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 Boras arrived in Orlando, Fla., on Friday to begin setting up for this year's session, which starts Monday and runs through Thursday. A-Rod opted out of his record $252 million, 10-year contract with the New York Yankees and figures to set another high
-- Boras told the Yankees they would have to put a $350 million offer on the table just to get a meeting with Rodriguez.
"Any discussions as to contract terms is between the teams and ourselves," Boras said Sunday. "It's clear for all of us that we're at that point now where we've got to do a lot of work with the teams involved, and we're going to keep the information and the dialogues with the clubs private and confidential as we go forward."
Speculation on possible destinations for Rodriguez has included the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels, New York Mets and Detroit Tigers. Given that Boras almost always goes for top dollar, often mentions mystery teams and loves to set records, it will be hard to separate fiction from fact until the deal is on the verge of being agreed to.
"In every free-agent negotiation for a statured player, there's a great deal of attention and there's a great deal of interest and there's a lot written," Boras said. "Most of it, when you look back at what's written, is really not relevant to what is really transpiring."
When he arrived at spring training with the Yankees last February, Rodriguez made clear that dollars are important to him.
"I love being the highest-paid player in the game. It's pretty cool. I like making that money," he said. "You get crushed, but you know what? It's pretty cool I enjoy it."
Boras wouldn't detail which clubs have contacted him about Rodriguez. Before Nov. 13, Rodriguez can discuss money only with the Yankees, who say they won't negotiate with him now that he's opted out and eliminated the subsidy that Texas agreed to in the 2004 trade.
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"I'm not going to go through the laundry list of teams. I don't want to get into the number thing," Boras said. "There's obvious interest."
Franchises that do contact Boras about A-Rod should be prepared to get a slew of documentation on why he is worth $30 million or more annually. Boras spent much of the past month speaking of Rodriguez's worth to a team's box office, merchandise sales and television income.
"Certainly in doing our preparation, we've included the best experts we can certainly find to assist us in properly evaluating the values of the industry, the teams as we go forward," Boras said.
GMs also will start to feel each other out about trades -- Kenny Williams of the Chicago White Sox appeared particularly aggressive during last year's session. But this early, asking prices usually are too high for GMs to part with stars.
Instant replay will be the other big topic at this week's meetings. Commissioner Bud Selig, who opposes using replays to determine umpires' calls, said last month he was willing to let GMs examine whether it should be used.
Several GMs say they will support replays, in at least a limited form, with most mentioning it could be used to determine whether home runs stayed fair or went foul, and whether balls went over fences or hit the top and bounced back.
"That's a small start, and I would be in favor of that," Toronto's J.P. Ricciardi said Friday. "You've just got to be careful where we go with it because you could start reviewing everything, and I just don't know how you're going to be able to control that."
[Associated Press; By RONALD BLUM]
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