One of the reasons Beckett was good and reliable and fresh in October -- taking the role of a No. 1 starter, carrying his team through three straight series and winning a world championship for the second time in five years -- is because he didn't have to do what Sabathia did in the regular season. And the award is based solely on the regular season.

Sabathia threw 40 more innings, faced 143 more batters and threw 478 more pitches than Beckett. He picked up the slack with Jake Westbrook disabled, and Cliff Lee and Jeremy Sowers back in Buffalo, and deserves top 10 MVP votes for getting the Indians to a tie with the Red Sox for best record in baseball. But all those innings, batters and pitches showed in October. Velocity is never an indicator of wear or injury -- command is. And the man with the 5.24 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio was clearly gassed trying to deal with the hitting approach of Boston's hitters.

His bias is really becoming way too apparent in his writing.

Don't stop believin, Hold on to the feelin', Streetlight people:

"He reached out to us through a third party," Steinbrenner said in a telephone interview. "He has expressed a desire to stay a Yankee. He's even willing to make certain sacrifices to do so."

http://tinyurl.com/32zuzz

Now we just need for Mo to accept the 3 year/$5 mil (it's a damn fine offer Mo) and have Andy come back.

Obviously this never could happen, but it would make things so much easier.

I wonder if it would really work though.

10 "Hey Ned, we know you guys were sad that you didn't sign A-Rod. So, how about we give you A-Rod, and in return, you give us four of Chad Billingsley, Clayton Kershaw, Andy LaRoche, James Loney, and Matt Kemp. You know, the deal the Marlins wanted for Cabrera.

I know A-Rod is older than Miguel, but he's in far better shape, he can actually play 3B - or even SS! - and he and Joe are likethis."

;)

You don't want the modern-day offensive equivalent of Babe Ruth on your team? Seriously? Do you feel this way because your drug problem is that severe, or because the American educational system is that bad? Or do you simply listen to too much sports talk radio?"

HA!

But I still want that level of talent on his team.

Someone wake me when Alex has a signed, sealed and delivered contract.

I dare not start to hope again...

Or if the Yanks had gotten pre-decline phase Manny. The dude hits, and that helps the team win. The rest is irrelevant.

This is why signing Bonds to DH 110 games and play LF 25 games (and pinch hit the rest of the time!) would be a fantastic thing, whatever you think of the man as a human being.

In the first place, I'm one of those fans who cheers for the front of the jersey, not the back, so I don't really care about the personal character of the person inhabiting the jersey. But I realize that there are many fans who don't feel like me and don't want a (for example) a Sheffield, a Bonds, or an A-Rod on their favorite team. So, for the sake of those who do care about such things, I say A-Rod's gotta fire Boras if he wants full forgiveness in the Bronx.

He won't get forgiveness from Peter Gammons, of course. To him, the timing of Boras' announcement was like Randy Moss' "mooning" at Lambeau was for Joe Buck...

Michael Weiner, general counsel for the Players Association, told Newsday's Ken Davidoff, "the union has been assured that the Yankees will respect Alex's decision to designate Scott Boras as his representative."

One other thing about this whole drama though - no matter what happens, the Yanks, should not completely alienate Boras no matter what some people think of him, as not only does he have other clients that the Yanks may need/want (perhaps a Texeria), but he is scooping up so many draftees, that the Yanks don't need him f'ing up our drafts the next few years as it is so clear that it is imperative to develop and keep good young players.

The agent works for the player, even if there are some agents and players who forget this.

Alex Rodriguez is closing in on a $280 million deal to remain with the Yankees, just weeks after his relationship with the team seemed to be severed.

"Alex has reached out to us through a third party," Steinbrenner said today. "It kind of looks like he wants to stay."

Steinbrenner hinted that Rodriguez might make concessions on his salary to make up for the lost Rangers subsidy.

"It looks like he's willing to make certain sacrifices to stay a Yankee," Steinbrenner said.

