Tell all the Yankee fans not happy about ARod coming back how they'd like it if he was playing third for the Angels or SS for the Red Sox and watch them change their tune real quick.

I don't share an apartment with the guy and I don't commute to work with him (unfortunately). I just have to watch him hit baseballs and catch baseballs. He does that pretty decent. I'm thrilled.

i just think the timing could have been better , as lowell loses some serious negotiating leverage. oh well.. ive gone back and forth on loving and hating this guy. do people really think hes worth a 10 year deal? i would have hoped for a 7 with lots of player club option type of contract.. but i guess we'll see how it plays out. i work in risk, and 10 years is a huge risk.

i was talking about it yesterday, and now fox has it with dayn perry. the yankees right now are trying to bring last years team back together, and thats not a WS winning team, esp with so much unproven pitching. so far all thats changed (if we sign rivera), is that we changed coaches and got worse in the rotation/bullpen. what do you think is coming next?

He was the best option all along. I think his "cancer" effect is a bit overrated. The Yankees need pitching. If Hughes, Chamberlain, and Kennedy work out and all the talk of clubhouse cancer will go away.

from the article:

Steinbrenner said he thinks that had Rodriguez tested the free-agent market, he would have gotten a more lucrative contract and cited the interest of the Los Angeles Dodgers, led by new manager Joe Torre, and perhaps other teams.

"There are a few cynics who say, 'Well he really couldn't get this there,'" Steinbrenner said. "Trust me, he would have gotten probably more. He is making a sacrifice to be a Yankee, there's no question. ... He showed what was really in his heart and what he really wanted."

Now that he's staying with the Yankees, will A-Rod get a Yankeeography on YES?

"Well, we'll see," Steinbrenner said, chuckling.

awww ... hank's a big softy after all, just like his old man ...

3 ummm, citing dayn perry to back up your argument won't cut much bait around here ... and nice tautological argument too, the team didn't win the world series, therefore the team couldn't win the world series ... ummm, ok

6 im not citing dayn perry, im just making sure that no one accuses me of ripping off an idea that i had on my own. good answer to my question man, keep up the good work.

in any case, the offense isn't the issue, as you deduced ... not signing a-rod would have been a real problem ... now, if anything, we have a better offense than last year ... and quite frankly, i think we will have better pitching ... if, that is, pettite returns .. as for the bullpen ... i want to see cashman go after ron mahay to give us a decent lefty (and of course nail down mo's return) ... but i actually think we've got the raw materials for a very good pen next year ... we've got some really good arms that are in line to help next year ... we've still got question marks ... but the FA season has only been open for 2 weeks, there are parts out there that will help ...

3 Last year the season started with the likes of Carl Pavano and Kei Igawa in the rotation. I'll take inexperience over that any day.

"He's like the kid you knew when you were growing up, where'd you's say, "Mattingly hit .340 last year," and he'd go, "No, he hit .343.""

Ha ha hahah a!

I was exactly that kid. I was such a stat-head in my youth, I could have told you probably the precise averages of about half the league or more in any given year.

All that strat-o-matic, microleague, etc.

I meant no finkitude by it, though, just wanted the record straight. :)

In any event, I made my peace with Alex during last season, so I'm happy to have him back.

I love every aspect of his game except the fact that he really does seem to dread the Big Spot. But he really does hustle, really wants to win, plays his ass off, plays a mean, but mean fucking third-base and has uncanny instincts running around the bags.

Yeah, yeah, he hits the ball a long way too.

This certainly improves our chances to be competitive next season, eh?

Happy trails to the fat kid; I'm so glad we didn't have to go down that past. Better to stick with the monster you know.

Oh, and a word of advice to Alex: DON'T FORGET ABOUT YOUR HEADPHONES!

0 even more will get over it and learn to love the bomb

Great reference, Alex. (Even though the nitpicker in me says it should be "stop worrying..."

Oh, great, there's Weeping going, "No, it was .343," and now JL25and3 chimes in with "No, it should be 'stop worrying...'"

The jernt is lousy with A-Rods!

Damn.
I don't love the guy. But it sure did suck when we figured we'd just lost the best player in baseball and how the f* were we going to replace him?
Whew.

The analogy has been made before, I'll make it again -- it seems even more apt now that he's likely to finish his career in NY:

Ted Williams: Boston
Alex Rodriguez: New York

Both the most talented players of their time, both reviled by the press in their home town. I bet Arod's legacy in NYC will be as golden as Williams', who became loved here in Boston after his retirement.

Let's hope it's true only for achievement at the plate, not for # of WS titles.

Wow, that SI article has juicy bits.
Imagine having John Mallory and Gerald Cardinale as your factotums!

13 Heh heh heh. :)

"Whew" indeed.

Actually, that's basically how I feel. Not joyous or psyched or anything, just relieved.

Big problem solved.

12 Detail-obsessed types with nothing better to do posting on the web? That's unpossible!

Nevertheless, you got me.

Now, if we could just convince Derek to switch places with him, for the good of the team.

