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In a surprise to no one, Alex Rodriguez won this year’s AL MVP today in a landslide!

Congrats go out to A-Rod, he deserves this award. While drama follows this guy around in a big way (which I still say makes him perfect for New York), he really is amazing to watch on the field. I can’t wait to see him in a Yankees uniform again next season.

I got this in an email this weekend, but haven’t had a chance to post it until now. Awesome.

Best line: “Chuck Norris doesn’t endorse, he tells America how it’s gonna be.”

ESPN is reporting that Mariano Rivera will sign a three-year, $45-million contract with the Yankees, making him baseball’s highest paid closer.

The good news (and spending) in recent days continues. I guess the H+H brothers are going to continue their father’s tradition of paying the best, eh? Interestingly, as they sign players like A-Rod, Posada, and Rivera to these big contracts, the management ends up looking good – because these players (specifically Sandman and A-Rod, or rather, Scott Boras) wanted more years or more money. Funny.

A lot has happened in Yankeeland since I last posted. I’ve been out of town – my apologies.

First off, the Yanks signed Jorge Posada to a four-year, $52.4 million contract, making him the highest paid catcher in the game. And I think it’s great. Jorge had a career year. And yes, he’s old, and it’ll probably look silly to be paying a 40-year-old catcher $13 million in a few years. But so what? It’s not like the Yanks are hurting for the cash. It’s not like there was an alternative – Posada wanted the 4th year and looked like he was going to insist on it, which was a right that his play has earned him. So I’m all for it.

The Yanks also offered a three-year, $45-million offer to Mariano Rivera. This is a huge offer, and Mo would be crazy not to take it. By all accounts, it’s highly unlikely he’ll see anything similar from other teams. So again, the Yankees offer a huge deal to an older player – and again it’s a great idea. Mo has literally won World Series for the Yankees. This is what a good team does – they reward the players that stick with them and produce. If Rivera doesn’t take this offer, he’s nuts.

The biggest news, though, is that A-Rod and the Yankees are talking contracts again – and Scott Boras (aka the Dickface) is nowhere to be found.  Apparently Rodriguez was “dismayed” by the reactions to his opt-out and reconsidered. I love it. I would love to have A-Rod back. Look, we were all pissed off when A-Rod opted out, but I have always thought that a lot of that had to do with Boras whispering in his ear. Boras is a jerk, and I think A-Rod’s desire to speak again with the team – without Boras around – shows a lot about him. I believe that all season Boras was encouraging the opt-out, thinking about how much money he could make on the free agent market – and this is evidenced by the rumor that was floating around in later summer about a deal with the Cubs. While I have no concrete evidence on this, I don’t think it takes much of a stretch of the imagination.

So A-Rod, recognizing that he was in the wrong, apparently reached out to the Yankees through a third party. Apparently they are talking a 10 year, $280 million deal (with incentives to get to $300 million). A-Rod, understanding that the Yankees lose the Rangers’ $21 million, is apparently willing to take that into account.

Drama just follows this guy around, which in a way makes him perfect for New York. If he does end up signing again, a lot of credit has to go to Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner for sticking to their guns and not negotiating on the free agent market.

Dear Brian Cashman,

Let’s stop screwing around with Jorge Posada. SI is reporting that you’re about to sweeten your 3 year, $40 million offer to Jorge this weekend. Good call. He’s such a beast. And with three potential young arms in the rotation next year, Jorge can really teach a thing or two about how to pitch in the major leagues.  How about you just reward the guy for being a great Yankee and give him what he wants? Don’t screw this up.

Love,

Yankee Fans

With A-Rod out of the picture, the Yanks are obviously in need of a third baseman for next season. While Wilson Betemit isa  viable option, in recent days both Miguel Tejada and Scott Rolen have become available.

Miggy is probably past his prime, and has experienced a mysterious drop-off in power the past few years (Gee, I wonder why?). Even so, I wouldn’t mind him platooning at third with Betemit, as he can still provide a little pop now and then. Who knows, maybe a change of scenery would do him good.

Another option that’s been tossed around is Scott Rolen of the Cardinals.  Lord, I hope the Yanks don’t acquire him. There’s no nice way to put it. Rolen is a bum. He’s injury-prone, and has a shoulder that’s better suited for a 75-year-old. Rolen also has an uncanny ability to strike out with runners on or, better yet, ground into a double play. He’s got 35 home runs in the past 3 years, but it’s not like he makes up for that by hitting for average. Last year, in 112 games, he hit a whopping .265. Awesome.

Ron Paul may be a bit of a wacko, but he’s got some dedicated supporters. In a move reminiscent of Howard Dean’s online baseball bat, the Paul campaign raised more than $4.3 million online yesterday in a 24 hour period. This sets the record for most amount raised online in a day, and came close to the $5.7 million raised by John Kerry on the day he accepted the nomination in 2004. Wow.

Jerome Armstrong:

“Damn. Wow. Um, that’s pretty awesome,” said a stunned Jerome Armstrong who served as Howard Dean’s online strategist. Armstrong, the founder of the popular blog MyDD, said Dean raised as much as $700,000 in one day toward the end of the primary race. “But not a million,” Armstrong added. “What Paul is doing — or what his supporters are doing — is really impressive.”

The question though, is whether the campaign can translate this into votes. Paul surprised everyone by raising the 4th most of any GOP candidate in Q3, and is hoping to raise $12 million this quarter. I guess only time will tell if this means he can mount a real campaign for the GOP nod, or whether he can build a Ross Perot-type 3rd party campaign.

Joe Torre was officially announced as manager of the LA Dodgers yesterday, and immediately managed to wear his hat a little above where it should be.

He also is bringing Don Mattingly with him to the team (not surprising) and Larry Bowa (who was rumored to go to the Mariners). I feel like this is almost a face-off here: the Yankees 2007 coaching staff, now in LA, versus the new crowd in NY. The Dodgers don’t have the talent of the Yanks right now, but who knows what could happen?

In case anyone was confused, Scott Boras had a message for the Yankees: even though A-Rod opted out of his contract, you should still bid for him in the free agency open market.

Boras maintained Wednesday that the Yankees should treat A-Rod the same way they deal with reliever Mariano Rivera and catcher Jorge Posada, who also are free agents.

In other words, Boras is saying, “We want you to get into a bidding war with other teams over A-Rod, and pay him way more than the $28 million/year you offered. There’s a key difference between A-Rod and Posada/Rivera: he didn’t have to be a free agent! The Yanks were willing to negotiate with him directly to prevent this exact situation!

What a jerk Boras is. This comes after repeated statements by the Yankees that if A-Rod opted out, they wouldn’t go after him – because they lose the cash from the Texas Rangers that helps out with his salary. All those statements that A-Rod left because he wasn’t sure about the team’s future are now meaningless as well.