothing of great significance in the infield…The have 2 really good outfield prospects in Yelich and Ozuna. I dont know what the other teams in this article have to offer. But I will have to look into it.
If the Yanks eat 20M per year in salary that just brings him to market value, so a top prospect is not going to get moved in that situation. Now if the Yanks eat 25M, maybe.
That’s all find and dandy but you don’t pay 30M for a two win player. If they have any opportunity to dump him somewhere else, even if they pay a lot of his salary, I think they need to take it.
Not easy to get another 3B but Alex is declining each season, it can only get worse.
I agree completely. His contract isn’t worth the 2 wins by a long shot. Plus I think the Yankees would be happy just to unload the contract…..which won’t happen unless they pay most of it in a trade. They’re not getting any players of value in return unless its someone else with a bad contract. Forget about getting prospects.
In his time with the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez has won 2 MVP Awards, a World Series Ring, Hit 302 Homeruns, and driven in 960 runs. He gets a bad reputation because he is their most overpaid player and has struggled in the postseason, but for a long time he was our most feared bat. As a Yankee fan, I will be sad to see him get traded if it does happen. But it’s time the Yankees shed salary, get younger at third base, and open up the DH spot for Derek Jeter who will need it because of his ankle. Although he carried himself the wrong way at times, Arod’s numbers are the best the Yankees have ever received from a third baseman. Thank you for 2009 Arod! I still respect you, even if im in the minority.
Great attitude. I wish more Yankee fans responded like this. Rodriguez has indeed struggled in the post season, but I feel like a lot of fans take for granted what he does for the team during the regular season.
“Rodriguez has indeed struggled in the post season” Struggled in a few short series overall his playoff numbers are quite impressive.
You’re right, he had very strong post seasons in 2004, 2007, and 2009.
other than 2009, i don’t see how he had “very strong” post seasons in 2004 and 2007.
How wasnt 04 strong? And this is of course if we ignore his career prior to the yankees.
They called him for playing “slappy” with slapping the ball out of Arroyo’s glove as the intentional act it was.. THAT was his most “impressive” act of the ’04 PO.
He had over a 1000 ops vs the twins and a i think a 900 vs the sox ya that was disappointing…
Was going to add that also. Other than 2009, his numbers are pretty brutal.
That’s because you’re focusing on the Red Sox series. Look at what he did in the ALDS prior. Even in the Red Sox series, he wasn’t ‘pretty brutal’.
Not that either. he wasn’t the money man for them when it came time to produce and they needed him more times than not in the PO, just like David Ortiz most of the times when Boston made the PO, he was on vacation with the bat.. It was Manny Ramirez who would come thru for them and they needed to get it going.
Ortiz/Rodriquez may both go down as iconic figures of both franchises, but the post season for both will be ’09 remembered for NY in Rodriquez and ’04 for Ortiz. Otherwise for those 2, they were MIA.
I don’t particularly care for A-Rod, but your post is a classic example of what happens with this guy all the time. Because of his contract, his actions and behavior, most fans’ focus is on the negative with him.
Going back to that series, no one mentions the collective collapse of the entire Yankees team. Sheffield, Javy Vasquez, Williams, Posada even Mariano all get a pass and are forgotten members of that team, but everyone remembers A-Rod.
Same thing is happening today, A-Rod is not hitting, sits and is the focus, but Cano, Swisher, Granderson, Ibanez, Chavez, his replacement are not hitting either. Everyone gets a pass but not Rodriguez, and that’s what everyone remembers.
Oh I wouldn’t say “everyone” doesn’t notice, but “fans” who know nothing but wins and losses probably are that way.
How many remember Sheffield (I have another name for him) was proclaiming “job done” after game 3 of the ’04 ALCS? That series could have hinged more on his classic big mouth more than anything.
I also have seen Cano struggle, Grandy, it’s not everyone my friend not noticing only Rodriquez having problems with the bat and had these games (so far) with Detroit all been pitching duels? None in the “only win vs loss” crowd would be saying anything either, but NY won a very SP dominated series with Baltimore where nobody really was hitting for either side, so people didn’t say/write a thing until NY found themselves down 0-2.
The NE media must have sent NY some reinforcements, cause the vultures are out after him now and I hope he gets a cpl hits tonight, for the sake of his winter.
Wonder what’s going to get more press on the boards this off-season, Boston / Farrell or A-Rod trade rumors?
It’s true. But the Yankees would be far better off producing talent than acquiring it…even with their spending capabilites. Even with the career in pinstripes Rodriguez has had….they would highly benefit from having the Seattle-Texas A-Rod on the roster. Not just with him…but with many of the players they’ve acquired over the years. They were masterful in the 90’s at building talent and taking advantage of pre-free agency talent. There’s always going to be flaws in a team that is heavy with aged players. Luckily, the money has allowed them to patch with players like Ichiro..not many teams can afford the bench the Yankees can.
