Sources Put Boras' Opening Bid For Rodriguez At $350M

Boras' Opening Offer To Yankees Reportedly Started At $350M

Before free agent 3B Alex Rodriguez opted out of his contract with the Yankees, agent Scott Boras told the team that "it would not be able to meet with [Rodriguez] unless it presented an offer of at least" $350M, according to sources cited by Buster Olney of ESPN.com. The Yankees “would have presented him with an extension offer close to five years and $150[M], to begin at the conclusion of his 2008-2010 contract, through which he would have earned $81[M].” Sources said that during the last five years of that offer, Rodriguez "would have earned the highest annual salary in [MLB] history” (ESPN.com, 11/2).  In N.Y., Tyler Kepner noted, “Privately, the Yankees believe Rodriguez would never take a pay cut unless he fired Boras, and there is no evidence he would do that.” A Rodriguez confidant indicated that the Yankees “angered Rodriguez with their hard-line stance about his opt-out decision and helped push him into the free-agent market” (N.Y. TIMES, 11/4).  Also in N.Y., Mike Lupica wrote Boras “was never going to meet with the Yankees once they wouldn’t agree to even start the conversation about A-Rod’s future employment at $350[M]. He had to be the one who set the market, not the Yankees. He wasn’t going to let them even suggest a ceiling for his client, not on a bet. Instead, he decided to walk out of the room, thinking that there would be some outrage” that the Yankees let Rodriguez go (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/4).  The N.Y. POST's Joel Sherman noted former Mets GM Steve Phillips met with Boras at the GM meetings seven years ago, and “pulled out of negotiations for A-Rod, citing extravagant perks beyond the quarter-of-a-billion-dollar demands.” Phillips said that those amenities included a “merchandising tent in spring training and office space at Shea to conduct personal business” (N.Y. POST, 11/4). 

WHERE WILL HE GO? NEWSDAY's Kat O'Brien wrote some MLB execs are “skeptical that any team will give [Rodriguez] a $300-plus-million deal.” Red Sox President & CEO Larry Lucchino said on WEEI-AM Friday he has "trouble envisioning places where A-Rod can go. What teams have the financial wherewithal, as well as the specific need? If you survey the field, there aren’t that many places” (NEWSDAY, 11/3).   However, Padres GM Kevin Towers said, “There’ll still be a good market for him. … This is a pretty marketable guy. There are no real bad off-the-field things happening around him. He’s a good role model and he can play either third base or shortstop” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 11/4).  In S.F., John Shea noted Boras “seems to be targeting teams with [RSNs] or on the verge of starting one.” While Boras has “suggested the Giants would benefit by launching their own [RSN], that revenues generated by A-Rod would be well into the eight figures," the Giants' deal with FSN Bay Area runs through 2012.  Giants Exec VP & COO Larry Baer said, “I don’t believe a team will start a network around one player. You don’t say, ‘I’m starting a TV network so I’m going to hire a player like this,’ because you’re one ACL from it blowing up” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 11/4). In N.Y., Murray Chass wrote Boras’ “words and deeds had other agents saying they wouldn’t mind if the owners engaged in collusion against Rodriguez, which is a pretty severe reaction from people whose clients were victims of the owners’ collusion in the mid-1980s” (N.Y. TIMES, 11/4).