A-Rod, Yankees get back together - Rodriguez, without Boras, re-opens talks and will return with a new 10-year deal.
Big A-Rod? L.A.-Rod? Southern California fans pining for baseball's elite slugger wound up with No-Way-Rod, as a nasty split between Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees gave way to a lucrative reconciliation this week.
Any hope the Angels and Dodgers had of signing the star third baseman were dashed when Rodriguez -- minus agent Scott Boras -- initiated talks that, according to a baseball source, will return Rodriguez to the Yankees under a 10-year, $275-million contract and produce a new round of tabloid headlines in New York:
Stay-Rod.
"The past is the past. I don't know what brought about him approaching us," Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner told the Associated Press on Wednesday. "I guess you could say things didn't go before the way he intended and weren't handled properly or whatever.
"But the bottom line, the only thing that really matters, is he wants to stay a Yankee. And it could very well be that he's always wanted to stay a Yankee and we just didn't know it."
If that's true, Rodriguez and his agent had a strange way of showing it.
With Boston en route to a World Series-clinching win over Colorado on Oct. 28, Boras confirmed -- during the game -- that Rodriguez, who hit .314 with 54 homers and 156 runs batted in, would opt out of the final three years of a 10-year, $252-million deal and become a free agent.
The timing of Boras' announcement angered Commissioner Bud Selig and many in and out of the game, and the Yankees, already put off by Boras' demands that any negotiations begin at $350 million, vowed not to pursue Rodriguez.
Two weeks of media attacks portraying Rodriguez as greedy and selfish followed, and Rodriguez, stung by the criticism and damage to his reputation, decided to do something about it. On his own.
Instead of looking to Boras, perhaps pro sports' most powerful and influential agent, Rodriguez had a third party approach the Yankees about a new deal.
"After spending time with [wife] Cynthia and my family over these last few weeks, it became clear to me that I needed to make an attempt to engage the Yankees regarding my future with the organization," Rodriguez said on his website. "Prior to entering into serious negotiations with other clubs, I wanted the opportunity to share my thoughts directly with Yankees' ownership.