I’m guessing that winning isn’t as sweet as it was in the days of Williams/Posada/Pettitte/Jeter. In those days they brought in players to compliment the core…..O’Neill (if a bit early for the core)…Brosius.
You DO REALIZE that A-Rod was on the juice while in Texas and I wouldn’t doubt that he was on it in Seattle also!!
Yes, but A-Rod in the younger years would still be a better option than paying out a contract that he can’t live up to as an older player. Even the Yankees can’t get strapped into paying for 5 years of solid play in a 10 year contract. They need to be paying for age 25-35 seasons…not post 35 seasons. Their weakness…and where they have wandered off the path is investing too much in aged players and paying them, essentially, for what they have done in the past. Their great teams were built around a young core with key veterans from outside….now they resemble an old car where they keep pouring on old parts to keep it running. You can’t really argue with a team that makes the playoffs yearly…but it’s ultimately a flaw that needs to be fixed…it’s the same pattern they ran into in the 1980’s.
I would never ever trade for this guy. Let the Yankees choke on that horrible contract, they deserve it.
Great attitude.
However, I think A-Rod is bound to have a bounce back year, and Yankees should hold onto him.
He’s not gonna be worth 30 mil, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him hit .290 and mash 40 HRs. That may sound crazy, but he still has power, if he trains his buttocks off in the off season, he could very well do it.
A-Rod seems like a man with something to prove.
It’ll be very interesting to see what kind of Alex that shows up at spring training. I think he will be lean, yet strong.
I hope he gets traded. First off we could spend that money some where else. Secound we could maybe have Nunez play there.
They’d likely have to eat a major part of his contract, so there might not be much freedom created by him being off the roster….especially in a deal with a team like Florida. Maybe their best shot at saving some cash on the deal would be with a larger market team like the Cubs…but I’m not sure there’s much chance of that happening. Really, their best chance to be rid of him is in their willingness to eat contract.
Yes I agree with you. but it was confirmed that he will not be traded
Lordy I hope this is true. Don’t tease us! We’d clearly be better off without Alex and how nice to have the ability to get younger at a position. In an ideal world, we simply move Alex to national league team and eat most of the salary. I’d rather not take on anyone else’s headache.
I’d imagine him going to LA with some sort of package involving Vernon Wells going the other way.
Dumping money for less money.
you mean the angels? dont say LA if you dont mean the dodgers. oh, we dont need him, either.
Sorry. let me correct myself.
LAAoA
I’m sorry but that’s a ridiculous name. Might as well call the Dodgers the Brooklyn Dodgers of Los Angeles.
Im going to start using that lol
IMO The Angels should’ve changed their name to the New York Angels of Anaheim, as New York is an even bigger media market than LA
I bet he would thrive with the White Sox, at least for a few years.
He needs to team up with his life coach, Kobe Bryant. Although the Knicks would be a good option, too. Over the years, they’ve specialized in overpaid benchwarmers.
im sorry, but kobe is an overpaid benchwarmer? You really don’t watch basketball, do you?
I’m fairly confident that’s not what he said at all. I’m almost positive he was talking about the Knicks
No way do the White Sox go after A-Rod unless the Yanks cover at least half his salary. Chicago’s payroll is tight as it is, and they might not even be able to afford to bring Youkilis back.
you’d only need one of arod or youk, not both
It’s not that the whitesox can’t afford to bring youk back. They can, even with the bad attendance(something this whitesox fan is annoyed by) they still operate at a 100 million payroll pretty well reinsdorf is a very very rich man. And the whitesox brand is actually pretty solid.
It’s that they don’t want to pay 13 million for a guy who does not hit for average or for power. They will look to bring him back on a cheaper deal.
That being said even a slumping a-rod is better than anything the whitesox have in their system. He could play 3rd for a year or two. He still has a good glove and still has a solid bat, his numbers only look bad because of the price. Them move to dh full time when konerko and Dunn are gone.
I blame this all on the rangers haha. The braves and rangers were battling for him back then. The rangers then more than doubled the braves last offer. The era of over paying began
I knew Arod was slowing down. but good golly… he hasn’t hit over 20 HRs in 2 years.
The Cubs need a 3B. Would the Yankees take Soriano for A-Rod and eat the rest of A-Rod’s salary?
Why would they do that?
That makes no sense for the Cubs….
nope…..Cubs are trying to unload big contracts….not take on more.
i find it how funny the yankee fans forget about 09.. lmao
I’m not really sure what makes you think that.
09 doesn’t do much for the yankees with 5 years 115 mill left… does it?
That’s like saying Red Sox fans forget about 04 and 07, because they don’t seem to want Papi for the amount of $ he is looking for (and I don’t blame them either).
