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Just when you have accepted what has happened and convinced yourself that the team would move on without him, and possibly be better for it in the future, this happens...

Like you and most Yankee fans, I am now tempted by his overwhelming talent to hesitantly and begrudgingly accept his return to the Yankees.

Peter,

Damn it, I thought this nonsense was over. How could I have been so stupid, so naive? The soap opera continues.

A few thoughts come rushing to mind:

1. If A-Rod did approach the Yankees, it means he knows that he's not getting $350 million. It also means he knows no team is going to give him more than the Yankees. He's going to go to the team that throws the most money at him. Period. Everything else is irrelevant.

2. A-Rod cannot sit down with the Yankees without Boras, unless he fires Boras. It is in the collective bargaining agreement. And I don't think he's firing Boras.

3. If the Yankees think they have a reasonable shot at signing him for a price they can live with, they're going to do it. They'll spin it any way they have to. And they'll deal with Boras if they have to in order to get it done. Because they're panicking at the thought of life without A-Rod's offense.

4. If A-Rod thinks he can simply sign a new contract and then just pick up where he left off with the fans, he's delusional. Too much has happened. It took a historic year for him to get them off his back in 2007. What are the odds he's going to have another year like that? If he "just" hits .290 with 35 HRs and 125 RBIs, he'll get roasted alive for being an overpaid, worthless bum.

5. There are lots and lots of things we can say about A-Rod, good and bad. I don't think steroid user is one of them. It's very hard for me to picture it. I'm not saying the Yankees shouldn't perform their due diligence in this regard - of course they should - I'm just saying that I really don't think it's something he would do. Not because his character is so noble or anything like that, it's just not him. If he did do them, we'll find out though. No doubt about that. Some enterprising reporter will get the scoop on that. It will be all over the papers. It would probably knock World War III of the headlines (at least in the NYC tabloids).

6. My, the Yanks sure are throwing a lot of money around these days, aren't they? Not going to take long to reach a $300 million payroll if this keeps up. Can't wait to see those ticket prices next year. They're going to have to install pay toilets. Hasn't Cashman been saying that he wanted to get the payroll down from $200 million?

7. Given my druthers, I'd rather they spent the money on Johan Santana than A-Rod.

Peter you are in a tough spot. You have already publicly announced you will never utter his name again. What did you instead call him "

If the Yankees re-sign him, your posts for the duration of his Yankee tenure will be annoying to write...and read.

Why the angst? This is a no-lose proposition. If they sign A-Rod, they tie up the best hitter in baseball. If they don't, they free up salary to add a couple of free agents.

Since he hasn't officially fired Boras, Boras has to be behind all this. I was hoping A-Rod would just fire Boras, hire a lawyer to represent him on an hourly basis, and make the deal work by cutting the agency percentage fee out of the equation. It would have been beautiful to see Boras totally screwed. But it's pretty clear that Boras is scrambling behind the scenes and trying to find a way for everyone to save face.

I think we can, for the sake of typing ease, dispense with the > symbol. The guy is, after all, not someone like The Artist Formerly Known as (and once again know as) Prince.

We could always refer to him as, lemme see, ah, umm, Mr. Genuine or Slick Willy (nah, that last one is already taken) or something similar.

Look, the guy has always seemed immature for his age and impulsive as hell. Nothing ever changes in that regard, medication excepted.

If he comes back, I think of it this way. He'll still be someone we can complain about from time to time. And we can keep more of our young arms for other uses.

PS - no one is saying they won't deal with Boras, they're only saying, "Have a seat in the other room" to him. After all, he just gets a percentage or all of his players earnings, so it's in his best capitalist interests to have a seat and wait a while to see just how big his checks will be relative to Mr. Genuine.

This is great theatre !!!

The Yanks need to do whats good for the Yanks and signing A-rod is good for them. There is a "moral hazzard" of going back on their "if he opts out" he's gone stance but it should be weighed against benefits of signing A-rod to a deal.

Personally, the cost of "face" and the $21mm they lost by him opting out is not enough of a reason not to give him the same deal they were offering before, but someone needs to take a bullet here and that has to be Boras. Either he says sorry or he gets fired but he owes the Yanks here and let's face it, he needs to have a good relationship with them.

On the other hand ...

This could be a great ploy on the part of the PayRod Boras duo to get the Mets, Angels and Dodgers to the bargaining table. After all, Boras NEEDS to have the Yankees in the mix.

Boras is a great manipulator, this could be just that.

We shall see how this shakes out.

I think Greg captured my feelings exactly with his quote of "I thought this nonsense was over." And, I think Corey and Tim are absolutely right, this would be a win for the team because they wouldn't lose his production.

And Mitchell, don't think I haven't thought that a lot. Until I see a deal, I won't believe it.