Royals trading Beltran? [merged threads]

[Jim Rice]

Originally posted by satchel
Jim Rice, though I don't think Beltran is or will be as good as Bernie Williams, I'm just compelled to remind you that back in '98 the Red Sox offered Bernie Williams pretty much the same contract he got from the Yankees. So... the Yankees really aren't the "one, and only one, team" who'd pay him $12.5 million.

Actually, there have been rumblings for quite some time that the Sox offered that deal to Williams for one reason only - so George Steinbrenner would be forced to overpay Williams and match it. I don't think they ever had any intention of actually signing Williams to that deal. Even if they were, that was the Dan Duquette Era, one in which Manny Ramirez was worth $20M and Jose Offerman was worth $7M. Fortunately The Duke is dead...long live The Kid!!