What happened in 04, 07, and 09 as you pointed out, is irrelevant today and in a few years from now
Kenny Williams must be going nuts, A Rod has been his most sought after prize since his first day as GM. Not to mention, there is nothing Kenny Williams likes more than trading for overpayed, old, under productive players (Griffey, Manny, Youkilis, Alomar, etc etc etc). I could see the White Sox trading John Danks for A Rod with the Yankees paying most of A Rod’s salary (in addition to all of Danks’) or getting Thorton.
Yes – KW had his baseball card as a kid. Thornton and Morel for ARod and 64M and throw in Boone Logan. Sox pay 50M
Honestly if the whitesox could move danks and Thornton and get back arod while only having to pay lets say 6-10 million a season with the Yankees eating the rest of arods deal, and all of danks’ and thorntons. I would say that’s a solid deal for the whitesox. Danks’ spot in the rotation is only guaranteed because of his contract with sale, Quintana, and Santiago adding a 4th lefty is crazy. Danks would be a good pitcher for the Yankees to have be #3
I just wonder however if Rick Hahn wants this potential disaster of a trade to be his first venture into being a GM
What about for Alfonso Soriano (again)? A-Rod would hit bombs in Wrigley and Fonso could be DH/OF back in NY.
ARod doesn’t want to go to a rebuilding team….he’d nix this deal….
Perhaps a trade to Anaheim might be in order. Swap bad contracts with Wells (42M/3yr), with the Yankees eating 40M of his owed 114M. Yanks could let Ichiro and Swisher walk, while the Angels free up their crowded OF.
Arte, no! Don’t do it!
i think letting trumbo play third base and letting vernon wells walk makes more sense for the angels. They have some great young players, no need to sign an aging veteran for way too much money… oh wait pujols, nm
Trumbo cannot play 3B. There is a reason that was nixed a few weeks into it
because of the extensive amount of evidence???
Yes!, Yes! That makes sense. With Andruw Jones not coming back the Yanks need a RH OFer that has fallen from the face of the Earth to play in left.
At this point, Callaspo > ARod.
Unless the Yankees show a sudden change of heart when it comes to
raiding the farm system and pay through the nose to get Chase Headley,
it’s hard to imagine who they could get who would be an improvement at
3B. Or even adequate. I don’t see them going after Youkilis. And who
else is even available? Polanco? Inge? Rolen? Are the Yankees in any way
better off paying A-Rod to play for somebody else then paying again to
replace him with someone inferior even to his diminished current self?
The Padres wouldn’t deal Headley to the Yankees. IMO they really don’t have enough, good, CHEAP, young, MLB players to get a deal done. I could see Pineda as part of a package, but still.
I am pretty sure if they dealt Headley, who after 4 seasons of growing pains has finally broken out, they would lose the 5 of the 7 fans they have left and the new ownership would not go that route.
If the new ownership decided to spend a little money, which I am hearing should happen, I could see interest in Soria, Peavy, Sanchez, Adams, Haren, and Hunter as well as Choo and Andrus via trade. We have a very solid core and 2-3 very solid pieces could put this team over the top. They do not need players who will help in 2 seasons, the deal would have to be like the Latos deal, with a SS, SP, and OF.
In short, the Padres will likely not be trading Chase Headley to anybody, much less the Yankees.
he’s one of the greatest talents to ever play the game and it’s not his fault Texas gave him that stupid contract; followed by NY extending it.
As cliche/lame as it sounds, he gets heat because he has never acted like he cares about anything than how he looks.
Put him side-by-side with a Paul O’Neil or Don Mattingly and A-Rod’s numbers will dwarf theirs; but even when Donnie was declining or when Paul would have a bad game or go into a slump, they were cheered.
He strikes out with RISP and walks back to the dugout stone faced staring at the replay on the screen.
Put O’Neil in that same scenario and he’s visibly livid and cursing at himself
Yeah, we love a winner and big numbers but we respect heart and loyalty just as much; if not more
his numbers appear to have been greatly assisted by roids, hard to argue with the very interesting and immediate decline in power that came after the leagues testing policy changed
not saying he was 100% honest, but he did say 2001-2003, and he did win MVP in NY in ’05 and ’07
How can you trust a guy’s word when that guy cheated for years and only confessed when evidence was shown??
Also: how insanely, wildly inappropriate is it for this to even leak out? If this is even partly true, and one of my people leaked it while my team was still active in the postseason, they’d be scanning the listings on CareerBuilder inside of five minutes.
because its the new york media. Its really that simple. The postseason isn’t enough for them, its World Series or bust. And if its bust, someone is to blame… And of course, Arod is the easiest attack target
oh great, now we get to hear about this all off season
It’s either this or Farrell going to Boston, because no one knows the way to
San Jose.
