Johnnie Scoop?

The voice of the Yankees, John Sterling, went on the Fan last night (click here to listen) proclaiming that he had heard from an "extremely reliable source" that the a-rod deal is done. To paraphrase his statement - on a scale of 1 to 100, my source says it's a 101.

I have known John personally for 15 years and am shocked that he did this. John has been the voice of the Yanks for 2 decades; he has NEVER done anything like this before. Being so close to the Yanks for so long he undoubtedly has had numerous opportunities to report things before the typical media in the past but hasn't until now. While I plan to call him to ask the question later, (he is a notoriously late riser) I believe that the only reason he would do this is because he was asked.

I believe that Yanks wanted to gauge fan reaction to the pending re-signing and make sure that the bridges a-rod had burned by his selfish and egotistical World Series opt-out were at least somewhat repairable.

I believe that the bridge is very repairable. To paraphrase the Richard Bach quote - If you love your egotistical, money-grubbing 3rd baseman's production set them free. If they come back they're yours; if they don't trade for Miggy Cabrera. The fact that he has decided to come back essentially allows the Yanks to save their chips for other trade opportunities (namely Johan, Bedard or Haren). Getting a-rod offense for only money is a coup

We let a-rod go and he came back. Regardless of whether his primary goal was money, the fact is that he HAS come back and is apparently willing to take a somewhat discounted offer from the Yanks to do so is pretty telling.

While I am having a tough time doing it too, we all need to get over our anger at Boris' failed strategy and begin to embrace a-rod for what he will be - one of the greatest Yankees ever to don the pinstripes, and what his re-signing will bring - an opportunity to trade for another stud pitcher.

Thanks for the scoop Hank...oops! I mean John!