The A-Rod opt-out

There appears to be a consensus in baseball that if the Yankees do not offer Alex Rodriguez a contract extension, he will opt out of the remaining three years of his $252 million, ten-year megacontract, foregoing the $81 million he is owed in that period.

I'm not so sure. Consider the three teams with the highest payrolls in baseball after the Yankees. At #2, the Red Sox ($143 million) obviously wouldn't sign him. Wright and Reyes aren't going anywhere, so that rules out the Mets ($115 million) at #3. Then there's the #4 Angels ($109 million). They're obviously the most likely candidate to go after A-Rod, but we're talking about a team that already has big money invested in Gary Matthews and Garret Anderson. I think their bid for A-Rod would max out around five years and $120 million.

That being said, Scott Boras could potentially use his dark magic to convince the Yankees that there is indeed a long-term, $30+ million-a-year market for A-Rod. Boras puts the fear of God into a lot of front offices, and we may very well see him wringing out a $190 million six-year deal from the Yankees' urine-soaked trousers.

Whatever the case, A-Rod will almost undoubtedly be a Yankee next year and most likely for the remainder of his career. I'm excited.