Replies to post #69336 on Baseball Chat (BASEBALL)

[domainmaster]

Linchuck, Boston may not want to ruin their team chemistry by signing A-Rod. They did win 2 WS Championships without him. Better off resigning Lowell.

If Lowell resigns the Red Sox that also takes away another team from the bidding and further lowers Boras' bargaining position.

[jarsch501]

Some of that is because of the lack of a large free agent pool. It seems like a lot of teams are trying to sign their young stars to longer term deals before they become free agents. The Red Sox were caught off guard a couple of years ago on how much free agents were getting because of the lack of quality free agents in the market, especially starting pitching. Just last year Gil Meche got 5-yr, $55MM contract from the Royals and he is a .500 pitcher! Even more telling is the growth of baseball. In 2001, baseball revenues were $3.5 billion compared to over $6 billion this year! The smaller teams are starting to spend more and the competitive baseball continues to get better. Depending on where Arod really wants to play, there is a good chance for him to get $30MM.