Come on, Captain, do the right thing.

Lol. I have to change that..."Stop worrying..." It's not so much that A rod would correct you, it'd be the way he sounded doing it.

Anyone that doesn't want A-Rod the talent back is insane.

I can understand be weary about the personality, but just root for the front of the uniform.

11 Ha - we'll 'stop worrying'

15 Yeah that's basically how I feel too. And agree with your assessment in 10 but would amend it slightly - to me he doesn't so much dread the big spot as it is another example where he is trying too hard (to be the "hero", to be liked, to be the best). It's cliche, but people's best characteristics are also their worst - Arod tries too hard - that's why he's one of the best baseball players of his generation, but it also leads to a lot of his problems.

14 Yeah, I wish Goldman Sachs would broker something for me - but I liked the story yesterday on Yahoo that said it was the Modell's guy better.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to listen to all the RSN callers to sports talk radio announce with perfect sincerity and self-deception that actually, they're glad the Red Sox didn't get A-Rod. I'll be grinning ear to ear.

Maybe Boston could grab Nicky Punto. That would be awesome.

You know what you are, Alex? You're like a big bear, with... claws, and, and fangs... and big fuckin teeth on ya! And the Yankees are like this little bunny, they're just kinda cowering in the corner... just kinda... you know.... you got these... CLAWS, man, and you're staring at these claws and thinking to yourself, and with these claws you're thinking: "How am I supposed kill this bunny? How am I supposed to kill this bunny?"

And you're pokin at it, and pokin at it, but you're not hurting it. You're just kinda, batting around the bunny, ya know? And the Bunny's scared, Alex, scared of you, shivering, cause of the claws and the fangs.

You've got these fucking claws and fucking fangs, man! And you're looking at your claws and you're looking at your fangs and and you're thinking to yourself, you don't know what to do! "I don't know how to kill the bunny!" With this you don't know how to kill the bunny! You know, man?

You're like a bear, Alex.

You're not fucking with me, mehmattski?

Agree 100% on A-Rod Alex. He's not the most likeable guy, mainly because he comes off as a phony. But, as I posted at COH, any of the great players (Yankees) in history, with their personal peccadilloes, would have found themselves in the media circus in exactly the same volume that A-Rod does today had they played in the climate of journalism that permeates the tabloid/ESPN world that is 2007. Dimaggio for his combative and protectionist personality. Ruth for his syphilis, drinking, binge-eating life of excess. Mantle for his alcoholism.

A-Rod will look much better in his later days, as he starts to fade into the night. People will get some perspective on the player, and forget the flaws of the man. It's part of the great Yankee tradition of flawed and interesting characters who have done great things in our uniform. I'm ready to embrace him and watch him win 2-3 more MVP awards in pinstripes....and hopefully multiple titles.

20 When you call it 'brokering' it doesn't sound quite so cool. I was thinking of them as running errands. Jogging up and down stairs, taking the subway across town bringing messages, A-Rod sitting on a chaise lounge with his shades on, not looking up as Mallory, huffing and puffing, blurts out the latest move from Hank Stein.

I'm glad A Rod's back. He's an exciting player and he should stay in pinstripes. Having said that, the amount of money the NY Yankees are dishing out to several players, not just A Rod, is obscene. When does baseball step in and get this under control??

23 I don't want you to be the guy in the PG-13 movie, the guy everyone's really hoping makes it happen....

PS........Goldman Sachs being involved really puts things in a different perspective. Even if they just mediated.

I think with his future in NY secure for 10 years, the stability for her wife and daughter, ARod will relax more and will be fearsome. This really closes a chapter for him. Just think, he was negotiating for more money IF HE BREAKS THE ALL TIME HR RECORD!

HA!

Stay Healthy Alex, and keep your yap quiet if you can. Let your wife's t-shirts do the talking while you begin your quest for 600, and more importantly your first WS trophy. I was glad to learn through this big mess about A-Rod's web site. Now I know I can e-mail him to see if he's interested in helping me out with my debt. HA.

30 Interesting note: I have absolutely zero recollection of Bonds 600th homerun. None. I don't remember the chase to it, I don't remember the hit itself, the pitcher, the ballpark, anything. It all runs together for me.

Maybe there is something to doing it naturally and letting it them come at a normal pace.

31 The normal pace precedent being set by three guys who you never saw play?

25 Oh - by brokering I meant all that too. The best part was probably when Mallory ran up the stairs of the train to Hank's fancy apartment and had to bum a smoke off him.

32 Or Barry's career up until a certain point.

I wonder if Bonds will see A-Rod's 600th homer in a Federal Pen, a nice cushy resort prison, or simply skate. Who needs soap opera? Things since the midge game have been ludicrous.

I don't know whether to be ecstatic or ludicrous...

24 I suspect the press back then would think there was something wrong with him for NOT having something wrong with him, compared to the others anyway.

35 Jinx! And a special shout-out to extra sensory perception!!

The worst part of this is that I thought I would never have to hear "An A-bomb by A-Rod" again.

