Around The Majors- Thursday

SOS2 presents a special ATM today, because the hot stove is too smokin to ignore.

-A-Rod is negotiating basically by himself with Hank Steinbrenner for a new contract, and there are opinions from all angles on how this impacts and/or weakens Scott Boras' stranglehold on the industry. Buster Olney said today that Boras "overplayed the perfect hand" and that this will be a signifigcant red mark for Boras. Another intriguing stance came from Keith Law, who did not rule out the possibility of Boras purposely letting Rodriguez virtually negotiate by himself because that would maximize his chance for a bigger contract which could be as high as 290 million, according to a report this morning on MLB.com.
"Scott Boras really is smart." Law posted in his weekly chat on ESPN.com. "I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt any time there's a question about his strategy." If there isn't a question on his strategy now, I don't think there would ever be any doubt placed on Boras. This is obviously a very interesting story, and keep it here for the duration of this day for breaking news stories.
-Jake Peavy was the unanimous winner of the NL Cy Young Award after leading the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts, which is the pitchers' version of the triple crown. This is the 12th time in NL history that an award was given unanimously, and the first since 2002 when Randy Johnson took it. If this is any consolation for the Diamondbacks fans, Brandon Webb was nearly the unanimous 2nd place, getting 31 of the 32 2nd place votes. Brad Penny came in 3rd.
-A New York Mets plan to split time at Catcher between Ramon Castro and Yorvit Torrealba may come to fruition as soon as today. Torrealba's agent Mark Roman told ESPN Radio in New York (the official station of SOS)that he'll sign a 3 year deal with New York today which will be worth 14.4 million dollars according to Newsday. Both Catchers will provide power to the position.
-Bud Selig said that MLB took in 6.075 BILLION dollars in revenue this season which should probably mean that the small market teams likely took in enough green to have higher payrolls. That will never happen, but there may be a shortage in excuses right about now for those penny pinching owners. -Even as the Yankees appear to be on the verge of signing Rodriguez, they still have interest in World Series MVP Mike Lowell to play first base, according to the New York Post and the Newark Star Ledger. Lowell's agent Seth Levinson said that the two parties have engaged in conversation.
-According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Mariano Rivera wants a 4th guaranteed year with the Yankees, which is why he has not yet accepted a 3 year, 45 million dollar offer. Whether another team like the Dodgers give him that 4th year is yet to be seen.

More reports and content will stream in as the afternoon and evening goes by right here on SprungOnSports2.