Alex Rodriguez. Future owner of the Cubs?

The biggest non-football headline of the weekend (that didn’t involve Milton Bradley, which I will get to later) has to be the rumor that Alex Rodriguez will not only go to the Cubs, but have the latter part of his potentially $30 million dollar a year contract deferred towards eventual part-ownership in the Cubs organization. Go ahead…read the last sentence again, I’ll wait.

The story was first covered by Will Leitch (Deadspin), who writes for New York Magazine on the weekends, and his article can be found here. You can also find CNBC’s Darren Rovell’s take on this situation on his website here. ESPN also covered the story briefly as well, here.

So, what is the likely scenario with A-Rod as this year in baseball winds down? Well, it all depends on how well Rodriguez and the Yankees do in the playoffs. If the Yankees win and A-Rod’s playoffs mimic his regular season? He will more than likely stay in New York; the hero mystique that he will have built during this season would be too much for him not to stay. Can you imagine it? A-Rod being the man who single-handedly brought the Yankees out of the depths of the AL East, into the playoffs, probably beating the hated Red Sox in the process, and winning the World Series? Even Yankees fans would have to start to believe that A-Rod was worth the money then, after his lone herculean effort was able to do what the Yankees as a TEAM have not done since 2000. Can’t you just see the ticker-tape parade? the A-Rod banners? the cheers? the positive stories of the usually “disgruntled-at-best” New York media? There is no way that A-Rod could walk away from that, especially when all he has ever wanted (besides the cash and accolades) was the unconditional love of the fans for whom he plays. He couldn’t get it in Seattle with Griffey being there, or in Texas because people believed his contract destroyed any hope of picking up free agents, and hasn’t gotten it in New York for a myriad of reasons (Jeter, his errors at third base, his contract, his playoff performances, etc.)…but he could get it, if things went his way.

And now…back to reality.

A-Rod singlehandedly win the world series for the Yankees, the same way his put them on his back and carried them to the playoffs? And then, on top of that, A-Rod would get unconditional love from the New York fans and the media? That’s a pretty tall order. The second time A-Rod strikes out in the playoffs with runners in scoring position he’ll be booed and criticized in the press for a lack of focus.  If “reality” has its way, A-Rod will opt out of his contract and become a free-agent. As Will pointed out in his New York magazine article, the team most likely to obtain A-Rod’s services are the Chicago Cubs, which led to the rumors that A-Rod would receive the 10 year $300 million dollar deal, complete with part ownership of the Cubs. As Darren Rovell pointed out in his article (it was mentioned in the ESPN article as well) any deal that would give A-Rod ownership in the Cubs would be against the MLB collective bargaining agreement. So, assuming he goes, why do I think that A-Rod will become a partial owner of the team at some point?  Scott Boras.

I don’t care that the contract, if it happened, would be illegal under the CBA. I don’t care that A-Rod plays for the Yankees and has said he doesn’t want to leave. I don’t care that the Cubs will be under new management and it would be difficult for any new owner to get a deal done before next season. He is Scott Boras! If his top clients were on a team together, they’d earn $253 million a year total ($55 million more than the Yankees) and easily be the best squad in the game. This is the guy who got A-Rod the ungodly 10 year $252 million dollar contract in a time when that sort of money was unfathomable. Do you mean to tell me that he can’t get around a little section in the collective bargaining agreement? Or doesn’t have an inside track on who’s going to become the new owner of the Cubs? This doesn’t even seem that difficult…based on the relevant section posted by Darren Rovell, from page 213 of the MLB’s CBA,

“4c. The player represents that he does not, directly or indirectly, own stock or have any financial interest in the ownership or earnings of any Major League Club, except as hereinafter expressly set forth, and covenants that he will not hereafter, while connected with any Major League Club, acquire or hold any such stock or interest.”

The section only prevents a player from having any interest in the club while playing. Meaning that any clauses guaranteeing discussions between the two parties after A-Rod retires wouldn’t be illegal. Or he could maybe be looking at the “indirect ownership” mentioned in the CBA.    The point is this:  If A-Rod wants to have a piece of the Cubs, Scott Boras will find a way to make it happen. If nothing else, Boras is known for always getting his clients that “little bit extra”.

I don’t see how this situation is necessarily any different.

New York Magazine: Inside A-Rod’s Endgame, by Will Leitch

SportsBiz with Darren Rovell: A-Rod to own some of the Cubs? Not likely

ESPN: Agent denies report of A-Rod to Cubs

Tags: Agencies

Category: Baseball