Incentive clauses pushing the total value up don't bother me. After all, that's not guaranteed money, which is the important part. (A lesson many have never learned in regards to the NFL.) And while we know about what the Yanks' original extension offer was, we have no idea what (if any) incentives it might have eventually included. To think it would have had none is foolish, given what A-Rod and Boras have asked for before.

0 "I just hope that the new contract doesn't include any of those pesky opt-out clauses"

Here here!

Arod ? Well, I really wish he had come to the Yanks 2 months ago and agreed on a deal. He would have won over every Yankee fan then. He would have won over the entire city ! Now ? Well I realize I just root for the laundry as Seinfeld once said, but I do like to "like" my players too. Anyway - at least it looks like we have a 3rd baseman with some pop right ?!

i tossed and turned all night, wrestling with the two sides of this. i didn't drift off to sleep until i came to a similar conclusion. if rodriguez seems sincere (sigh), the contract is somewhat fair, and boras is belittled, i'll feel better about this.

i'm trying to keep an open mind, but darn it, the opt out announcement stung.

On the one hand, I realize that Arod is a good bet to be among the top-10 hitters in the game for at least next five seasons, and provides a unique combination of power/speed/defense/durability/motivation. Outside of Albert Pujols, Arod is exactly what the current Yankees lineup needs.

On the other hand, however, I was warming up to the idea of a retrun to normalcy. If Arod does return, it will ensure that next season will be another Arod/media circus. I can just hear Jeter muttering in his sleep now..."we, we, we, we, we!"

As for the cost, $27mn doesn't bother me, although 10 years will ensure that the second half of this deal is a bear. Of course, you have to judge it in the context of economics and the Yankees stand to see a significant acceleration in revenues over the next 10 years. Also, if incentives and backloading (which I suspect is how Arod will make up for the $21mn lost from Texas) are employed, it could make the deal even more affordable.

Also, you have to seriously consider the opportunity gain involved...by signing Arod, the Yankees have less pressure to move their stud prospects (although I'd still keep tabs on Cabrera as the 1B of the future and Santana).

In summary, I think the deal will work from an economic (it can't be worse than Giambi's contract has been) and on-field perspective, although I am a little wary of the continuing distractions that Arod's presence will bring.

So what now? Well, unlike a quote from him some years ago, a guess with a 10 year contract, he's serious about getting the HR record. And many others too. What a shame for us.

Since he will play 10-14 of his 20-24 year, 3 team career as a Yankee, no doubt he goes to the HOF as a Yankee. What a shame for us.

MCab was on his way to $20m, and more in the future. He was 10 lbs away from 1B/DH. And he would have cost us what? 4 Kids including one of the triad? And if we did that and then really needed Santana, what would that cost, or would we have had the kids to trade?

And If ARod did NOT opt out, we would be doing this in 2010 anyway. And which really shows he wants to be a Yankee more? Keeping a 3 year contract in place, or crawling back and losing a few bucks to make a 10 year commitment? It seems to me that Boras made a mistake (with ARod following his lead), and ARod QUICKLY made up for it when he saw himself in another uniform.

I have no doubt he could have gotten 5$/160.

Now ARod will truly be the face of the team. Jetes may be captain, and Jorge is our soul, by Alex will be our face. He came back to play with Jeter, back to NY, back to his legacy.

Yeah, I think he's overpaid, especially towards the end, but so is Mo, Po and Jeter... and maybe Phil and Joba will be too. To me, a big part of our money is keeping our kids and our stars. It's a real luxury. Unlike Nomar, Pedro and JD, our family stays intact.

By the way... one of the incentives ARod insisted on, is that when he hits his 50th HR of each year, he can sleepover at Jetes house.

But let's be honest. The Steinettes love it when the Mets or Red Sox win a big game, but it's a Yankee that is getting all the news. I mean the Sox won the WS this year, but who knew? ARod was the story.

I guess it goes with the territory. ARod was near perfect last year (as far as the press was concerned) but he still hit 129 on RLYW's cover counter. I assume wifey's 'Fuck You' wardrobe will go away. He is now (or will be) a Yankee for life, so maybe a little of the din will die down.

