Brian Cashman (GM of the Yankees) has stated repeatedly that the Yanks will not persue A-Rod if he chooses to opt-out. It's obvious that the Yankees don't want to lose the $30M that the Rangers are picking up. It's free money to them and would pay A-Rod's salary for about 1 year assuming the Yankess renegotiate his salary to $30-$32 million dollars. That's like getting A-Rod for free for a year!!!
The Yankees also know that there are very few teams that could even afford A-Rod and Scott Boras (A-Rod's agent) knows this too. The team list is short: Angels, Cubs, Mets, Red Sox, White Sox and Dogers. And even those teams would have a hard time parting with $30M/year on one player because of other commitments they have. It looks like, from this analysis that $32M is probably the cap that A-Rod would be offered ($32M would be a 30% increase in his current salary). If that's true, he should not opt-out, take the money and become a Yankees legend with all the props (can anyone say retire #13 and put a plaque in Monument Park?) that go with it. Otherwise he turns into Barry Bonds (with out the astriks on the ball when he breaks the home runs record.) - Thaks for the home runs...have a nice life.
Let's take a look at this from Scott Boras's point of view. He's in it for the money. He has no perspective on what a player like A-Rod means to baseball. Boras knows he's the greatest player of this generation. He'll likely break the 1,000 home runs barrier. He's clean. And he's a draw at the gate and on TV. However, if A-Rod ends up somewhere other than with the Yankees, he loses the greatest stage in baseball. A-Rod becomes a footnote (Barry Bonds*) rather than a legend (Ruth, Mantle, DiMaggio, Jackson). He'll become part of the Pantheon of Yankee greats. I don't think this is lost on A-Rod. I don't think he's worried about the money...I think he's looking at a legendary legacy and his mark on baseball history.
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