“It appears at this point that he wants to be a Yankee.” Steinbrenner told Newsday in a cell phone conversation this afternoon.

Despite so vigorously stating they would not negotiate with A-Rod after he opted out, the Yankees are entertaining this surprising new development because Rodriguez is willing to take sacrifices.

“The reason we didn’t entertain it in the first place is because of the opt out and the loss of the Rangers money and so forth,” Steinbrenner said. “But at this point it appears he’s willing to make sacrifices to be a Yankee. Basically that’s it in a nutshell.”

too bad there wasnt some period of time built-in right after the season in which to share those thoughts

Scott Boras is a genius. Pure genius.

will the BoSox win again in 2008?

Unless everybody is being sarcastic, I just can't see anyway Boras did not screw up.

The Yankees initial offer was 5/150 extension or 8/231, provided you trust the papers. If Boras had negotiated, I can easily see a deal for two years longer and more than the 275 A-Rod is apparently going to get.

And he could get that without the bad feelings and bad press A-Rod incurred from all the World Series announcement fiasco. Say what you want, the general impression is that A-Rod had to circumvent Boras to get the Yankee money. Where is the genius?

You can argue that Boras doesn't care about public perception however you want. How does this episode raise his profile in the eyes of his clients?

Where is the genius?

Michael Weiner, general counsel for the Players Association, told Newsday's Ken Davidoff, “the union has been assured that the Yankees will respect Alex’s decision to designate Scott Boras as his representative.”

You can argue that Boras doesn't care about public perception however you want. How does this episode raise his profile in the eyes of his clients?

Let me count the 275 million ways.

That's what the MLBPA was supposed to be about--a player being the master of his destiny.

Assuming he screwed up to begin with (which it appears likely that he did, but none of us really knows), his genius is apparent in the subsequent damage control,

I'd be amazed if politicians haven't asked for his advice after screwing the pooch

Arguing against Boras fanboys is like arguing with the ignorant subset of Yankees fans. So A-Rod is going to get his 275 million. Maybe he gets that without Boras because he is a very very good player? Isn't he actually getting that without Boras' legendary negotiating skills? It's like saying "count da ringz" in response to "Jeter is not a good defender."

I think we have to see the deal before we can say the Yanks materially changed their position. If A-Rod is now saying I'll take your original offer minus the now gone Texas money, the Yanks haven't changed their position, A-Rod has changed his.

Boras makes good deals, he's also capable of misreading the market or strategic pratfalls. I don't see why it's difficult to see that.

You sacrifice by taking a huge salary most other union members can't even dream of?

Schilling is the archetypical union rep and he trashed out a clearly non-optimal deal, so I don't really think this is perceived as a problem by the union.

I'm not really sure what your point is, but in this case, you sacrifice by making sure that owners cannot blackmail players to dump their agents. It might be in ARod's interest to negotiate with the Yankees without Boras present, but it is not in the interest of the union for owners to be able to blackmail players to negotiate without agents.

No, that's not what the MLBPA is, or is supposed to be about. It's about getting the best deal for all the players. The MLBPA is not for players to undercut their brethren, even if it's what the player wants. They can go for what they want, but only when it's not going to hurt other union members. That's the whole point of working together in a union - you sacrifice a bit in order to get hte best for everyone

The public perception certainly is A-Rod tossing Boras overboard.

Well said MCoA, but I'm pretty sure Srul's tongue was firmly in his cheek when he wrote that.

Maybe I'm missing a joke somewhere in here, but you were the one who said that the union was about ARod being the master of his destiny, and I disagreed with you. Maybe I'm just confused. Apparently now we agree? Cool.

Man, did Boras take this guy's milk money. A-rod is getting a better salary, extended out over a longer period, and they lose the Ranger's money to boot. If I were a yankee fan right now, I'd be running the hot water in the bathtub and rummaging in the kitchenfor the sharpest carving knife. The new Tweedledee/Tweedledum Steinbrenner spawn front office are going to be ####### things up for decades to come.

When someone says "Boras is a great agent", exactly what evidence do you point to in order to disprove the claim?

His record in arbitration.

Boras is a historically great agent in the same way Jeter is a great shortstop. But the press they get made them out to be superhuman or magical or what have you. They are human and they make mistakes. Boras makes good deals, he's also capable of misreading the market or strategic pratfalls. I don't see why it's difficult to see that.

As a Yankee fan, I'd be really upset if this comes to pass. No way is A-Rod going to worth this amount of money.

If I were a yankee fan right now, I'd be running the hot water in the bathtub and rummaging in the kitchen for the sharpest carving knife.

Okay, do that. What's his record in arbitration? How do his players do, compared to those represented by other agents? (% raise is really what you want to look at; W-L isn't the best metric, because if an agent can bluff the team into making an overly-high submission, a "loss" can still be a win.)

I wasn't in this thread when there were all the jokes about whether the Yankees could refuse to negotiate with Boras

So basically Boras has been reduced to a ceremonial role. I'll only believe that A-Rod's change of heart is due to Boras' carefully manipulated moves if he ends up with more money than the reported amount that the Yank were set to offer before he opted out.

Ha, Nieporent. Let's see how that 27.5 mil per looks when A-rod is a 38 yr. old DH.

If this had been true the last 12 months, then Matsusaka would not be wearing a baseball hat with a big red and blue "B" on it.

And make no mistake, $300 million is now the minimum Boras can accept for A-Rod in order to justify his client opting out of his Yankee contract. That's because the offer the Yankees were prevented by Boras from making to A-Rod would have totaled almost $300 million:

On top of the $91 million owed to A-Rod in the final years of his existing contract (salaries, through elevator kick-ins, of $32, $32 and $27 million), the Yankees were prepared to initially offer a five-year extension at $29 million a year for a total of $236 million. Knowing that Boras was going to demand the contract extend for 10 years, they were then prepared to go an extra two years for $58 million more, especially because, with the DH, they could afford Rodriguez a place in the lineup to chase the home run record.

The Yankees were originally hoping to hold the annual average value of the deal to $28 million, but as it was revealed last week, under the terms of A-Rod's contract he was entitled to $9 million of the $30 million subsidy the Texas Rangers were giving the Yankees - money the Rangers are still on the hook for. Thus, the total package A-Rod never was allowed to be offered - but nonetheless walked away from - came to $294 million.

Whatever, as long as he signs, I don't care who got the better of who.

We do know that A-rod blinked.

(Now, per IE's reading, you can dispute that what's been reported is true. But that's all we've got, and it in no way indicates that ARod blinked, but rather that the Yankees did.)

No, the only thing we know is that the Yankees blinked.

I think the Yankees are absolutely doing the right thing in negotiating with ARod, and I think Yankee fans should be happy about it.

I'm just enjoying this because of all the people defending the Yankees "good-bye" stance when ARod left, which I said was stupid, and which I said they'd surely not keep up.