More A-Rod Chatter

Is this stuff mesmerizing or insanely boring? I'd say both, but I think we need to get ready to endure it for a while.

You can think of it as much more than a baseball story, too, non-sports fans. And, by the way, if you're here and you're not a sports fan, thanks. It makes my already swollen ego that much larger to think my mellifluous prose keeps your eyeballs here in spite of your indifference to athletics.

This thing is playing out as an economic story, certainly, the large numbers being tossed around do that. But it is also a story about the media.

ESPN.com is reporting that Boras was trying to get $350 million from the Yankees for Mr. Rodriguez's services. And how are they reporting this?

"Sources: A-Rod was Seeking $350 million from Yankees"

Huh? Sources? ESPN clears that right up once you click on the link:

But team executives were told, sources say, that in order to arrange a meeting with Rodriguez, they would have to be prepared to make an extension offer that would take the third baseman's deal up to a total value of $350 million. That means that the offer the Yankees intended to propose would have been more than $100 million short.

Okay, so they don't actually clear it up. The question becomes who gains from this information being made public? From the first salvo fired during game four by Boras, to the inking of Mr. Rodriguez's name on his contract this thing will be a media battle. This story will unfold in a very public way in the next few months and I think it'll be interesting to see how many anonymous sources are used.

The package the Yanks were going to offer was going to be $100 million too few, says sources, says ESPN. Are these sources trying to scare off the competition, chase A-Rod away from New York or what? Why do people leak what they leak, when they leak it?