Baseball Chat

[jarsch501]

As McGowan said for the Giants, many teams will kick the tires and see what Boras and ARod are really looking for. To get one of the best players in MLB, there are probably a lot of teams willing to spend about $20MM/yr, with some of that being deferred. I think it is going to be a huge stretch for $30MM+ though. No matter how good Arod is, I don't think it is reasonable to pay him even double Miguel Tejada's salary of less than $14MM.

Obviously the Yankees would be the logical choice to sign him, especially with the increase in revenues from their new stadium. Baseball has had excellent revenue growth since Arod signed his last contract with Texas. Could a dark horse like the Nationals make a bid for him with their new stadium, which is expected to add about $40MM/yr to their coffers? I could see them making the stretch just as Texas did. Not sure if it would be a stretch actually, they spent only $37MM on payroll this year compared to $67MM in 2006! Arod could be the very thing the team needs to be a big hit in DC and take away some interest from the Orioles.