Fears of a Clown

WHDH-TV (Ch. 7): Four Teams Offer Lowell 4-year Contract
Bradford: No Offer Made By 3 of 4 Teams in Channel 7 Report
Dan Roche: Lowell Has 4 year, $50M-$55M Offer from Yanks

Peter Gammons also reported on ESPN yesterday that the Yankees had discussed first base as far back as two weeks ago, and that the team that seems to be making the strongest pitch is Philadelphia if they can backload the deal until Pat Burrell's $14M is off the books at the end of the 2008 season. Gammons believes the Yankees will use Giambi and Duncan at fist and occasionally use the DH spot for Damon and Matsui. Regarding the Channel 7 report of Atlanta making an offer: Are the Braves going to release Chipper Jones to make room for Lowell?

Fears of a Clown

Alex Is Ascared Because Baseball Called the Big Boras Bluff
With No New Contract Coming, Rodriguez Crawls Back to Yankees with Tail Planted Firmly Between Legs

NY Post: A-Rod Plea: Take Me Back Please
And Guess Who's Not Invited to the Welcome Back Dinner ...

Ken Rosenthal: Boras Finally Tastes a Bit of Humiliation
NY Times: Yanks Should Treat Rodriguez the Way He Treated Them

In his own gauche way, A-Rod has offended the Yankees, which may only now be dawning on him.

“Cynthia and I have since spoken directly with the Steinbrenner family,” Rodriguez said in a statement released on his Web site (arod.com) yesterday.

“During these healthy discussions, both sides were able to share honest feelings and hopes with one another, and we expect to continue this dialogue with the Yankees over the next few days,” he added.

The Yankees should imitate Vince Lombardi, when his Super Bowl-winning center, Jim Ringo, had the audacity to hire an agent for salary negotiations. According to legend, Lombardi left his office for a few minutes and came back and informed Ringo that he would have to negotiate with the Eagles, because he had just been traded. Ringo and Lombardi denied that scene, but Ringo did hire an agent, and he did get traded, in very short order.

Nowadays, of course, athletes have every right to hire an agent, but they need to be aware of the impact. Boras went too far, and Rodriguez did not seem to understand any of the implications of putting the squeeze on the Yankees. Whatever vision of El Dorado Boras painted, the response from other clubs has been underwhelming. -- 11.15.07, George Vescey, NY Times