A-Rod Crawls Back? Hardly.

I'm still having trouble understanding the saga of Alex Rodriguez's off season. It began in October after the Yankees were nearly swept in the first round against the Cleveland Indians as questions surrounded the future of not only Rodriguez, but also closer Mariano Rivera, catcher Jorge Posada, ace Andy Pettitte, and manager Joe Torre. Quickly, those questions sorted themselves out as Torre was shown the door for former Yankee catcher/bench coach and NL Manager of the Year Joe Girardi, Posada was given a four-year deal that makes sure Posada's grandkids don't have to work again, Pettitte opted out of coming back, and Rivera has been offered the most lucrative contract of any reliever (though he has yet to accept).

But A-Rod's story has been, in a word, weird. His original deal signed with the Texas Rangers included a clause that allowed him to opt out of his contract after a certain period of time. After much speculation and a very fat offer from the Yankees to the tune of $350 million dollars, A-Rod and his agent Scott Bora$ announced during the later innings of the World Series that the star third baseman would not be rejoining the Yankees. As classless as a move as it was to announce that at that particular time, it seemed to me at least a pretty clear "F U" and the end of their faulty relationship. But it now turns out it wasn't the end. It's being portrayed in the media that Rodriguez crawled back to the Yankees without his agent Scott Boras advising him, but rather billionaire Warren Buffet. A-Rod would be making significantly less as the contract was negotiated on the Yankees terms, a 10 year/$275 million dollar deal. But this is in no way a loss for Rodriguez aside from his reputation. One has to wonder how much he had to grovel at the feet of Hank Steinbrenner to squeak out 10 year deal. And he gets a huge bonus should he set the all time home run record. So while the media portrays A-Rod as a big loser, forgive me if I don't buy into that story. I mean, the guy is loaded once gain and if anything looks like he REALLY wants to play in pinstripes. And let him. The richest man in baseball has yet to deliver a championship to the Bronx, and for a team that once was the dynasty of baseball, they will be playing catch-up to the Red Sox.