Game over. A-Rod/Boras 1 – Yanks 0

So, A-Rod tells the Yankees that he won’t discuss his contract situation until the end of the season, and the Yanks respond with a demand that he negotiate an extension now, or Boras-be-damned, there will be NO negotiations at all… and no pinstripes for Rodriguez next season!

Seems to me that this is a move made in desperation – A-Rod & his agent Scott Boras hold all the cards, and the New York front office know this. Rodriguez is having a career year (isn’t funny how guys often do that when contracts are to be negotiated?), can walk away from his current contract at the end of this season, and there will be massive interest in him from a plethora of ballclubs.

The Yankees are behind the 8-ball: if Rodriguez walks, they lose the $31 million owed to him by the Texas Rangers… if by some miracle they can sign him to an extension, then that money is still there. If it comes to a situation where A-Rod walks on his current contract, and puts himself open to bidders, then the Yanks wave bye-bye to that money, and if they want Rodriguez (they do), they enter a bidding war with other franchises (they will, despite commentary to the contrary).

The thing that amazes me in all of this is that the New York Yankees expect Alex Rodriguez to ‘do the right thing’ & negotiate now… out of some misplaced sense of loyalty? Err… huh? Professional sports abandoned that a helluva long time ago, and the Yanks were at the forefront of encouraging players to walk away from their ballclubs to sign with them for the big bucks.

Top Sports Stories in Japan… (June 9)

Cooler day in Japan today – and that’s good… taking bub out for a walk.

Anyway… this is what’s on the presses in Japan…

• Trey Hillman sets consecutive wins record in Japanese baseball… [Mainichi Shimbun]
• Suetsugu limits himself to 200m in World Championships… [Daily Yomiuri]
• Bobby Valentine says give A-Rod a break… [Asahi News]
• Sugiyama reaches doubles finals in French Open… [Japan Times]
• Sumo hit Hawaii… [Japan Today]

Those Damn Yankees… (I know, a cliché)

The New York Yankees. Sports franchise supreme, or a plague personified in pinstripes… whatever your views on the Yanks, without a doubt they are shared by millions. So… what’s a sports-thoughts blog without at least SOME discussion on the Yankees?

Me, I fall into a category that takes absolute pleasure from the dire straits they find themselves in at the moment. Ok, ok… so they beat the Sox today, but even so – they are STILL 12.5 games behind at the moment! I revel in the fact that they are, at the beginning of June, pretty much playing for a wild-card slot. And behind.

Yes, they’re injured. But even BEFORE all that happened I (and quite a few others who actually get paid to speculate on sports!) didn’t think they had all that good a roster. And this is a unit that rivals the Lakers for drama! Hell, A-Rod’s “MINE!” knocked Kobe’s flip-flopping off the sports headlines, and it’s only going to get better… The Rocket is due to start this coming week. A 44 year old upon whose shoulders the fate of the Yankee Nation rests upon.

So those hopes will be at least partially realised next week, when versus the White Sox (and c’mon… shouldn’t he be pitching this Sunday?), we will probably witness the return of Roger Clemens. Will he be the saviour that the Big Apple longs for? Needs? I tend to think not. I think he’ll be good, way better than serviceable (and he’d wanna be for the contract he signed), but ultimately I think that very contract, will be a source of frustration for many within the clubhouse.