Cubs, Sox unlikely to go for A-Rod
If he opts out of contract, Angels may be only team that can afford him
As much as the Yankees -- and boss George Steinbrenner -- love having Alex Rodriguez as their third baseman, there are limits to their affection.
And when it comes to the Yankees drawing the line with money, this ranks as news.
General manager Brian Cashman has been on a mini-campaign to clarify the Yanks' stance when it comes to A-Rod's famous clause that allows him to opt out of his contract with three years and $81 million remaining.
The general thinking had been the Yankees would be the top bidders to retain Rodriguez, tearing up his current deal for a longer contract.
Not so fast.
''How can we?'' Cashman said on WFAN radio Thursday. ''We'd lose all our money from Texas.''
The Rangers -- remember owner Tom Hicks' monumental gaffe at the 2000 winter meetings? -- are the original architects of Rodriguez's 10-year, $252 million contract. When they traded Rodriguez to the Yankees for current Cubs slugger Alfonso Soriano, part of the February 2004 deal called for the Rangers to pick up a huge chunk of A-Rod's remaining deal. That means the Rangers would still be on the hook for $30 million of that $81 million left on the deal.
Unless A-Rod opts out. Because when he opts out, so do the Rangers.
Suddenly, this doesn't look like such a good deal for the Yankees if they're paying the entire balance of A-Rod's contract.
''That, financially, doesn't make sense,'' Cashman told New York reporters. ''We hope he doesn't opt out; we hope he stays. He's said publicly he wants to stay. We've said publicly we want to keep him.''
So if Cashman sticks to his stance, who's left to court A-Rod? The Mets and Dodgers -- two other big-money teams -- will need to make pitching a priority when they start spending their money in the offseason.
That means all fingers will point to the Cubs. Now that they're throwing money around again -- extending ace Carlos Zambrano's deal -- they're going to figure into the A-Rod rumor mill. But the Zambrano deal pretty much wraps up the Cubs' offseason business. Their only needs will be for a catcher -- general manager Jim Hendry loves free agent-to-be Jason Kendall -- and some bullpen help.
Still, there will be speculation that Cubs manager Lou Piniella and A-Rod will be the perfect partners for a North Side reunion. The two former members of the Seattle Mariners organization love each other. Chicago would be the perfect spot for the limelight-loving Rodriguez.
Except the Cubs -- just for 2008 -- already are committed to paying Zambrano about $18 million, third baseman Aramis Ramirez $14million, left fielder Soriano $13million and first baseman Derrek Lee $13 million. Even an excited new owner isn't going to add a $25 million-plus salary.
The White Sox? They always seem to get dragged into the A-Rod talk, and they could be in the market for a shortstop. Considering general manager Ken Williams can't even get a simple update from agent Scott Boras on the condition of rehabbing third baseman Joe Crede, it's hard to believe Boras and the Sox ever could sit down and negotiate a contract on the scale of an A-Rod megadeal.
That leaves the Angels, who would be operating from a position of power with no other teams in the derby -- unless Boras is able to pull off another fast one and dupe an owner, again, into believing there's a ''mystery'' team bidding for A-Rod. Hicks fell for that once; hard to imagine another owner being so gullible.
As much as the Rangers hate the idea, Rodriguez's best option might be sticking with the Yankees and drawing $27 million each of the next three seasons.
Wedge wondered aloud if his team is tough enough.
''We've got a couple of people out there who might be feeling sorry for themselves,'' Wedge told reporters. ''I don't like that. I'm not going to point anyone out. I've felt it with a couple of guys. I'll let them figure it out.
''We're going to find out how tough we are. It's easy to be tough when you're winning. At this time of year, you need to make plays, you need to make pitches, you need to step up. If you do that, you win. If you don't, you get the flip side.''
The Indians and Tigers hook up again this week with a three-game series that begins Tuesday in Detroit.
The defending American League Central champs entered the season with $71 million budgeted for player payroll. Because of injuries and other needs, they were on target to spend $74 million.
So they sent Luis Castillo (and the $2 million left on his contract) to the New York Mets for two low minor-leaguers. They allowed the Arizona Diamondbacks to claim Jeff Cirillo off waivers, saving another $500,000. And they traded reliever Ramon Ortiz (owed about $750,000) to the Colorado Rockies for another minor-leaguer.
Peavy might have better command, but Zambrano has more victories this season. Both are 26 -- Peavy is older by one day. Zambrano has topped 200 innings in each of the last four seasons, topping out at 223 1/3 in 2005. Peavy has reached 200 -- topping out at 203 in 2005 -- twice in the last four years.
Another big difference: money. Zambrano, who just signed a five-year, $91.5 million extension to avoid free agency, is earning $12.4 million this season. Peavy, eligible for free agency after the 2009 season, is earning $4.75million this season.
Written off as a bust after a slow start, former White Sox prospect Brandon McCarthy had been the Rangers' most dependable pitcher of late, compiling a 3.33 ERA since early June. But McCarthy is on the disabled list because of a stress fracture in his right shoulder blade -- an injury he says has bothered him for three months. ''I haven't thrown a bullpen since God knows when,'' McCarthy said. ''Basically since May or whatever I've been doing the same thing, playing catch the day before I pitched, and that was about it. ... Just going out there every five days and winging it.'' Though a stress fracture typically takes 10 weeks to heal, the Rangers expect McCarthy, who's 5-8 with a 4.79 ERA in 20 games, including 19 starts, to pitch again this season.