That certainly seems to be the speculation among the New York sports media today.
First, Peter Abraham reports this:
ESPN isn’t waiting for the end of the season to start the A-Rod speculation. They’re looking all of his possibilities starting with New York.
SportsCenter asked me to come on and talk about it tonight. I said I thought the Yankees had too much at stake with a new stadium and YES to let him go.
Meanwhile, Brian Cashman said again today that if Alex opts out of his deal, the Yankees wold not pursue him. He was adamant about that. The only way Alex stays is to play under his current deal or accept an extension.
And, on that note, the New York Times is reporting that Rodguiez’s agent, Scott Boras, is recommending that he exercise the opt-out clause in his contract:
A clubhouse attendant packed the belongings from Alex Rodriguez’s locker into cardboard boxes yesterday, in what may have been a sign that Rodriguez did not plan to visit Yankee Stadium anytime soon. He may never return as a member of the Yankees because he seems sure to exercise the opt-out clause in his contract.
While the agent Scott Boras did not specifically say that Rodriguez, the Yankees’ third baseman, would opt out with three years left on his landmark 10-year, $252 million contract, he strongly suggested that becoming a free agent again would be his client’s savviest choice.
“When the arbitrator gave free agency to baseball, is there anyone in baseball who the free-agent right meant more to than Alex Rodriguez?” Boras said yesterday. “Not with his last contract, but right now, now more than any point in history.”
Since Boras feels that Rodriguez’s looming free agency is more valuable than any other player’s, he will undoubtedly recommend that Rodriguez, 32, forgo the potential $91 million left on his deal. Boras would not estimate what Rodriguez could make on the open market, but it is believed that Boras could seek a 10-year contract for $300 million for his client.
The Yankees have the exclusive rights to negotiate with Rodriguez until 10 days after the World Series, but Boras’s remarks make it appear improbable that there will be substantive discussions. If Rodriguez opts out, the Rangers, who owe about $21 million as part of the trade that sent him to New York in 2004, would pay him nothing. The Yankees have said that if Rodriguez chooses to become a free agent, they would pass on trying to retain him.
“If he opts out, we’d be out then,” General Manager Brian Cashman said. “That would be my strong recommendation.”
Cashman said that the Yankees’ stance could change because there would be “more people involved in the process.” He could have been referring to George Steinbrenner, the team’s principal owner, who recently told The Record of Hackensack, N.J., that he wanted to keep Rodriguez. Still, if Rodriguez opts out, Yankees officials have said they think he will sign elsewhere and do not want to partake in talks to increase his price tag.
“I just think, you have a chance to retain the player prior to that date, and to do it after that doesn’t make as much sense,” Cashman said. “It becomes a different economic animal.”
Of course, all of this could be, and probably is, merely the public part of negotiations between Rodriguez and the Yankees that have only just begun. In the end, if the Yankees want to keep A-Rod, they’ll find the money to do it.