Yean, ARod will always seek out the red light, and chances are he will still have part of his foot in his mouth. That's who he is. But he is THE superstar. This level of fame is not easy to have. Barry doesn't handle it well, and neither did Ted.

The truth is as Yankee fans, it's time for US to stop buying all the crap: unclutch; greedy; losesr; anchor; bad chemistry; etc. WE should not be buying into this. It's all bullshit. It's all yellow journalism. He's just a human being with faults like the rest of us. He ain't perfect, he ain't Jeteresque. He works like a dog, takes care of himself, extends himself to the younger ballplayers and he plays this game right.

Next year, he will pass Mickey Mantle on the HR list. Think of that. And maybe the Babe. And maybe Barry too.

And we get to watch.
How cool is that?

I once bought a relic at a flea market. It cost 50 bucks becuase the vendor swore it was from the 19th century. Now I don't know if it was or wasn't, but frankly, I didn't care. Even if it had been made a month earlier, to me, it was worth 50 bucks. So I didn't care what it was really worth on the market.

Arod might be worth whatever the Yankees are likely to pay him. He probably has different values to different teams, market aside.

That said, I actually think that the Yankees and A-Rod could turn this whole thing around and make it into a "Paris Hilton learns from her prison experience" moment if they play the cards right.

First, once the deal is done, A-Rod should make a public apology to the fans. He should say, point-blank, that he was wrong to opt-out. He should NOT blame Boras: "Boras is my agent. I take full responsibility." But say how he was willing to play for significantly less than he could have gotten, just because he wanted to remain a Yankee.

A-Rod should acknowledge the money that the Yankees lost from Texas. He should say that that was money that the Yankees could have paid existing Yankees or used for more pitching and that he wanted it to come out of his pocket because he was the one who screwed up by opting-out. He's not saying it because he wants anyone to feel sorry for him for "sacrificing" -- he understands that the average fan thinks all athletes are over-paid -- but that he wants people to know important it was that he not hurt the team with his contract.

Then Hank should come out and say "We explained to Alex that we had been prepared to make him an offer that was significantly greater than this one and if he wanted to be a Yankee all the money that we would lose from Texas and the payroll tax would have to come off the table. He agreed."

Win-win-win. A-Rod looks like he learned something. The Yankees look like they didn't cave. And Boras gets to maintain the illusion that the market is stronger than it is.

12 I disagree. Boras could never have gotten $350 million. But an increase over A-Rod's last contract from the Angels or Dodgers? Sure.

As for the Giambi comparison--maybe yes, maybe no. First of all, as I recall, the Yankees DID have competition for Giambi: the A's, who offered him a very lucrative 6-year deal. That pushed the Yankees to offering a seventh year. Second, and more importantly, A-Rod has been and will be a much better player than Giambi. Even in his prime, Giambi was one of a number of slugging 1B/DH types (albeit the best for a couple of seasons). But A-Rod's combination of talents is much harder to find; moreover, he is a much better conditioned athlete than Giambi, and he holds out the promise of setting records (which in turn means attendance and money for the club). Thus, overall, A-Rod is worth much more than Giambi ever was. So maybe the market has spoken after all.

Many Yankee fans I've spoken to have mixed feelings about Rodriguez's return. Not me. Or at least the only thing that gives me pause for concern would be a future in which he starts to break down rapidily. An oft-injured Rodriguez would bring even more bashing than he's received over the past few years and that would be a drag. Ten years is risky, no matter how healthy Rodriguez has been thus far. But I suppose if he can stay healthy for six of those ten years, it'll be okay.

Regardless of his personality and how he handles things (his A Rodness, as a friend put it), the Yanks are getting back the reigning MVP. The team is better with him. And that's a beautiful thing.

But now I just have 2 requests for A-Rod.
1) Work your ass off.
2) Keep your damn mouth shut and think before you act.