I wanted Alex to move on to another team, but I always liked the guy. I think that some Yankee fans are terribly annoying and am surprised he wants to deal with them.

If I was the Yanks, I would offer 10/253. Is somebody going to top that?

20 Agreed. I think that's a better way to put it. He certainly doesn't shrink or become passive, you're right. Rather, he does indeed try too hard.

22 ha ha hah aha ha hah a!!

Nice.

38 Speaking of which, has anyone called Suzyn for reaction?

"ALEX RODRIGUEZ, A-ROD, IS NOW A YANKEE!!!!!! THE YANKEES DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT WHO'S GONNA PLAY THIRD BASE NEXT YEAR!!!! OH MY GOD, I JUST MIGHT EXPLODE RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW WITH THE ECSTASY OF IT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

20 Maybe what I should have said was that I dread Alex in a big spot.

:)

The ARod news is great, but I'm also very glad that it's now even more unlikely that the Yankees sign Bonds*. I think Bonds* would be the only player I simply could not root for, even if he was in a Yankee uniform.

43 How did you do asterisks* without everything coming up bold?

I've never wavered from thinking A-Rod is both one of the greatest players ever AND a great person. The NY fans including many on this board are something else entirely. It took about three seconds to go from tepid acceptance of A-Rod to absurd hate and trashing by many. After the Torre firing fiasco and the continued asinine comments from the basically "A-Rod is dead to me" current bunch of clueless and downright nasty management, someone seems to finally gave them the clue that the penalty for not winning the WS, something these days that involves a massive amount of luck, shouldn't involve imploding the team and risking the massive money machine they have with the Yankees. And as far as Boras is concerned I fail to see how he's a loser. Whether A-Rod did some of this on his own or not doesn't the agent's contract give the same percentage to Boras? In fact I couldn't completely dismiss if this whole thing with A-Rod approaching the Yankees without Boras wasn't planned by Boras working with A-Rod. They got everything if this goes through. $275M is probably about as high you can do these days, with A-Rod approaching the Yankees he looks like someone who is anxious to play on the team regardless of the dollar amount, and any bad taste about the WS announcement timing will probably be forgotten by the time the ink is dry on a new contract.

For me, I don't have to think about following some miserable Dodger's game where I hate the lack of a designated hitter and I can remain a content Yankee's fan with enthusiasm.

45 I don't believe (and I don't think I ever did, but I could be wrong) fans had anything to do with anything A-Rod did or has done. Fans are fans, no matter who they are or where they're from. Fans' emotions run very high for certain things (look at football in the midwest) and though some know better than most, I've learned to give most fans a pass as I've realized that we are not part of any process of contract negotiations.

I'm fairly certain many Texas Ranger fans were gasping for breath when Tom Hicks signed A-Rod to that idiotic-for-its-time contract, but what could they do? What should they do, it's not their money anyway. Fans can only react, and that's the same here. Let it pass, because when the countdown reaches zero and Opening Day is here, A-Rod's at third, 50k+ fans are sitting in the stands at Yankee Stadium and we're following the game thread as usual.

I don't particularly care at this point who did what in this whole asinine dance-a-thon, as long as they all start sipping some STFU and focus on next season and the seasons after that. Who won? The sports pages, that's who. The rich get richer across the board and I'm getting up for work early tomorrow morning. I could care less about all this, but that would require some nominal effort on my part, so instead I'll take a sip and go to bed. G'nite!

32 Hey, speak for yourself. I saw two of them play (though not all that often - wrong league).

18 Phew. Thanks for giving me an out, Alex.

47 I was speaking for myself. I'm a fan of the steroid generation and I plan on being just as crumudgeony about it in fifty years as elder fans are today about baseball in the 1950s.

Has anyone considered whether A-rod just didn't want to play for Torre, who humiliated him in the playoffs last year?

50 :::gasp!:::

No.

I just read the Bonds indictment. It looks like the guy is cooked. Reading between the lines (and reading the underlined lines) I think the government probably has a clear case for perjury.

I think the dude might be going to jail. That might void his record. That means A-Rod would only have to break Hank Aaron's record to be the home run king.

What a weird turn of events for baseball today.

Fuh-reaky!

I don't think it will void his record, Rose went to jail (plus a prison without bars!) and he's still the "hit king" or whatever:)

50 He opted out of the contract a week after Torre left the team.

So no. Not at all.

And what about the shameless timing of A-rod's return to the Yankees? Don't you think he should have let this moment belong to Barry Bonds?

So many lovable characters in this story: ARod, Randy Levine, Scott Boras, Goldman Sachs.

I don't know if this made it into "Damn Yankees," but in "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant" the Devil's plan for the baseball Faust was that after he won a World Series for his beloved Senators he would be immediately traded to the Yankees, and then be condemned to win championship after championship for his hated rivals. If you believed the theory that Rodriguez was some sort of a jinx, then you could see this chain of events as a bizarre reversal of that tale -- A-Rod's failure to deliver in the clutch costs the Yankees championship after championship for years to come. Boras as the Devil would of course be type casting.