Yanks to A-Rod: You’ve got a bright future ahead of you son. We want it to be in pinstripes.

July 11, 2007 by Mike Axisa 22 Comments

The Yankees have changed their traditional stance and are now willing to negotiate during the season with their star third baseman on a contract extension, MLB sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.

The key sticking point for the Yankees in the prospective negotiations is that Rodriguez agree not to opt out of his current contract after this season and agree to add any extension to the current contract, which expires after the 2010 season.

So lemme get this straight . . . A-Rod gets in-season contract talks, but these two guys don’t? Wow, how times have changed in Da Bronx.

The guess here is that he ends up inking a monster extension, like a 6-yr/$200M kind of monster.

Update by Ben: I wanted to make a few points here. I doubt the Yanks have said nothing about this to Rivera or Posada. Those two will re-sign with the Yanks too.

As for A-Rod, I’m thinking more along the lines of five years at $150 million or six years at $180 mil. Now, while I know many people expect A-Rod to head west, the truth is that the Angels and Giants just can’t afford that kind of deal. $30 million would be a whopping one-third of the Giants total payroll or slightly less than 30 percent of the Angels’ total payroll. I just don’t see that happening.

My guess, as like Mike, is that A-Rod negotiates with the Yanks, stays and wins one or two rings in the Bronx as Hughes and Chamberlain join a rotation with Wang. A new ballpark will see the Yanks’ finances improve even more, and they can afford this move.

dan

if arod agrees to not opt out of the contract (as a part of the terms of in-season negotiations), then he loses all leverage. the yankees open negotiations, arod drops the opt-out clause, and the yankees politely low-ball him and say that they “cant agree to terms” and arod stays for the next 3 years. thats what this says, doesnt it “The key sticking point for the Yankees in the prospective negotiations is that Rodriguez agree not to opt out of his current contract after this season.” now they wouldnt want to offer him peanuts and piss him off, but they could offer him a low offer which isnt low enough to insult him.
http://riveraveblues.com Mike A.

My thinking is that they want him to agree to the extension and not opt out because if he does opt out, they loose the $7M per year from Texas (well that and the whole lack of leverage thing). Cash is just looking to save as much money as possible on the deal, because this one’s gonna make the piggy bank cry.
http://jeteupthemiddle.blogspot.com Jeteupthemiddle

I don’t think the Yankees will give him a new contract like $150/5.

I think the Yankees will give him an additional 4 or 5 to tack on at the end of his current contract.

It is the only way that the Yankees continue paying him roughly the same as they pay him now (overall). They need to get the money from the Rangers.
Luddy Bazcej

5 or 6 year extension takes him to age 40 right? Wonder if the last year or two of that deal will be worth $30 mil or more. He’ll probably be DH’ing or at the best playing first. Sounds very Giambi-esque. I hope we dont wind up regretting something like that again.

But on the other hand, A-Rod should be putting up big numbers until his early latter 30’s, and the Yanks will be getting a year free on Texas. So how do you not do an extension deal?
Zack

I just don’t know how much faith I put into this article. Its one of those “untold sources” reporting to Buster Olney, who has been so-so on these types of things. It seems like a whole lot of nothing to me. I would be very surprised to see anything happen in season, and its funny to me that the articles pose it as the Yankees “changing their mind,” when in reality they have pretty much said nothing save those first few Cashman quotes back in March or so..oh well…

I still believe, as Ben said, that A-Rod ain’t going anywhere. Hes already made the mistake once of choosing the crappier team for more money, and I truly believe he wants to stay and win in NY…
Thomas

Adding 4 years @ 30 million per year to the end of his current contract is a good idea. Total of 7 more years with Yankees. Therefore you keep the Rangers money in place and you have him until he’s 38. Heck, I would also give him, in the last three years, the same wording as he has now. This would keep him a Yankee at least 4 more years, then if he wants to move on he can.
mg

I just hope this happens. This team needs A-Rod.
Yankee1010

To be fair, SI.com (Heyman) had this news up earlier than ESPN.com did. ESPN.com just acted like it broke the story. Surprise.
Pettitte’s stare

While I love having a-rod (the man is a beast) I don’t think it is in the best interest of the Yankees if they have to go $30 million a year. We have seen players regress and while he has been great this year we saw what happened to him when he bulked up last year and could no longer get to the inside pitch well. Is this a new A-Rod or he becoming like many contract players and putting up monster numbers in that year? Everyone put up an uproar when Soriano recieved $17 million this year and Zito recieved $18 million. While A-rod is head and shoulders above them in my opinion adding another $12 a year is just stupid. Yes I realize his salary is currently $25 million and you can argue inflation, but teams have learned from the 2000 and 2001 signing of $100 million dollar men. The yankees will be bidding against themselves if they go up to $30 million. Anaheim, San Fran, San Diego, Chicago, are not going to offer any player $30 million.
http://jeteupthemiddle.blogspot.com Jeteupthemiddle

I could see a deal being done that satisfies both sides with out $30M exchanging hands.

