A-Rod opts out!

SportsDad · Double-A Joined: 30 May 2007 Posts: 25

You've all probably heard by now that A-Rod opted out of the final year of his contract with the Yankees.
There are a couple of good articles on ESPN about this, and really, there is no "good guy" in this. Buster Ulney's article paints A-Rod to be a guy who demands to be bigger than the game, and needs to be bigger than the manager, the team, etc. in order to satisfy his ego and his insecurities.Whether or not that is fair is hard to say, but it is clear he's going to sign a record contract (even bigger than his last record contract) with someone. It's hard to feel bad for the Yankees in all of this though, when Steinbrenner is slinging "He doesn't understand the privilege of being a Yankee." Incredibly arrogant.

So where do you think he'll go? I doubt a contender will pony up the dough. The distractions he brings might outweigh his incredible talent.
I'm guessing he winds up with the Giants. They seem content to have one monster home run hitter on the team to draw fans in rather than put a contender on the field.

On a side note, the Yankees have officially offered Joe Girardi the manager position. Interesting. I like Girardi, but I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job. He's clearly able to improve young players and motivate them to overachieve, as shown by his time with the Marlins, but can he motivate a bunch of pampered, multi-millionaires who have all the money and job security in the world? It's the difference between coaching college football or basketball vs. coaching in the NFL or NBA. Success in the first category historically has not equated to success in the second. On the other hand, the Yankees have enough talent that a trained chimp could take them to the postseason.
Assuming he takes the job, it'll be interesting to see what Girardi is able to do.