Monday, November 3, 2008

Will A-Rod Get Traded Before his Contract Expires?

In light of there being no real news in Yankeedom, I decided to bring up the question of whether A-Rod will actually finish his 10 year contract with the Yankees or not. There was an article that came out last season saying that A-Rod would not finish his contract with the Yankees since the fans never really supported him. Getting booed all the time would get old really fast, and when he's not hitting 50 homeruns, the fans will do just that.

Last season, Hank Steinbrenner made an ultimatum saying that if A-Rod opted out of his contract the Yankees would not negotiate with him. They wanted to negotiate an extension with A-Rod that would keep the subsidy they were receiving from the Rangers for taking his previous ridiculous contract. Then A-Rod opted out, and the Yankees said they wouldn't negotiate with him. A-Rod then went back to the Yankees to negotiate a new contract behind Boras' back. The crazy thing about it all is that the Yankees gave him a contract that with incentives would be worth more than $300 million over the next 10 years. Never mind that he cost them the Texas subsidy or that they said they would not negotiate with him, they still gave him a bigger contract than what they probably would have offered had he not opted out. Why bring this up? Because now A-Rod is getting booed again. He's fallen out of the good graces of New York fans. Now, A-Rod has an immovable contract, and may see his happiness in New York come to an end. If that happens and he wants out, the only way a team will take him is if New York subsidizes his contract and history repeats itself. I Suppose if we did pick up part of his contract and traded him we could land some good talent. Probably a major league ready third baseman, a starting pitcher, a set up guy, and a couple prospects.

Either way, the question is do you think A-Rod will finish this contract in New York? Will the fans learn to accept him? Will he be able to deal with the fans if they don't accept him?

7 comments:

Bucky7588 said...

I remember reading that article and thought it was absurd. His contract is too big, even with subsidies. Plus, I think he really does want to be a Yankee. If he's as selfish and in love with himself as everyone says he is (though I'm not convinced), he's going to want his name next to the Babe's in monument park. He'll stay a yankee.

Anonymous said...

I agree, Bucky. A-Rod's not going anywhere. He'll have a great 2009 and everybody will cheer him again. Mostly though, I think the fans' reaction will have more to do with the postseason. If the Yankees win a championship or two (or three, who's counting), the focus will be off him.

Fernando Alejandro said...

I agree. He needs to carry a hot bat into the playoffs and most importantly into the world series to get the most critical fans off of him. I think it would be hard to move him, but there are teams that would shell out the dough if the Yankees picked up a part of the contract. The thing that gets me about his contract is that Boras told the Yankees when they were trying to work out an extension that it needed to be $300 million. When the Yankees didn't go through with that, he opted out. Then the Yankees ended up negotiating with him again and gave him a $300 million contract. It was a stupid process on both A-Rod and the Yankees.

Anonymous said...

If Alex the Great learns to hit in clutch situations like Manny, Yankees fans will beg him to stay in New Nork on their knees.
BTW, whom will Alex date once Madonna dumps him?
Gov. Palin or Tina Fay?

TribeGirl said...

Oh man....I check in and get posts on A-Rod and Manny to comment on?!?!? This is like Christmas!!! First of all, to quote Jon Stewart, "no disrespect" but you guys know how I feel - when it comes to A-Rod, Yankee fans are morons! That guy is the complete athlete, one of the best of all time, CLEAN (drug-free), and in his "off years" still has phenomenal numbers that still put him in the top five for MVP consideration. He can hit like nobody else, except an elite few, to include Manny. His fielding is exceptional - sorry, better shortstop than the beloved Captain, and I don't think the players across the league hate him as much as regular folks like to think so. The media reports some crap, and that's what it is. I never talk about it, but I know two players on the Tribe, both starters and both huge stars in Cleveland - what they say is basically if the media likes you, you're in. But if they don't, forget it. It doesn't matter if the other players like you. And the other players like Alex. So that's my rant on Yankee "fans" booing him. Freakin' morons. If that makes him want a trade or makes the Yankees eventually want to trade him, so be it. The Yankees don't deserve him then. I don't see him declining hard anytime soon. He takes care of himself and is a pristine athlete with alot of power and works year round. He's getting paid to play baseball, and he does it better than anyone else. The NY fans need to wake up and realize that and quit focusing on things that don't matter in the win/loss columns! For example, the whole Madonna thing grosses me out, but it has nothing to do with his baseball ability, and yet it's in the sports section??? Gimmie a break!

Not that you guys were booing A-Rod, but that always comes up when talking about him getting traded eventually, so there's my weekly I heart A-Rod rant....Now, on to Manny!

Anonymous said...

This guy is dating a 50 years old pop star who is old enough to be his mom.
And he just can't hit when the fans need him to hit.
That makes it legal for Yankees fans to boo him anytime anywhere they want.

Fernando Alejandro said...

Yeah, I understand why fans boo him, I just don't do it myself. The media has turned on him, but he also doesn't help himself much with this Madonna crap and last season when he palled around with a stripper thus beginning rumors that he himself was a stripper.