SJK: Tyler, you were the first writer to introduce the idea that Arod could return to the Yankees if he offered a discount.  While the discount is being mentioned in the media, some sources are reporting a deal around 10 years, $280 million (some even as high as $300 million).  Are these gigantic numbers also what you're hearing? And after proclaiming that they were done with Arod, will the Yankees front office look like fools if they sign him to this type of deal?

TK: I'm hearing the total package will likely be 10 years for about $270M, possibly as high as $275M. It'd be a record deal, which helps ARod and Boras save face. The Yankees get their Texas money back, which was their major sticking point, so they save face, too. Both sides should be thrilled -- Alex because he got a ton of money, and the Yankees because they retained the best player in baseball without giving up their
prospects, whom they can now use if Johan Santana comes on the trade market.

But Alex has to be somewhat embarrassed that he did not get the kind of dollars he told the world (through his agent) that he was worth, and the Yankees did make him essentially come crawling back to them. They never thought it would happen, because of Boras' resolve and his hold over Alex, but the Yankees believed (rightly, as it turned out) that they were the only team that could possibly offer A-Rod those dollars.

It was a major miscalculation by Alex... and yet he winds up with $270 million or so anyway. And the Yankees will see it as a victory, too ... and yet they'll be paying a 42-year-old almost $30 million in 2017. Pretty wild all around, if you think of it in those terms.
 

SJK: According to the general counsel of the Player's Union, the Yankees cannot exclude Scott Boras from the negotiations:

The Yankees will be in violation of baseball's collective-bargaining agreement if they exclude agent Scott Boras from their negotiations with his client, Alex Rodriguez.  "That clearly is a violation of the Basic Agreement," Michael Weiner, the general counsel of the players' union, told FOXSports.com on Wednesday. "Once a player designates an agent, a club cannot refuse to meet with that agent." (Source)

Can the Yankees actually do this without Boras?

TK: Murray Chass and I talked to some people about that point, and the Yankees did not put out the notion that they would exclude Boras from the negotiations. Their higher-ups are well aware of the rules. I believe I know the person who said (in another report) that Boras would not be allowed in the room, and while he's close to the Yankees, he is not a Yankees employee and does not actually work in baseball. That said, Boras works for Alex, and Alex can do whatever he wants. Players have the right to an agent but they can negotiate deals by themselves if they like (Curt Schilling and Jamie Moyer do this). I was told by a friend of Alex's that Boras would be involved on some level. But his level of involvement is determined by Alex, not the Yankees, and the Yankees understand that.

Scott told me for the November 4 story that it's his policy that clubs talk money through him, never through the player. It's a reasonable policy, but in this case, when you had guys like Rivera, Pettitte and Posada meeting personally with the Yankees' front office, it made Alex look spineless to have rejected the Yankees' initial request for a meeting because his agent believed they'd talk money and not concepts.
 

SJK: Why this sudden "change of heart" by Alex Rodriguez?  Did Boras misjudge the market and discover that no one would offer close to what the Yankees did?  Or was Arod petrified of
how his image was shattered by opting out like he did?

TK: Both. Alex realizes he let this thing get out of control, and when he hit the open market, he found that the offers he expected to get were not there. Also, as we know, he's been concerned about the hit on his image for a long time. Interestingly, though, I was told that he believes his ancillary businesses (real estate, auto, endorsements) would have maximum value if he's a Yankee, as opposed to an Angel or a Giant
or, as Hank Steinbrenner might say, a Toledo Mud Hen.

He also wanted to make sure when he met Hank and Hal today that, after everything that's happened, they still wanted him. Alex wants desperately to be loved, as we all know.
 

SJK: Is it possible that Alex is trying to save his image by appearing to negotiate with the Yankees, only to eventually sign elsewhere?

TK:  I guess anything is possible, but everyone I've talked to today says they believe a deal will happen with the Yankees. Somebody had to make the first move, because the alternatives weren't so great for either side. It turned out Alex made the first move, and I'm sure he thinks that will help his image.

Personally, though, I think this whole saga will set Alex way back with the fans, who had finally started to appreciate him in 2007. Now he goes back to square one, and no one trusts him. Having lost all the goodwill Alex built up with everything he did in 2007, he's really going to have to win a championship for people to warm to him again.

Until then, the one-man-sideshow act rolls on. But at least from a baseball standpoint, he's still wonderful to watch. And when you put aside all the business stuff, the bottom line is he'll help the Yankees win because he's a hell of a player.