Your Daily A-Rod Update (Sorry)

Hey, we haven't checked in with good ole Alex Rodriguez in a while. What's that crazy cat up to?

Well, he's looking for more money, obviously. The New York Times says there might not be two teams to bid, but what we're interested in today is whether or not A-Rod is really worth all the cash.

In one corner, Rumors And Rants:

It is. In fact, signing A-Rod for the supposed $300 million over 12 years he's looking for might even be a bargain. While the overall sum of money ($300 million) seems like a lot and it is, but it's not all guaranteed and it's not all up-front. It's going to be a bigger than God number only because of the nature of the player and the length of the contract. Twelve years!? Who else can even float the idea of a 12-year contract at the age of 32?

In the other, more convincing corner, the now-famous Hardball Times article:

"He will decline offensively, he will decline defensively, and he will steal fewer bases. You like using numbers Mr. Boras so you might be interested in this one: After Rodriguez's monster year, his career OPS+ is 147. Ten players are right around that—five above and five below. The five in front are Frank Thomas, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Vladmir Guerrero and Jason Giambi. The five just behind him are Lance Berkman, Miguel Cabrera, Todd Helton, Chipper Jones and Gary Sheffield. In the cases of Thomas, Ramirez, Thome and Giambi, this includes a good chunk of their decline phase—something Rodriguez has yet to begin. When you consider that A-Rod will make most of his money with his bat, well, there are 10 hitters in his neighborhood—are any of them looking for a 10-year/$300 million contract? Of course not. That's absurd."

We still think he's going to San Francisco. Makes sense.

Battling Boras [Hardball Times] Bargain Bin And A-Rod [Rumors And Rants]