You'd think that a tight race with the Rays, a question-filled starting rotation and an injured cleanup hitter would be enough to keep attention focused on baseball matters with the Yankees. Even when said injured cleanup hitter is Alex Rodriguez, things can't be that easy.
At least they can't be that easy when A-Rod is also deciding to sever a business relationship that no longer does him any good. A-Rod cut ties with Scott Boras recently and, unsurprisingly, this is being treated like a story even though it has no bearing on anything beyond eliminating one shorthand way of demonizing Rodriguez. The camp that believes Boras is pure evil could always use their relationship to make Rodriguez look like a greedy, self-interested player instead of a good teammate.
Hell, you'll probably see people waxing poetic about how much Rodriguez has grown because he made this decision. That's funny, because it seems pretty unlikely that anyone would compliment someone for deciding to end their relationship with a plumber after their drain is unclogged.
That's all A-Rod has done here. Boras is still getting his cut of A-Rod's contract and, seeing as how that 10-year, $275 million deal runs through the 2017 season, Rodriguez is never going to need to negotiate a new contract to play baseball. Why, then, would he need a baseball agent as part of his life? A-Rod said as much Friday when he confirmed the split and said that there were things he needed 20 years ago that he no longer needs today.
Much will be made of the 2007 opt-out decision and how Boras helped A-Rod draw some hatred by announcing it during the World Series. Perhaps that was a turning point in the relationship between the two men, but it is worth mentioning that A-Rod still had Boras negotiate his new deal with the Yankees and that he didn't do anything to stand in the way of the whole thing happening. He needed an agent at that time and he went right to the guy who he thought could get him the most money.
He doesn't need a baseball agent anymore so he doesn't have one anymore. Anything else you choose to read into this is fine and dandy, but that's the primary reason why Rodriguez ended the relationship.
He needs lawyers now, either to write him a pre-nup for Cameron Diaz or to help navigate the waters around his use of performance enhancing drugs or whatever else. Maybe he needs a manager or entertainment agent to deal with endorsement business. And, in the unlikely event that he ever needs to do another baseball contract, you can be sure that he didn't lose Boras's number.
Sports
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
