Yay draft picks!

Best Yankee-related news in a while.

The Dodgers will not be in play. Jansen, Guerra, and others are still on the team, and they'll probably just resign Brandon League before signing anyone else for a bullpen role.

Alfonso Rafeal Soriano is available.

please, Please, PLEASE!!!

14 ####### million? What a awful contract.

It doesn't make sense to opt out. He loses like $6 million the first year and he probably has another year with the Yankees to be a proven closer to get a big contract. What's he going to get this year? 3/24 at best?

This is just Boras angling for an extension with the Yankees. No way Soriano will opt out.

If Boras believes in the volatility of relief pitchers, 3/24 makes sense.

It doesn't make sense to opt out. He loses like $6 million the first year and he probably has another year with the Yankees to be a proven closer to get a big contract. What's he going to get this year? 3/24 at best?

Rivera's coming back. He probably fears another mediocre year as a set-up man

As a Ranger fan, I loved it when Arod opted out of his contract and removed the millstone from the Rangers franchise a couple of years early. I agree that this is just Boris trying to jerk the Yankees into an extension, though.

The move for Soriano is to opt out. GMs are crazy when it comes to closers right now.

As a Ranger fan, I loved it when Arod opted out of his contract and removed the millstone from the Rangers franchise a couple of years early. I agree that this is just Boris trying to jerk the Yankees into an extension, though.

The idea that ARod was a millstone is ludicrous. As I posted in the other thread, here are the breakdowns from 2001-2003 with respect to ARod vs. the rest of the Rangers in WAR and $$.

2001
ARod: 8 WAR, $22 million
Rest of team: 19 WAR, $90 million

2002
ARod: 9 WAR, $22 million
Rest of team: 20 WAR, $111 million

2003
ARod: 8 WAR, $22 million
Rest of team = 11 WAR, $102 million

Does that about fix it for you? The Rangers had between $90-110 million to spend on non-ARod players in those years, and spent it horribly. In 2003 they spent $31 million on a replacement-level pitching staff.

To look at the above and conclude that ARod's contract prevented them from building a team around him, or that ARod's contract was the problem, is to be seriously misguided.

If the Yankees extend him a qualifying offer, can he negotiate with other teams during those few days that he is allotted to accept/decline the Yankees' offer? If so, he might decline the $14m option, test the waters quickly, but then accept the qualifying offer if no better deals come along. Or would the Yankees not extend the qualifying offer in fears that he would accept it? Or am I mixing up how the process works?

re: #11, he was talking about the annual payments the Rangers were paying the Yankees as part of the Rodriguez trade and the opt-out that happened in 2007.

re: #11, he was talking about the annual payments the Rangers were paying the Yankees as part of the Rodriguez trade and the opt-out that happened in 2007.

In that case, what "millstone"? It was $21 million, spread over three years:

* On October 29, 2007, Rodriguez voided contract, eliminating the following 2008-10 financial obligations:
* NY: $50,695,500 (08:$15.884M, 09:$16.8985M, 10:$17.913M)
* Texas: $21,304,500 (08:$8.116M, 09:$7.1015M, 10:$6.087M)

Using 2010 as an example, the $6.1 million owed ARod is about what they paid Rich Harden for 92 bad innings.

Had a good laugh with my brother after the Yankees got eliminated, as we predicted the New York media would paint Soriano opting out as a massive setback for the Yankees. Just once I'd love to see this headline:

"WE ARE REACTIONARY FOOLS"

Paplebon got 12.5/ year last year and it seemed like an overpay. Team's are getting by without big name closers. I cannot imagine a team paying him more than $8 million/year and that is rich. Take the $14 million and you can get the difference later.

Well, I dunno, pouring 21 million dollars into the Harlem River may not be a big deal in the baseball world these days, but it's not, well, optimal.

But count me among those who don't particularly blame the AROD contract for any of the Rangers' 2000s troubles. He was the best player in the AL the whole time he was here, and you cannot blame AROD for the later success the Rangers had at doing things like trade Alfonso Soriano for Brad Wilkerson or Adrian Gonzalez for Adam Eaton. I am amazed at how quickly sanity struck the Texas front office once Nolan Ryan arrived; but maybe that was a coincidence.

Using 2010 as an example, the $6.1 million owed ARod is about what they paid Rich Harden for 92 bad innings.

The Rangers were able to reallocate $6,100,000 from a player that no longer plays for their team, to a player that did play for them. Even if they're morons in how they spent it, that's a good thing.

Your point about ARod's contract not being to blame for Texas' struggles during his tenure there (and, more broadly, a single contract not overly restricting the team) is well taken; but that's not really what #10 was talking about, and 'millstone' may be strong but makes sense when the player isn't even there anymore, regardless of how much it's dragging them down. Why not just say 'oops' and acknowledge that getting out of an old obligation to pay millions to someone who left years ago is better than keeping on paying those millions?

but that's not really what #10 was talking about, and 'millstone' makes much more sense when the player isn't even there anymore, regardless of how much it's dragging them down. Why not just say 'oops' and acknowledge that getting out of an old obligation to pay millions to someone who left years ago is better than keeping on paying those millions?

What I disagreed with in your post was not actually in your post, so I'm going to dig my heels and find something new in your post to dispute...

Paplebon got 12.5/ year last year and it seemed like an overpay. Team's are getting by without big name closers. I cannot imagine a team paying him more than $8 million/year and that is rich. Take the $14 million and you can get the difference later.

C'mon, he might not get more than $8m a year, but you can't imagine it? Did you forget the BJ Ryan and Francisco Cordero deals, not to mention Rivera and Papelbon? Heck, even Madson got more than $8m.

How long ago were those contracts? And how many had longer track records? I don't see how he can make up the money he will lose in the first year over a long term contract that he won't make after next year.

The closer in NY next year is named Rivera. Soriano does not want to be a set-up man.

The closer in NY next year is named Rivera. Soriano does not want to be a set-up man.

The closer in New York is going to be 43 and pitched 8 innings this year, he'll be the closer for the first half of the season, but he will have to earn to keep his job.