What's more miserable:

A) Going to work where your employers hate you, your colleagues hate you, your competitors hate you, people witness what you do for your job and boo you/talk down to you/verbally attack you, media surrounds you and talks about how nobody likes you, you make $60 million.

B) Retire to Miami Beach, deal with significantly less animosity than A, make $30 million.

I'm not saying he's going to settle, but I understand there's a great possibility of that.  Saying "no way" is foolish.

Posted by burnsy483 on 8/1/2013 12:11:00 PM (view original):
What's more miserable:

A) Going to work where your employers hate you, your colleagues hate you, your competitors hate you, people witness what you do for your job and boo you/talk down to you/verbally attack you, media surrounds you and talks about how nobody likes you, you make $60 million.

B) Retire to Miami Beach, deal with significantly less animosity than A, make $30 million.

I think you're overstating how bad it will be. He'll get boo'd and the Yankees would obviously want to get rid of his contract, but I don't think he would have any problems from his teammates or the guys on the other teams.

Colleagues and competitors don't like him then.  Hate might be too strong.  Nobody in the baseball world respects him, thats for sure.  Do you want to work somewhere where nobody respects you?  For 3 years?

Who are we to question the opinions of somebody who feels that Kenny Lofton should receive consideration as a HOFer?

Posted by burnsy483 on 8/1/2013 12:15:00 PM (view original):
Colleagues and competitors don't like him then.  Hate might be too strong.  Nobody in the baseball world respects him, thats for sure.  Do you want to work somewhere where nobody respects you?  For 3 years?

They don't respect him now. They didn't last year or the year before. Why didn't he retire already if it's so bad?

This suspension really doesn't change anyone's opinion of him or behavior towards him.

Posted by tecwrg on 8/1/2013 12:26:00 PM (view original):
Who are we to question the opinions of somebody who feels that Kenny Lofton should receive consideration as a HOFer?

Are you talking about me or burnsy (or Jay Jaffe)? Because all of us think Lofton should receive consideration for the HOF.

Do you want to work somewhere where nobody respects you?  Or hang out with friends and family in Miami Beach for the rest of your life.

If you don't see a difference, I don't know what else to say.

Posted by burnsy483 on 8/1/2013 12:35:00 PM (view original):
Do you want to work somewhere where nobody respects you?  Or hang out with friends and family in Miami Beach for the rest of your life.

If you don't see a difference, I don't know what else to say.

My point is that they haven't respected him for a while. The suspension doesn't change anything. Why would he all of a sudden want to settle?

I think there's some underestimating of the union's desire to oppose a settlement here.  No one supports, but the precedent of players giving back guaranteed money (even under a legitimately mutual desire) is something I think they fight regardless.  Remember when A-Rod tried to give money back to facilitate a trade to the Red Sox before he wound up in NY?

Posted by bad_luck on 8/1/2013 12:38:00 PM (view original):

Posted by burnsy483 on 8/1/2013 12:35:00 PM (view original):
Do you want to work somewhere where nobody respects you?  Or hang out with friends and family in Miami Beach for the rest of your life.

If you don't see a difference, I don't know what else to say.

My point is that they haven't respected him for a while. The suspension doesn't change anything. Why would he all of a sudden want to settle?

I think being caught with roids for a 2nd time and going through several avenues to try to keep people quiet, all while bringing more negative attention to your team would anger his teammates much more than if nothing happened.  There's a difference between A-Rod on the Yankees last year and A-Rod on the Yankees in 2015.

Posted by AlCheez on 8/1/2013 12:40:00 PM (view original):
I think there's some underestimating of the union's desire to oppose a settlement here.  No one supports, but the precedent of players giving back guaranteed money (even under a legitimately mutual desire) is something I think they fight regardless.  Remember when A-Rod tried to give money back to facilitate a trade to the Red Sox before he wound up in NY?

I doubt they'd put up much of a fight for A-Rod.  Maybe I'm wrong.

Posted by burnsy483 on 8/1/2013 12:47:00 PM (view original):

Posted by AlCheez on 8/1/2013 12:40:00 PM (view original):
I think there's some underestimating of the union's desire to oppose a settlement here.  No one supports, but the precedent of players giving back guaranteed money (even under a legitimately mutual desire) is something I think they fight regardless.  Remember when A-Rod tried to give money back to facilitate a trade to the Red Sox before he wound up in NY?

I doubt they'd put up much of a fight for A-Rod.  Maybe I'm wrong.

That's my point - it's not about fighting for A-Rod - if there's a settlement in this case, they wouldn't be fighting FOR A-Rod, he'd be agreeing to give up the money, just like he was back then.  

The union doesn't want to open up this door because it could lead to teams trying to coerce players into "mutual" settlements.

I get what you're saying.  I said "for ARod" because theyre trying to get him to get his full contract.  

My thought is they'd be happy with ARod going away for good rather than play for another 3 years.  It's an extreme situation.  I doubt the union thinks much of him at this point.  They'd fight for Pujols to keep his deal if the Angels tried to buy him out, for example.  Or probably anyone else.

Posted by burnsy483 on 8/1/2013 12:54:00 PM (view original):
I get what you're saying.  I said "for ARod" because theyre trying to get him to get his full contract.  

My thought is they'd be happy with ARod going away for good rather than play for another 3 years.  It's an extreme situation.  I doubt the union thinks much of him at this point.  They'd fight for Pujols to keep his deal if the Angels tried to buy him out, for example.  Or probably anyone else.

I'm sure they'd love for A-Rod to go away, but extreme situation or not, it opens up a door they want shut forever.

And I don't think there's even a fight here - I think the union has full veto authority over this sort of thing, if I'm remembering what happened around the attempted Red Sox trade correctly.