Bombshell Laid on the Bombers

I told myself I would try to write as little about Alex Rodriguez and his contract situation as possible. That was before Sunday night. That night was the night that the story was leaked that Rodriguez would opt out of his contract with the New York Yankees. A-Rod had within ten days of the World Series to make this decision, but apparently he must have known all along that this was going to be his course of action, or else he did not have a whole lot to think about if he was able to make that decision this quickly. The message was passed along by his agent Scott Boras to Brian Cashman through text messages of all things. The excuse, A-Rod is concerned about the direction of the team and the uncertain situations of Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte and does not believe ten days would have been long enough to evaluate the situation. Yea, like anyone buys that one. Rodriguez could not care less about his former teammates situations make no mistake of that, he simply is chasing the money and obviously did not wish to remain with the Yankees. The Yankees, mainly Hank Steinbrenner, have reiterated their position on not re-signing Rodriguez due to the opt out. Without the money being sent to the Yankees from the Texas Rangers, the Yankees no longer seem willing to commit so much of their own money to Rodriguez. Besides, the opt out was really an insult to the Yankees anyway. As of now, this appears to be the end of the Alex Rodriguez era in New York. Perhaps the only positive from the situation is that he totally stole the Red Sox thunder.
Allow me to paint you a picture with my imagination brush. A-Rod is pretty much done as a Yankee, so any number of teams could be pursuing him. One of those suitors is likely to be the Boston Red Sox. Imagine the day that A-Rod returns to Yankee Stadium in a Red Sox uniform. Imagine that A-Rod has one of his typical seasons and is selected to the All Star Team, in Yankee Stadium, as a member of the Boston Red Sox. A-Rod will become public enemy number one in New York and the boos that will rain down on him will be off the charts. People who could not even get into the game would likely stand outside the stadium and boo just to let out their hatred on this man. A-Rod will always be known in New York as the man who could not handle the pressure, who could not produce in the big spot, could not deliver a Championship to New York, and ran away for a bigger pay check. Apparently $27 million a year is just not enough money to feed your kids. Is it not most people’s desire to make more money? Sure, it is but when you are already the highest paid player in the game and are being offered a $3 million raise per year from your team then the “wanting more money” excuse will not fly. He should not expect to make a whole lot more from another team anyway. It will be a sad day when A-Rod is inducted into the Hall of Fame and will have no team’s hat to wear into the Hall. All he should wear is a big dollar sign on his cap, as that was the only place his loyalty fell to.