A-Rod

Interesting timing by Scott Boras and Alex Rodriguez, confirming during the World Series that A-Rod is opting out of the rest of his Yankees contract.

The Yankees have repeatedly said that if he were to opt out, they would not negotiate a new deal with him. Anything can happen, but I'd say it's likely that the Yankees will stick to that and will not attempt to re-sign A-Rod. For one thing, since he opted out the Yankees no longer get $21M from the Rangers to cover part of the cost.

Ken Rosenthal reported during the game that there had been discussions of a five-year extension, but I didn't get a sense of how serious those talks were -- I've since read that no offer was ever officially made.

So who's out there with the payroll necessary to sign the best player in baseball to the contract Boras thinks he deserves, and with a place to play him? I'm assuming that he's willing & able, if necessary, to move back to shortstop. Some of the teams mentioned:

* Red Sox: There has been talk of the Red Sox not re-signing Mike Lowell and bringing in A-Rod. After the season (and World Series) Lowell just had, though, I find that doubtful. I'm sure plenty of Red Sox fans wouldn't mind it if the Sox traded Julio Lugo to make a spce for A-Rod, though.

* Cubs: Ryan Theriot seems like a nice guy but he's not the answer to anything expect the question, "who was that kid from LSU who played some decent short back in '07?" The Cubs are hoping to build on this year's division championship and the first year of what they hope is a successful Piniella era, and what better way then to bring in the game's best player to play short? Sure, he isn't left-handed, which is what the Cubs really need, but that could be overlooked. Ownership uncertainty is one thing that might keep them out of the running.

* Dodgers: I've seen this one mentioned but it doesn't make sense to me. The Dodgers still have Garciaparra and Furcal under contract, and with the season James Loney had at first I don't see them benching him to move Nomar across the diamond. They could conceivably decline their option on Jeff Kent and move either Furcal or A-Rod to second, but I doubt they will.

* Tigers: An intriguing choice. They've shown a willingness to spend money and definitely think they're positioned to be competitive for a while. Brandon Inge's offensive numbers have declined in each of the last three years, but he's (relatively) cheap (3Y/$19M) and I could see someone taking a flyer on him. Plus, they've already announced that they're planning to move Carlos Guillen to first in 2008, so they're in the market for a shortstop.

* Angels: The odds-on favorite. Arte Moreno is not afraid to spend money, and they could easily move Chone Figgins back to the outfield and either make Garrett Anderson a full-time DH, move him to first, or try to trade him.

Those are the main players. I've seen the White Sox mentioned, but I think they're another re-tooling year or two away from making a huge free agent acquisition. I might suggest the Orioles as a possibility, but Andy MacPhail's previous reluctance to work with Boras, combined with Peter Angelos' unwillingness to spend money, makes that unlikely.

One possibility I haven't seen mentioned that I want to throw out there is Atlanta. Assuming Andruw Jones won't be re-signed, there are a couple of scenarios I could envision -- one would be trading Renteria (maybe to the Tigers for a center fielder) and bringing Rodriguez in to play short; another might be re-shuffling the outfield a bit, moving Francoeur to center and Diaz to right, pushing Chipper back out to left, and bringing A-Rod in to play third.

Just a thought to keep you warm around the hot stove this winter...