Report: Arod signs with the Yankees

[ChaosLex]

As long as it means Tejada is dealt sooner, it's a good thing.

[tropicos]

Bad.

Him staying put would probably allow more teams to be satisfied with their present rosters, I think.

I disagree. If other teams are showing heavy interest in ARod, IMO that says that those teams are looking for an upgrade and are not necessarily content with their rosters.

[Peace21]

Man its scary how much money the Yankees have.

[PoorMike]

I disagree. If other teams are showing heavy interest in ARod, IMO that says that those teams are looking for an upgrade and are not necessarily content with their rosters.

From what I gathered, the teams that were in the running were already contenders that weren't that passionate about upgrading unless it was for a superstar talent like Arod. I think the ripple effect would have been greater had he moved then if he stayed put.

[Leitch]

The Yankees might get older and more expensive. How is this not good for the Orioles?

I don't really know why people are considering it a practical guarantee that A: Arod will match this year in '08

B: Arod will still be the best player in MLB in '09

C: Arod will still be a superstar in '10

D: Arod will still be great in '11

E: Arod will still be good in '12

F: Arod will hit like 790 home runs

G: Arod will never age

The Orioles aren't winning crap in '08, or probably not '09 whether the Yankees are a 95-win team or an 88-win team or a 21-win team.

[nyjimbo]

If Am has his game plan, A. Rod heading back to the Skanks shouldn't matter.

[Scribo]

Probably good in a small way, in that it might help loosen the trading logjam.

Otherwise, it probably doesn't mean much for the O's until they actually become competitive. And so far I have not yet seen the Yankees do anything that actually makes them a better team next year.

[Birds08]

Has this been confirmed?

[letgoflyers5]

Has this been confirmed?

No it hasn't.

[bej6789]

If this turns out to be true... great, GREAT news. Arod can stay in NY, there will always be that drama, and there will always be that .250 avg. in the postseason. Signing in NY is a great situation for us, if what the insiders are reporting is true. He doesn't go to Chicago, so they still have a need there. He doesn't go to LA, and they desperately want something there. He doesn't sign with Detroit either. Every team that could potentially pursue Tejada lost out on Arod who was probably there #1 choice. This definately creates more demand for Tejada. It has to.

[OregonBird]

I heard an interesting nugget on espn that when the yankees start building their new stadium that the cost associated with doing so somehow counts toward the algorithm that gets used to determine how much luxury "tax" they have to pay out.

Some teams' welfare checks won't be as fat once the Yankees start building their new stadium.

[srh523]

Who cares how much the yanks spend someday they will learn that it hasnt gotten them a WS in awhile. There best teams in the mid 90's werent bought but they cant seem to realize that.

[Sammy G]

Good for us trading Tejada

Bad for us when hes killing our pitching for the next 10 years

[CEB]

No confirmation of a signing, but the New York Times has a long piece describing a meeting between Rodriguez and representatives of the Steinbrenner family -- without Scott Boras.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/sports/baseball/15yanks.html?ref=sports

Rodriguez Talks to Yankees Without Agent

By TYLER KEPNER and MURRAY CHASS

Published: November 15, 2007

Alex Rodriguez said all season that he wanted to stay with the Yankees, and now he is finally backing up those statements. Hank Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ senior vice president, said today that Rodriguez has told the Yankees he wants to return.

“He reached out to us through a third party,” Steinbrenner said in a telephone interview. “He has expressed a desire to stay a Yankee. He’s even willing to make certain sacrifices to do so.”

. . .

If correct, ARod has in effect fired Boras. He got cold feet and panicked. As noted in the recent profile of Boras in New Yorker Magazine, Boras has a standing rule that his clients do not participate in negotiations. ARod's meeting with the Steinbrenner's would no doubt be against Boras' advice and his acceptance of a salary reduction would represent a repudiation that Boras will not likely tolerate.

CEB

[El Gordo]

Sure I understand that but it also means we have a open road to start making our team better. The Yankees are the Yankees they will always have the money to spend. Who cares? I think they are probably creating a mess with giving all their FA big deals. I hope it ends up burning them. I am more interested in getting young and getting better. I don't care what the Yankee's have or don't have.

Of course it will burn them. ARod is not going to get much better than he was last season. Most of his 10 years will be a steady decline. Still good numbers but not worth $27mil. More so the case with Rivera and Posada. Their team is still old and over priced and they wont be able to replace eveybody with FA's. Their farm system will have to come up with a lot more than 3 pitchers.