60 Minutes A-Rod Story

[FloridaMan88]

Anyone catch the A-Rod story on 60 Minutes?

Steroids dealer Tony Bosch claims that A-Rod's "associates" initially tried to bribe him to leave the country and then texted his ex-girlfriend threatening to kill Bosch if he snitched.

Bud Selig and MLB COO Rob Manfred also were interviewed in the report and went after A-Rod claiming he is a liar, a fraud and committed an unprecedented attempt to hide his actions.

Very interesting.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by ISWThunder

It is important in the context of the quoted statement, which involves the idea of A-Rod looking for a job after his suspension is over.

And it's still no guarantee that the Yankees will be under the threshold.

The Yankees are far from a complete team, right now. They are reportedly one of the finalists for Tanaka, which will cost them close to $20 million and guarantee that they go over the luxury tax.

The NY Post currently has them at $153.5 million with only 14 players contributing to that number and notes that they have to add roughly $16 million for insurance/pensions and in-season minor-leage call ups. That number also doesn't count arbitration eligible players like Gardner, Nunez, Robertson and Nova (about $6.5 million at minimum - MLBTR has it projected at over $12 million). That puts the Yankees at roughly $176 million with more holes to fill.

$10 million is more than enough to sign 8 players but probably not enough to make them a contender. $4.5 million means that the Yankees are toast and are better off signing Tanaka and forgetting the cap. That's also only taking the 25-man roster into account and not the 40.

The $20MM posting fee does not count towards the luxury tax. There are several stories out saying that if they get Tanaka on a backloaded deal, they can still fill out their roster with cheap players and squeek under the $189MM limit.

I agree that they can't stay under that soft cap AND field a contender in 2014, but I think they are willing to punt 2014 with an eye towards going wild the next couple seasons.

[The Rick]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Because their agreement with the players designates 50, 100, and lifetime suspensions for PED use. What the hell is 162 games based on (other than saving that $25M for the NYY and getting him out of baseball for a year for PR purposes)?

The 50, 100, and lifetime suspensions are for failed tests, I believe. A-Rod technically never failed a test, hence the non-standard suspension.

Braun's suspension was abnormal also because his suspension wasn't for a failed test (he beat that suspension). His was a plea deal, basically and that's what was agreed to.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by RippedmyFlesh

It is not a cap and teams like ny boston la pay the luxury tax like its a parking ticket.

As far as the powers that be in NY are concerned, it is a hard cap for them this year. Old man Steinbrenner probably would not have cared about paying a ton of luxury tax, but his sons do.

I can understand you not knowing if you don't care about and don't follow baseball, but its been a pretty big story for months that the Yankees are going to move heaven, earth, and hell to stay under the soft cap this season.

Doing so for even just one season will save them a HUGE amount of money in later seasons when they blow through the luxury tax threshold.

[HemiEd]

It was a very informative interview by 60 minutes. I had no idea that the timing could be important and they had such a menu of drugs.

That Bosch guy accusing virtually everyone in baseball of being dirty was a little unfair and over the top. He is a real slime ball.

[ISWThunder]

Originally Posted by alnorth

The $20MM posting fee does not count towards the luxury tax. There are several stories out saying that if they get Tanaka on a backloaded deal, they can still fill out their roster with cheap players and squeek under the $189MM limit.

I agree that they can't stay under that soft cap AND field a contender in 2014, but I think they are willing to punt 2014 with an eye towards going wild the next couple seasons.

I know that the posting fee won't count, but most people guess that Tanaka's future deal will be worth over $100 million and possibly between $17-22 million per year.

And that's not how the luxury cap threshold works. MLB averages out the entire contract and asses the tax by average value. That is why A-Rod's salary cap number was 27.5 even though he would have made $25 million this year.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by ISWThunder

It is important in the context of the quoted statement, which involves the idea of A-Rod looking for a job after his suspension is over.

And it's still no guarantee that the Yankees will be under the threshold.

The Yankees are far from a complete team, right now. They are reportedly one of the finalists for Tanaka, which will cost them close to $20 million and guarantee that they go over the luxury tax.

