Aggressive Alex opts out, agent says
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In a jolting maneuver to both the Yankees’ offseason and their future, Alex Rodriguez informed the organization yesterday that he will not even listen to its extension offers and, instead, will opt out of his current contract.
The bombshell dropped by Rodriguez, through his agent, Scott Boras, means Rodriguez will enter free agency and almost certainly will end his four-year Yankee career with a combination of sensational play and even more sensational headlines.
“I got a call from Alex tonight and he is going to opt out,” Boras told The Post last night during Game 4 of the World Series. “He was just too unsure with new ownership talking about a transition where the organization is going right now. He is not sure what is going to happen with (free agents) Mariano (Rivera) and (Jorge) Posada, and if Andy Pettitte is coming back. He needs more time to assess where the Yankees are going in the future.”
Rodriguez has until 10 days after the World Series to opt out of his contract, which has three years at $92 million left on it. But he decided not to even wait. Boras said he tried to reach Cashman by phone yesterday and failed. So instead, he sent e-mails and faxes to both the Yankee offices and also to the Players Association to inform all parties of Rodriguez’s intentions.
Yankee officials did not immediately reply to messages last night for comment.
But this, obviously, is a major hit. The Yanks thought they were going to get at least a chance to make a pitch to Rodriguez to stay. Yankee officials had said they were intending to make an offer for better than the average annual value of Rodriguez’s current contract ($25.2 million), but for less than $30 million.
However, they had been adamant that if Rodriguez opted out they would not pursue him in free agency because they would lose a $30 million subsidy they received from Texas at the time of the deal. If they hold to that strategy that means Rodriguez’s Yankee career is done. Boras, however, said that A-Rod would still be interested in talking to the Yankees as a free agent.
“That is a Yankee decision,” Boras said. “We want to wait to see the direction of the club. We have not in any way cut ties to the Yankees.”
Boras said Rodriguez simply was not ready to make such an important long-term life and financial decision until knowing the club’s intentions moving forward. Boras said Hank Steinbrenner’s pronouncement a few days ago that the Yankees are a team in transition and that patience will be needed for whomever the new manager is caused Rodriguez to fret about the immediate future of the club.
The Yanks are trying to retain Posada and Rivera, and also want Pettitte to pick up his player option for 2008. However, Boras said, it is unlikely all of that will be resolved by the time Rodriguez needs to make a decision, and that A-Rod does not want to make that decision without full knowledge of what the club will look like.
“Alex is very aware of what is going on with his teammates from his discussions with them,” Boras said. “We just weren’t prepared to make an economic decision like this until we know the philosophy of the club and what was happening with key players. We are talking about a pitcher, a catcher and a closer. These are keys to the Yankee success for the next 3-4 years. We couldn’t enter into a dialogue about Alex’s contract when we needed to see how they conduct themselves on these other (issues).”
So this means the Yankees are about to lose the likely AL MVP in his prime. Rodriguez was honored in absentia yesterday as the AL winner of the Hank Aaron award as the best hitter from his league. He led the majors with 54 homers and 156 RBIs.
The Yankees will not replace that with one person, no matter where they find a new third baseman. They will probably look into trade possibilities for players such as Seattle’s Adrian Beltre and the White Sox’s Joe Crede, and consider Boston’s Mike Lowell if he enters free agency.
They suddenly have a lot more money to spend with Rodriguez gone, and they potentially remove all the headaches that came with such a big-ego, high-maintenance star. It is possible the Yanks will turn even more now to a team built around young pitching, and perhaps will try to obtain a star such as Johan Santana to front the rotation.
For now, though, an offseason in which they were changing managers and dealing with key free agents became immediately more difficult.