He has alot of friends and the likes of heyman and nightengale wont rest rest until we hear from every one of them.
Hopefully he demands an extension or other financial compensation if they want to trade him.
The Yankees are going to need to eat a lot of salary in a trade. But the Yankees likely need a third baseman coming back…you’re not moving a soon-to-be-39 year old Derek Jeter to the hot corner. The real problem is that even if he is producing, you can’t justify his salary as a pure DH…and the left side of the infield (with all respect to Jeter) is getting pretty geriatric.
If the Yankees can trade him though—that frees up money to extend Cano after next season.
The Yankees have money to extend Cano without moving Alex, and still come way below the 189m limit, thanks to expiring contracts. It’s simple arithmetic. Not to mention, Cano’s salary will only increase by ~5m/year. That’s not a lot.
Rival GM’s should let the Yankees keep him. He’s a financial burden that’s making the Yankees think twice about future contracts. He’ll sell tickets for any team wiling to take him on but not enough to compensate for his ridiculous contract. Dodgers bailed out the Red Sox with Epstein’s bad deals…..hopefully someone won’t bail out the Yankees. They made their bed on bringing in Rodriguez…..time they lie in it.
“Rival GM’s should let the Yankees keep him”
The Marlins and Yankees are not rivals.
Everyone on another team is a rival.
Then what was the point of using the word rivals? Pretty redundant
I cant wait until the reports of “He can still play SS!”
all this arod trade news in the middle of the NL/ALCS’ is ridiculous.
this.
especially since the Yankees are still in the ALCS.
Technically.
Yea it is just pathetic. I can understand the Red Sox stealing the headlines last year when they were doing all their manager stuff, but having talks surface about one of your stars being involved in a trade during the ALCS is just ridiculous. Leads me to believe they just arent in it mentally.
I don’t see any logic to an a-rod trade for the Yankees unless someone decides to act like the Dodgers dealing with the Red Sox. If A-Rod is only worth 7-10 M per year, and you have to pay someone to take his position, what’s the net savings? You might as well keep him. I don’t discount his prior contributions to the Yankees, nor do I think the original trade was a bad one. The misjudgement was when George took him back after the opt-out.
Oh man this offseason is gonna be good!
Despite his decline arod still finished 9th among 3rd basemen in ops this year, so better than 2/3 of the league. Is that worth his contract? Hell no, but there is no way the Yankees should trade him unless they can get someone else who can produce at that level at 3b, and with the fa market for 3b this year that isn’t happening. So unless they can get rid of his entire contract, a trade probably doesn’t make much sense.
Ok two points.
1 – Mark Buehrle is not going anywhere. A 200+ inning starter who is adjusting to NL starting at 14.5/ year is not a terrible contract. Trust me I am a red sox fan and Lackey that is a terrible contract. Is it a great contract no, but it is a serviceable innings eater. Bell on the other hand would need to go.
2- A-Rod is considered a 7-10 million dollar player a year now. Can you imagine what he will be like in 3 years? So let’s say for the benefit we take the average for next 2 years. ’13 – 8.5 ’14 8.5 and he reduces down to about 5 million in ’15 and 3 million for ’16 and ’17. We are talking about 5 years 28 million dollars.
The media is reporting 5 years at 114 million but does not include escalators for home runs which will equal about another 30 million so we are talking somewhere near 5 years 144 million. So the yankess with just some simple math would have to eat around 100-110 million dollars. I understand the guy was mashing in world series in 2009 but unfortunately he has diminished to mainly nothing so they want to eat say 100 million and trade Heath Bell for A-Rod then the problem is would anyone in baseball allow them to eat that much of a contract when trading him?
pitchers don’t ‘adjust’ to the NL their numbers should improve. Buerhle is just declining.
Here we go again the anti Yankee announcers!
Seems like most people either forgot or dont know that A-Rod just got back from a broken injury just a couple months ago. It would be foolish for the Yanks to dump him now.
I could see him as a fit for either LA team. Neither has a 3B, In exchange for Vern Wells or Carl Crawford. It would be more convenient for Rod to find actresses to date, and attend red carpet premieres and galas.
How about the yankees trade ARod to seattle for Chone Figgens and Franklin Gutierrez and a C- prospect ? And the yankees obsorb 65 million of whats left on arods contract. That way Arod can give the Mariners at “Least” a threat of a power bat and he can at finish his career where he started with no pressure at allas compared to NY, and Figgens can have a chance to redeem himself with a change of scenery and Gutierrez will give the yanks a gold glove in the outfeild in case they decide to not resign ichiro and trade granderson
how about ARod back to Seattle? Maybe for Chone Figgens and 2 C+ Prospects? With NY eating most of the contract of coarse. Gives the Mariners the threat of a power bat and will sell tickets no doubt.