It's early September, and Alex Rodriguez is rapidly pushing his way towards a plateau on which even he's never before stood: 60 home runs. It's a mark that doesn't mean as much now as it did a decade ago, but for the game's best player it could actually end up meaning much more than even he's used to.
As you may or may not recall, the colossal implosion that led to the Yankees dismissal from the 2006 playoffs left A-Rod's status with the team in limbo, and sent trade speculations and rumor's of the often-hated slugger's departure flying into the air like so many of his towering home runs. When the dust settled and spring training approached, amidst the boos and nasty headlines, Rodriguez declined his option for 2008, and entered what could be his last season in pinstripes prepared for it to be just that.
And you didn't hear too many Yankees fans complaining, that is until, you know, he single-handedly kept New York afloat during a dismal first half while putting up MVP-worthy numbers.
So now it's almost free agency time, and with Scott Boras as his agent and maybe his best all-around season in his back pocket, we can all agree on one thing: Alex Rodriguez is going to get paid, even by his standards.
There's a lot of understandable speculation about where, if anywhere else, A-Rod will go for 2008 and whether the future Hall of Famer can possibly stomach another season in the Big Apple where tabloid photogs hunt him day and night even in other cities. There's also a lot of speculation about how you can possibly give a guy that once signed a $252 million contract a raise.
Obviously, speculation on both those points will become more guided depending on how A-Rod and the Yankees finish their season, but there are a few things we can all agree on.
1) Alex Rodriguez won't play for less money than he makes now, unless he wants to in order to go to a particular team.
2) Few teams can afford Alex Rodriguez, even at a discount.
3) He's probably not going to the National League.
Where does that leave us? Pretty much right back where we are. I think it's safe to say the Boston Red Sox are out, even though the American League East leaders have a lengthy history of trying to court big-name Yankees, just as the Yankees do of courting ex-Red Sox. Still, Boston did the A-Rod dance once before and with the image of Jason Varitek face washing Rodriguez as the lasting iconic visual of their World Series run in 2004, it would just be weird.
To me, that leaves two options: the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels. L.A. can afford Rodriguez, they're a Latin-owned team (which would probably play into A-Rod/Boras' constant chase for new marketing credibility) and it's far, far away from New York and back in division where Rodriguez has already played for two teams and done plenty of damage to the rest of them. The Angels are also, interestingly enough, the team that's absolutely dominated the Yankees during A-Rod's time there.
But will Arte Moreno pay an unprecedented $30 million for the luxury of putting Rodriguez with Guerrero? What about $35 million? As we agreed, he's probably not taking a pay cut.
Well, heading into their final season in the current Yankee Stadium and with a World Series title hardly assured this year, Rodriguez' value to the Yankees might actually be even higher than the salary they're currently paying him, and when Yankee dollars come knocking, more often than not, Scott Boras clients will answer.
And for the first time, New York actually wants, maybe even needs A-Rod, and only they can really afford to make him feel the same way.
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