#27 anybody?

A. Lowell on the market lowered A-Rod's leverage vis-a-vis the Yanks, forcing A-Rod back to the Yanks.

B. A-Rod/Boras totally misplayed their hand, opted out, and found no suitors, forcing A-Rod back to the Yanks.

C. This is all a ploy to lure the Yanks into talks, which A-Rod/Boras hope will spark the bidding war they expected.

D. None of the above.

I'm not worried about alienating Boras, anyway. Boras will always do what he thinks will make the most money for his guys -- spiting the Yankees for screwing with him just isn't in his m.o.

I think the likelihood A and B are limited by the fact that so little time has passed that the true market for a-rod has not really developed yet

which of course makes C all the more likely, but there is actually a non-zero chance that the following is true

D. a-rod actually wants to retire a yankee

I hope its B. I fear its C.

But if it is a bidding war fake, the Yanks will know soon. They will want a deal done fast to make sure its not that. If Boras and A-Rod stall, that's a bad sign.

Of course, if there's an article in the LA Times in the next two days that says "Angels prepared to offer A-Rod 10 years, $300M" we (and the Yanks) will also know it was just a ploy.

Um... why do supposedly self-respecting journalists continue to report that the Florida Marlins are a "possible suitor" for Alex Rodriguez? Is it the fact that the Marlins are actively shopping the only two players on their roster that make more than $2M per season? Or perhaps it's because signing A-Rod would increase the Marlins' payroll by 150 percent? This keeps bothering me, and it seems only because Larry Beinfest, when asked after the World Series about A-Rod, said, with a smirk, "we're not ruling it out."

It makes me think most of journalism is just a bunch of groupthink.

You know what I heard? A source close to the Kansas City Royals, speaking under anonymity, confirmed that the Royals "had not ruled out" signing Barry Bonds. Now go report that everywhere, sheep!

A) ... for a raise, which is a bargain compared with the $35mill/year for ten years that no one offered.

B) ... for a raise, which is a bargain compared with the $35mill/year for ten years that no one offered.

C) ... because no one offered anything remotely close to what they wanted.

Unfortunately, I think the Yankees are getting played here unless they get A-Rod for less than $25 million / season

Whoever was worried about this being a boring off-season shouldn't have fretted - we are almost to Thanksgiving.

Sorry if this was posted and I missed it - it is a little late, but for OYF and the other big Bonds' backers - the Yanks may have some competition.
http://tinyurl.com/2ytp4s

Damn.

$275M < $280M < $289M. Sure, when its numbers that big, its not a huge difference, but its still less. What am I missing here?

But seriously, if the Dodgers don't end up with ARod, I do hope he ends up back in NY. I like the idea of him circumventing Borat, er, Borass, er Boras, too, though I don't completely trust it. Seems like a calculated PR move but maybe I'm just cynical.

As a Yankees fan, I'd love to see the Yanks end up with the Dodgers' trove of prospects. (What fan of their team wouldn't?) But as a baseball fan, I think it'd be great if the Dodgers kept them all and played them all, and reaped the rewards. It would be a(nother) perfect lesson on how drafting and developing is far better than investing in free agents.

I am more interested in the Mo situation. If the Yanks were forced into rebuild/transition mode next season, then the Yankees might have been more willing to let him walk. But now, IF A-Rod is back, then suddenly Torregate is a distant memory. The big guns are back in place (A-Rod and Posada), and the team looks very much the competitor next season. In this context, Mo's 60 INN might make the difference between WC and WS (or at least that might be the perception). And if so, then does the team concede to his salary demands?

Question: Would another team offer Mo more then 3/$45
(and is Mo not getting a little greedy?)

And besides, I don't see any team offering Mo 3 years/$45M - or more.

56 Its not my money, so I say, why not pay Mo $50M/3 years? He made $1,431,125 total over 1996-1998; I think we can all agree he was vastly underpaid then. Why not overpay now?