The NY Post currently has them at $153.5 million with only 14 players contributing to that number and notes that they have to add roughly $16 million for insurance/pensions and in-season minor-leage call ups. That number also doesn't count arbitration eligible players like Gardner, Nunez, Robertson and Nova (about $6.5 million at minimum - MLBTR has it projected at over $12 million). That puts the Yankees at roughly $176 million with more holes to fill.

$10 million is more than enough to sign 8 players but probably not enough to make them a contender. $4.5 million means that the Yankees are toast and are better off signing Tanaka and forgetting the cap. That's also only taking the 25-man roster into account and not the 40.

They can spend whatever they want, it's only limited by how much they want to spend. Geez, I really feel bad for the Yankees having to stretch their budget in order to field a competitive team.

/Me, Royals fan

[cosmo20002]

I would seriously love for the yanks to get butt raped on this. They've had a financial advantage over almost everyone for years, which is what allowed them to sign ARod to such a bloated deal in the first place. Sorry it backfired, they can choke on it.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

I would seriously love for the yanks to get butt raped on this. They've had a financial advantage over almost everyone for years, which is what allowed them to sign ARod to such a bloated deal in the first place. Sorry it backfired, they can choke on it.

It's all on the up and up, so it must be fine, right?

Nobody feels sorry for them, but just because their owner cares about baseball and winning a billion times more than ours, can you really get mad at them?

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

I would seriously love for the yanks to get butt raped on this. They've had a financial advantage over almost everyone for years, which is what allowed them to sign ARod to such a bloated deal in the first place. Sorry it backfired, they can choke on it.

They only have to get under 189 for one season to reset their tax. I fully expect their payroll to blow way past 200MM in 2015, maybe even a quarter-billion.

[Brianfo]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

I would seriously love for the yanks to get butt raped on this. They've had a financial advantage over almost everyone for years, which is what allowed them to sign ARod to such a bloated deal in the first place. Sorry it backfired, they can choke on it.

This. ____ the Yankees.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by RippedmyFlesh

There is no cap in baseball. Did the kc owners tell you that?

Originally Posted by RippedmyFlesh

It is not a cap and teams like ny boston la pay the luxury tax like its a parking ticket.

You should consider figuring out what you're talking about before posting.

[ISWThunder]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

They can spend whatever they want, it's only limited by how much they want to spend. Geez, I really feel bad for the Yankees having to stretch their budget in order to field a competitive team.

/Me, Royals fan

That is not the point we were discussing. Obviously, they can spend whatever they want. But ownership has claimed that they want to control spending and the best way for them to do that is to get under the luxury threshold and reset the tax penalty.

It is stupid for them to spend $190 million and field a team that is uncompetitive. If they are going to go over the threshold once again, they should be all in on Tanaka because they desperately need starting pitching.

It is useless to bring in someone like Ervin Santana and continue to lose while spending atrocious amounts of money, but obviously they arent going to throw in the towel because of an imaginary budgetary constraint.

As a Royals fan, you should hope that the Yankees miss out on Tanaka and continue to overpay mediocre/over the hill players. They will suck this year and then we get the pleasure of watching them pay A-Rod $60 million more and limp towards his contractual incentives.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by The Rick

The 50, 100, and lifetime suspensions are for failed tests, I believe. A-Rod technically never failed a test, hence the non-standard suspension.

So it was a completely arbitrary decision, yes.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

So it was a completely arbitrary decision, yes.

I thinks that means he has to play for the Royals next year... Woot!!!!!!!!!!!

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

So it was a completely arbitrary decision, yes.

Well to be fair, they have solid evidence that he used steroids in 2010, 2011, and 2012. We already know he used in 2001-2003. (We'll ignore the fact that he likely used every year of his entire career since there's no proof of it) If those last 3 were all positive tests, it would be a lifetime ban.

With the evidence that baseball uncovered, we don't need a positive test to ban A-Rod for one full season.

edit: apparently the commissioner's office broke it down this way, for 3 seperate and distinct violations: 50 games for testosterone, 50 games for IGF-1, 50 games for HGH, and they tacked on the last 12 for obstruction.