Once again, A-Rod makes himself bigger than the game

Alex Rodriguez opted out of the final three years of his contract with the Yankees, making him a free agent. (Getty Images Photo)

Jim Baumbach
Newsday
10:44 AM EDT, October 29, 2007

For the three or four of you out there who still believed Alex Rodriguez cared about more than just Alex Rodriguez, then hopefully his antics last night finally changed your mind. Because A-Rod is all about A-Rod -- always has been, and always will be.

By letting super-agent Scott Boras announce to the world late last night that he was opting out of his contract, A-Rod managed to upstage the final innings of the Red Sox's World Series-clinching victory as well as the final hours of the Yankees' first managerial search in 12 years.

Yes, most likely this was all Boras' master plan, and I admit it seems like a strong, smart play. It takes away the Yankees' exclusive negotiating window, making them no different than any other team. There will be no more public posturing, which the Yankees have been doing a lot of lately. They have proclaimed about a million times they wouldn't negotiate with A-Rod after he opts out and have been publicly pushing for a meeting to deliver their generous extension offer. So Boras and A-Rod, in turn, decided to cut off the negotiations before they even began. Now let's see if the Yankees hold true to their word.

But couldn't this announcement have waited until the day after the Yankees name their manager? Couldn't it have waited until after the World Series? I guarantee you; the opt-out news still would have received the same attention two days from now compared to late last night. You can blame Boras for this if you want, but he's the agent. He's doing his job. This falls completely on A-Rod.

Hank Steinbrenner did not make much of the announcement coming during the World Series.

"It doesn't matter to me, the timing," he said. "But I'm sure there's a lot of people that aren't very happy about it. Other baseball people, the commissioner's office, the Red Sox."



Hank Steinbrenner said the team left messages with Rodriguez, and "we really wanted to meet with him."

"We wanted him to stay a Yankee. We wanted to let him know how much we wanted him," he said. "The bottom line is ... do we really want anybody that really doesn't want to be a Yankee? How the heck can you do that? Compare him with Jeter. Jeter, since he was a little kid, all he ever wanted to do was play shortstop for the Yankees. That's what we want."

Boras said Rodriguez made his decision to opt out of the final three years of his massive 10-year, $252-million contract yesterday. Boras then relayed that info to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman by e-mail, fax, voicemail and by the 10 p.m. hour, the opt-out news was quickly making waves through the baseball world.

Boras told Newsday's Kat O'Brien he spoke with Cashman around 10:30 p.m. Not too long after that Fox's Ken Rosenthal was appearing on the sideline during the World Series Game 4 telecast, delivering the news to the national audience. You know Bud Selig was wincing with every word out of his mouth.

Yet don't you think Rodriguez felt some cruel sense of enjoyment by seeing this all play out on television? That the television announcers were forced to discuss the ramifications of his decision while the once-beleaguered-turned-perennial-power Red Sox were closing in on its second title in four years. I do.

Who said Rodriguez couldn't perform on the national stage in October? The late innings last night became all about him. He may or may not ever get the chance to play in a World Series, and he may or may not get another clutch postseason, but for one night he made sure to grab full control of the baseball world.

"Kind of strange timing," Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said after Boston completed its sweep of Colorado.

And Rodriguez's decision to opt-out is more proof that we shouldn't put stock in the words of impending free agents, especially a player who has always seemed to put on a different face and voice when the red light on the television cameras turned on.

There are several published examples of Rodriguez stating his love for the Yankees and indicating his intentions to remain in pinstripes. But let's go back to one statement from the end of April, just for fun. After amassing an amazing first month, Rodriguez told the Yankee beat writers, "I want to stay in New York, no matter what."

So doesn't it raise your eyebrows now that seven months later Rodriguez says through his agent his main reason for opting out is wanting to see what happens with the other Yankees free agents before he decides his future. What happened to "no matter what?"

Rodriguez's decision to opt out of his contract signals the end to his Yankee career, and he knows it. His four seasons in New York were fun and entertaining, yet bizarre and ultimately disappointing, because of his -- and his teams' -- October failures. In a weird way, the way his pinstriped-career ended last night is a fitting close.

Time to go update his Wikipedia page.

The Associated Press contributed to this column.

Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.