GorillaOffTopic, Everything But Gorilla Trades

Alex Rodriguez opted out of his whopping $252 million, 10-year contract with the Yankees on Sunday, apparently ending his not quite long enough career with New York’s beloved Yankee organization. The announcement came on the heels of game four of the World Series, making A-Rod eligible to be a free agent. New York said it would not attempt to re-sign A-Rod if he opted out of his contract. A-Rod will now lose the remaining $72 million, which was guaranteed in the contract, and of which $21.3 million was to be covered by payments from the Texas Rangers to the Yankees. Good news for Texas, who made out pretty good in the whole deal, saving the remaining money it would have had to pay New York as part of the 2004 trade. But the Rangers are still responsible for $3 million in annual deferred money A-Rod is owed under the contract.  A-Rod’s agent Scott Boras said that A-Rod made his decision based on not knowing what some current teammates were going to do. Boras explained, ”He really didn’t want to make any decisions until he knew what they were doing.” Meanwhile, A-Rod will likely win his third AL MVP award next month and is likely to make his decision before the Yankees announce a replacement for Joe Torre. (Joe Girardi and Tony Pena are both being considered for his position.) Rodriguez continues to dominate and hit .314 this year to lead the major leagues in home runs and RBIs. He was also announced as a winner of a Hank Aaron award for offensive achievement during game 4 of the World Series, but was not present to receive it. The Gorilla cannot help but wonder if this was just an excuse a greedy baseball player (but currently the best, for sure) used to garner even more money. In any case, it will be interesting to see who offers the most money to this larger-than-life big leaguer!