If the Yankees give him $18M for 6 years following the 2010 season, that amounts to $106M.

That is on top of the $81M he already gets from his current contract.

It is the equivalent to a 9 year $187M deal…that ultimately only costs the Yankees an additional $2M per year for the additional years (the Yankees only pay him $16M per year right now).

I can’t fathom another team offering him that much money.

Of course, if he doesn’t want to play in New York, then it doesn’t matter what the Yankees offer.
Usty

A-Rod is not Jason Giambi, he is not Johnny Damon. I’d think with him, yeah those last two years might not be the same, but look at a guy like Cal Ripken who played pretty well until he was 38 or so, with his last 2 years being worse off. A-Rod is a once in a lifetime player. I say keep him in pinstripes until he retires. Hell, they’re going to raise our ticket prices every year anyway, might as well be for the best player in baseball.
Rich

Pettitte’s stare must be right that Arod’s having a good year because it’s his “contract year.”

SHEESH. I guess his previous MVP seasons were imaginary numbers, huh?

If you don’t want to pay him that’s fine but do you really think he’s having a great year because he can opt out? It’s not like this is his first good year he’s ever had.
Patrick

If A-Rod does opt out, I can only imagine what the boos will be like next year when he comes to the Bronx for the All-Star game. Also, if A-Rod leaves, will he shift back over to shortstop or does he stay at third?
Pettitte’s stare

Rich, I’m not saying that this is his first MVP type year, but his numbers are even more outstanding this year. He is above his career numbers in almost every category. And my main point was does anyone really want to pay $30 million for a player that up until this year everyone was saying was not capable of handeling New York. Yes, this one year is great, yes, he was a good player before this year, can he be great for a few more years, yes, but $30 million just seems outragous to me.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Patrick – I was thinking about that myself earlier. If he leaves then comes back as an All-Star next year, forget it, the boos will be beyond deafening.
Malcard89

Jeteupthemiddle’s calculations sound about right. What team can afford to pay A-rod, even with these insane numbers, anything above $25,000,000 per year? Plus i dont think A-rod wants to opt out, he couldve asked for a trade after the 2006 playoffs to escape new york if it was really that tough to put up with, and he doesnt want to end up with another bad team like the rangers. those 2 things add up to him staying till the end of his career and hitting his 800th homerun with us *crosses fingers*.
Patrick

What if the Yanks could pull off a trade for Miguel Cabrera at the end of the year? I know he’s not A-Rod, but still, parting with a prospect or two for Miggy would save the Yanks some $$$, letting them to spend it elsewhere. I’m all for A-Rod staying, but $30M pains me. However, we all know the Boss is a numbers guy. Love when Clemens got his 300th and 350th. Also, who thinks Roger is also going to play next year? No doubt in my mind. Hell, I think he’ll keep playing until the new Stadium opens up and every year, for the next two or three, a new prospect will swap out with an old guy. Next year, adios Moose, hello Ian. Year after that…Adios Roger/Andy, hello Joba.
Patrick

Of course, late night breaks from late night bar review for the NY Bar Exam will lead to posts at 1:19 am. Whoops!
Barry

Hate it or love it, A-Rod is gonna be hitting A-Bombs in pinstripes probably until the end of his career. Personally I like an A-Rod extension, hes a competitor and his only downside, the postseason, unfortunately won’t be an issue this year, well probably wont be but hopefully they do make it. It’s a little bewildering that A-Rod has an awesome year on the same year that everyone else in the line up except for Jeter and Posada are having sub-par years. We’ll see how it all works out but as far as I am concerned it would be a reassurance to have A-Rod stick around, plus, maybe he’ll bring some records back to the bronx.(I’m thinking that A-Rod breaks whatever record Bond’s sets by the time hes 38-40 years old.)
Tarheel

While I think that he will be back in NY, think about this. He goes to another AL team and switches back to SS. Then he beats out Jeter for the All-Star team at SS. Think of the boos at the stadium. Hell, they would probably have to bring in the Secret Service to protect him.

On another topic, who cares how much of George’s money is spent. It is not like he is going to scale back when it comes to signing other players. He has shown that many times. It is like play money to the Yankees. Let them give Arod $40 million if that is what it takes to keep him.
Thomas

I don’t think that A-Rod would go backwards as “jeterupthemiddle” suggests. He is making 27 million now, why would he sign for 18 million in 2010? Jeter will be making 22 million by 2010, which is great money for a non-homerun hitter. Sluggers usually make much more.
Barry

Sluggers make more but Jeter is tried and true postseason gold.In 24 series jeter is bating .314 with 17 homers. So in the end I would still pay jeter more