. . . And Some Guy Named Alex Did Something, Too

First, he upstaged the World Series by (his agent) announcing that he was going to test the free agency waters.

Well, I guess he tested the water and got a chill. Now, he has attempted to upstage another major event - the indictment of Barry Bonds. Although Bonds' indictment is not technically an MLB sanctioned event (or is it?), I am willing to bet that there will be more attention paid to this in one day than there was to all of the World Series games put together.

Back to Alex Rodriguez, whose legal name is A-Rod (not true, but it should be). He and the New York Yankees have "outlined" a deal (read: verbal but not inked) that would give him nearly $280 million over the next ten years. With an incentive to beat Bonds' home run record (or should we start calling it Hank Aaron's again?), A-Rod could get more than $300 million. Some are baffled by this turn of events, but I say that it boils down to money.

Money for A-Rod because the Yankees are one of the only teams with the cash to pay him, and the Yankees uniform brings with it tons of air time, endorsements, ladies, and all that other stuff that you think it means.

For the Yankees, they will make well over $280 million off of this guy in a Yankees uniform, so to them, they get off pretty "cheap." Now, this last statement makes sense only based on the return on investment that A-Rod brings to the Yanks . . . but ONLY from that perspective because in real people terms, that money is RIDICULOUS.

But I digress.

Well, I'm glad that this could work this out amicably. But while A-Rod may eventually beat Bonds or Aaron's home run record, he will not touch the onslaught of the Bonds/BALCO press coverage. I'm tired of writers calling everyting "-gate" (from Watergate scandal, fyi) - Spygate, Coltgate, Bengate. OK, I made that last one up, although that is a village in England. I'm calling this saga BALCO Crest, like the nighttime TV soap opera, Falcon Crest. If you see anyone else using it, remember that you heard it here first.

So A-Rod's looking at second-billing in the sports world for a little while now. Unless, perhaps, he has some secrets of his own . . .

No Deal

While you were enjoying the day before the most awesome day of the week, likely American League MVP Alex Rodriguez, better known as A-Rod to baseball fans (not necessarily of his), opted out of his $252 MILLION for 10 YEARS contract with the New York Yankees to test the waters of free agency. In doing so, he gives up the remaining $70+ million in guaranteed money. He must really want out.

Actually, so says his agent, he had to give the Yankees a deadline to let the Yankees know if he was going to stay or go, and he hadn't heard definitive answers from some of the other key members of the team as to whether they were staying or going. So he's going.

The Yankees were reportedly ready to offer him between $25 and $30 million per year. He had already set records with his original contract, and this would have topped that. $25 million to play a sport for about 5 months (6 months if you're a typical Yankees squad). That's $5 million per month of work, and that's so many more times my salary that it's not even funny.

The happiest people in this story are probably the Texas Rangers, who had been paying the Yankees $3 million a year since they traded him to the Yankees in 2001. It doesn't look like another team will match what he was making with the Yankees (it is the Yankees, after all). You mean he's willing to chance taking a pay cut to win a World Series? What a guy. If he would swap my monthly pay for one week of his "job," I'd think he was even more highly of him.

So now the media will spend as long as it takes him to decide figuring out where A-Rod's going next. That's because the Yankees have said prior that if he opted out, they weren't going to try for him. They haven't commented on this situation just yet. At least we are reasonably certain that he's actually leaving, which beats Kobe-watch any day in my book.

In other news, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series. What, you didn't see it?

End of the Yankees Dynasty. . . At Least For Today

NY Yankees' manager Joe Torre will not be returning for another year as manager for the team. When they tried to offer him less money than he was currently making, he said "Next!" and turned down their offer. Well, sort of less money. More like more hoops to jump through to get the same money he earned this year plus $500,000 more, tied to playoff success which he and his players had not been able to deliver in the past few seasons.

No word on where he's going, but it looks like he's attracting interest from several teams. And they're also indicating that the other players may not return if their contracts so allow. That means A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) could be testing the free agent waters, and might even be coming to a city near you.

Be afraid.


Either way, I'm sure the Yankees have enough money to buy themselves a better team in no time. I'm also sure that that day can't come soon enough for the TV execs faced with a Colorado Rockies-Cleveland Indians World Series. Since they may well be giving away advertising slots, maybe they'll let me run my own commercial -- advertising what, I haven't gotten that far yet. But it can't hurt to ask.

Bye Yankees. Bye Joe.

You may have noticed that I have not discussed the MLB playoffs on the blog. Well, since my favorite team isn't playing, I didn't have anything to say. But now the NY Yankees have changed all that.

I am elated to report that the NY Yankees did not make it out of the first round of the playoffs - again - bowing out to the Cleveland Indians in 4 games after a 6-4 loss tonight.

Teams in every sport try to buy championships, i.e., the NY Knicks (must be something about being near Wall Street), the L.A. Lakers, etc.). Sometimes it works, but when it doesn't, and you not only lose games but you're wasting money, too, your job is guaranteed to be on the line.

Enter Joe Torre. After the Yankees won on Sunday, but still down 1-2 in the series against the Indians, their owner, George Steinbrenner, had this to say about Torre:

"His job is on the line," Steinbrenner told the Bergen (N.J.) Record in Sunday's editions. "I think we're paying him a lot of money. He's the highest-paid manager in baseball, so I don't think we'd take him back if we don't win this series."

Apparently George likes to talk, and has threatened similar actions in the past, but sometimes enough is enough. Like Janet Jackson said, what have you done for them lately? My guess is that he's gone this time, because three straight years of losing in the first round of the playoffs is a charm. Don't let the door hurt you on the way out, Joe.