Arod Meets in Tampa today without Boras--NY Times

• Tyler Kepner and Murray Chass opt-in reaffirming Arod & Cynthia meeting in Tampa today (Wednesday) without Boras,
• Boras now saying he never came up with the $350 million just to sit down,
• Yankees recognizing Arod has a right to representation and this meeting doesn't mean he'll fire Boras,
• AND mentions an unknown 3rd party who brokered the reconciliation (this "third party" was also mentioned today on WFAN).

"The lukewarm market was one of the reasons Rodriguez came back to the Yankees, and another was his business empire.

• Rodriguez has a real-estate business, a Mercedes-Benz dealership and endorsement contracts, and he believes he can maximize those assets by staying a Yankee.

Steinbrenner had tried to arrange a meeting with Rodriguez last month, but Rodriguez would not return his calls.

• Boras said later that he never allowed clients to talk about money with teams, and he was convinced that the Yankees would have presented an offer if they had met with Rodriguez before he opted out.

The Yankees believed that Boras wanted a $350 million commitment before any meeting, a notion Boras has countered by saying he had not yet discussed money with the Yankees.

• In any case, while the Yankees understand that Rodriguez has a right to representation, the sign that he was willing to talk without Boras is encouraging to them. But it does not mean that Rodriguez will necessarily fire Boras.

In 2001, another Boras client, Andruw Jones, reached an impasse in negotiations with the Atlanta Braves. Jones called General Manager John Schuerholz and arranged a meeting. With his father advising him, Jones worked out a six-year, $75 million deal, yet retained Boras as his agent.

• It is unknown who brokered the resumption of Rodriguez’s negotiations with the Yankees. But the sudden twist seems likely to end the same way as Jones’s negotiation did: with Rodriguez returning to his team."

From NY Times article by Tyler Kepner and Murray Chass, "Rodriguez Talks to Yankees without Agent," 11/15/07

• P.S. I don't need a Yankee wife coming into the stadium to a special family seating area, with children, with a t-shirt saying "F--- You." The world has enough problems without garbage like this. If Arod doesn't have much influence with his wife, the team should have a separate understanding with Cynthia Rodriguez. Perhaps a clothing allowance. (sm)

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