#1 is obviously more important than #2, but I'd prefer to be talking about IPK's strong start to the season next May, rather than the tabs' coverage of Alex, Melky, Robbie, and a gaggle of orphaned, one-legged, syphillitic, French-Indo-Chinese-Romanian hookers leaving a Waffle House at 3am in Kansas City.

Ten years is forever in a baseball sense but for right now as I said I'm forgiving and forgetting and happily moving on.

Not me. I hope the newly forged iron-clad prenup includes all sorts of outs for both sides.
Overall, this ARod-Yankee affair has not been a great marriage.
I'd say it's been a volatile mess of a relationship at times. But look, they're keeping the family together for the sake of the kids now. Is that what this is?

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad ARod's coming back, I've mostly liked the guy, and been in awe of his talent, but I'm not kidding myself. This is like remarrying Liz Taylor in so many melodramatic ways.
That's it. The Yanks are Richard Burton to ARod's Liz Taylor. Oy. Such a Hollywood love story. Can't live with you and your drinking/ can't live without you, you scoundrel. Let's get married and divorced... twice!

If indeed the Yanks and ARod are going to re-make Burton & Taylor's "Divorce His, Divorce Hers," better that they're reunited at the altar now, mindful of where the exits are.

It's a pretty cool nickname for a top notch cleanup hitter, if you think about it.

As I said, George bought the Yankees for $12m. They are now worth a billion. We get to play with Yankee money when talking about these deals, but it's really silly. What is it worth to have a Yankee be the all-time HR leader? To win an additonal WS or 3? To be partof the stadium crowd when yet another record falls. Do we want to try and put a dollar figure on these things?

Everybody is a winner here (except ARod haters). In many ways, after much drama, order has been restored to the universe. My feeling is that Cashman and the Steinettes feel pretty good, and may hi-fives were exchanged.

Ruth, Joe D. and the Mic are American icons. They are part of our language and the history of baseball. ARod has a chance to be in that company (if he's not already). And none of these 4 guys are wearing a Red Sox uniform.

The bottom line is that ARod IS a Yankee, will retire a Yankee, and go into the HOF wearing pinstripes. This is what a lot of us were hoping for last September... yes?

As I said in last night's thread, I agree that there is no question that A-Rod and Boras have won these negotiations if the total deal tops $300M, because if that's the case, they made the Yankees budge from their "you need to make up for the $21M we lost" stance.

On another note, it's absolutely insane that A-Rod is closer to signing a deal with the Yankees than is Mariano Rivera. Mo's credibility is declining by the hour.

i am certain that this is where i will end up eventually. but sometimes it is difficult dismounting a horse when it is as high as the one i am currently perched upon.

He came back. He posted a very 'straight' announcement on his website, for the world to see.

"We know there are other opportunities for us, but Cynthia and I have a foundation with the club that has brought us comfort, stability and happiness. As a result, I reached out to the Yankees through mutual friends and conveyed that message. I also understand that I had to respond to certain Yankees concerns, and I was receptive and understanding of that situation."

Should Cashman apologize for not negotiating?
If Mo ends up signing for 3/$45, should he apologize for asking for $50?
Should every player who 'loses' in arbitration apologize for asking for more?
Should every player who leaves a team and goes to another team for more money apologize to their former team?
If you sell your car and ask for $8000, but end up getting $7000, should you apologize for asking for more?

ARod is not only a business man, like Mo, Po and every other players, but he is in a historically unique situation.

Is every fan and Banterer going to apologize for every 'greedy', 'slimy' comment they have made in the past? For all the judgements? For all the hatred?

We just have to keep Demonizing this guy, don't we.

23 "National Velvet," (sigh) my favorite!

When I heard the Yankees traded Murcer, I literally cried. I called my best friend (also a Yankee fan) and he was crying too. I didn't watch a game for over a week. It was betrayal beyond my imagination.

So things could be worse.
But I guarantee that after his first walk off HR, both you and your horse will be very pleased.

it is difficult to do so when your calls aren't being returned. but i see your point(s).

31 as i hit the submit button on 28 , the thought of the first walk off dinger pranced through my skull. i had to suppress a grin.