[新聞] Bidding War for Rodriguez Needs 2 Teams
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http://tinyurl.com/2mm5w6
Bidding War for Rodriguez Needs 2 Teams
競標喊價當然是越多人越熱鬧
By MURRAY CHASS
Published: November 7, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla.
Alex Rodriguez is not attending the general managers meetings, so no general
managers have been throwing thousand dollar bills or offers at him. But his
agent, Scott Boras, isn’t ready to entertain any offers yet.
When Boras has a major client on the market, teams are required to conduct
themselves the Boras way, that is, however Boras wants them to.
For example, one of the reasons Boras was said not to want Rodriguez to meet
with the Yankees before he opted out of his contract was because he didn’t
want the Yankees to make him an offer. When the Yankees persisted, Boras told
them the only way they could meet with Rodriguez would be if they put a
minimum of $350 million on the table.
To their credit, the Yankees opted to pass.
Since Rodriguez opted out of the contract the night of the final game of the
World Series, Boras and a confidant of Rodriguez have tried to promote a
meeting with the Yankees.
Boras has sounded indignant that the Yankees have said they would not negoti-
ate with Rodriguez as a free agent, since they are negotiating with the free
agents Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada.
The more Boras talks the more he sounds like he thinks he erred by orches-
trating the opt-out clause with Rodriguez. Maybe Boras was calling the
Yankees’ bluff, and now may see that they are serious about not talking to
A-Rod to play third base. Any agent with a player like A-Rod for a client
would want the Yankees to drive up the bidding. The question now is if there
is anyone else to drive up the bidding? Boras has almost always achieved his
goals for his superstar clients, finding some team to bid big. But is there a
team among the other 29 prepared to make his and A-Rod’s day?
With the general managers available at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, I
identified some possible bidders and asked if they had an interest in
Rodriguez.
Tony Reagins of the Angels said: “Obviously we don’t know the expense or
what his offer would be, but we have interest. I think we have to look at
what the landscape of that situation is. We would definitely consider an
opportunity to improve our club.”
Arte Moreno, the Angels’ owner, has said privately that he would not use
such a large percentage of the team’s payroll for one player.
“I can’t speak for Arte directly, but we’re open to discussion,” Reagins
said. “We want to see what the level of interest is around the league and
we’d want to be in the mix. The fact that Alex is available is intriguing.”
Are the Angels prepared to pay $30 million to $35 million a year?
“That’s hypothetical,” Reagins said. “We don’t know what the price is
going to be. When we get to that point, we’d have to take a strong look at
it. There are numbers that are being thrown around, but I don’t know how
much merit they have. It could be that. It may not be that.”
Brian Sabean, the Giants’ general manager, isn’t at the meetings. Dick
Tidrow, the assistant general manager, answered the question.
“I think we would obviously kick the tires,” he said. “But it’s a long
shot.”
Although the Giants could use a superstar to keep AT&T Park filled and help
pay off the bank debt, a major league official has said that they couldn’t
afford A-Rod. The person did not want to comment publicly about another
team’s finances.
Ned Colletti of the Dodgers said: “We’ll have to wait and see. I haven’t
heard from Scott. I don’t know if they have interest in being there or not.
If they have interest we’ll see where we go. It’ll take a long time to play
out, I’m sure.”
Jim Hendry of the Cubs said: “He’s a great, great player. I know he has a
longstanding relationship with Lou Piniella. Anybody would love to have him.
In our situation we’re very happy with Aramis Ramirez at third. In the
overall scheme of things, for the dollars it would take, we have other needs
— in the outfield, speed-wise, maybe a little more pitching.
“For that kind of volume of dollars, I don’t see a way that would make any
sense because we’re very happy with our guy at third. To commit that much
more to one player and not address the other needs we have when we already
have an All-Star caliber third baseman is really tough to do.”
Theo Epstein of the Red Sox said, “We’re attempting to sign Mike Lowell and
we’re not going to figure out any other alternatives until we see how that
process plays out.”
Dave Dombrowski of the Tigers said, “We do not have interest.”
Larry Beinfest of the Marlins said: “We have no plans to pursue A-Rod or
engage in any negotiations for him. It makes no sense to have a player who
takes up most, if not all, of our on-field payroll.”
Bill Bavasi of the Mariners said, “We’re not a player.” Bavasi added that
he continued to believe that the Yankees would be the best fit for Rodriguez.
“The Yankees need a third baseman,” he said.
Two of the three executives questioned at random — Andy MacPhail of
Baltimore and J. P. Ricciardi of Toronto — said they had no interest. The
third, Kevin Towers of San Diego, said: “Do I have interest in him?
Absolutely. Do I think we’ve got a legitimate chance to sign him? No. I’d
have a hard time paying one guy a third of our payroll. We wouldn’t be able
to compete.”
Omar Minaya of the Mets didn’t mention Rodriguez yesterday. The day before,
he said he would look at Rodriguez like he looks at all free agents. Some
people inferred from that comment that the Mets were interested. They are
not.
The only way that would probably change was if Fred Wilpon, the Mets’
principal owner, had a dream that the Mets won the World Series next October
with A-Rod in their lineup.
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11/07 19:04, , 1F
11/07 19:04, 1F