Since the Boston deal fell through, I've been predicting the Yanks would get A-Rod. I never put it on the blog, but I have e-mail proof.

It was just too perfect to not happen:

1) A few years ago, I was in Hong Kong for a Shabbat. The synagogue there is affiliated with a communit center massively well-endowed by certain philanthropists from about a century ago. That kind of financial freedom enables it to do strange things, such as what was recounted in the following story I heard that weekend: Apparently some VIP from the synagogue was away for the summer, and someone from Israel had been retained to serve in his stead. The Israeli imports were supposed to stay at the VIP's home, which was vacant except for the VIP's housekeeper. Said housekeeper was apparently unhappy about the prospect of other people staying in the home, and made her unhappiness well-known. Rather than trying to negotiate a solution with the housekeeper, the synagogue decided it was more efficient to rent hotel accomodations for the Israelis. For the entire summer. In a not-especially-cheap hotel.

Questions of "value" and "efficiency" are answered differently by the massively-wealthy than by you and me. If you want to move Captain Derek "Mr. Clutch" Jeter off his beloved shortstop position - a move which virtually all objective observers believe should happen sooner rather than later - you might try raising the matter frontally (and simultaneously raise a ring-counting storm) and then worrying about whom to replace him with. Or, you might go for the only politically correct way to do so: introduce him to his more expensive former friend. If you have the resources for the latter...

2) More on this later, but the Yankees have positioned themselves as the Option of Last Resort for teams looking to dump large contracts. That position enables the Yanks to drive a better bargain than might otherwise be apparent. As has been noted, the Yankees are adding less than $2 million in salary for this year with A-Rod, and they sold almost $5 million in tickets in the few days after acquiring Rodriguez. They can not only afford A-Rod, but can turn him into further profits.

3) Finally, who can underestimate the "sticking it to the Red Sox" factor? While it is true that A-Rod probably only improves the Yankees by a couple of games over Soriano (especially if A-Rod doesn't remain at SS), those couple of games might be the difference between the two teams. And that's to say nothing of the satisfaction gained by evoking reactions like the following:

My favorite phone call came from my buddy Hench, who was attending a wedding back East. When someone casually told him the news, poor Hench was done for the rest of the reception. His legs buckling under him, he stepped outside for fresh air, pacing in 30-degree weather like a maniac, finally leaving a 90-second message on my machine that featured 20 swears, three tirades and a climactic 10-letter expletive about Gene Orza. Happy Valentine's Day.

The last time so many factors lined up this conveniently, Roger Clemens became a Yankee. It was easy to predict a similar result this time.