Toucher & Rich: The Barnicle Brothers Discuss 'The Deal' Documentary Involving A-Rod, The Yankees & The Red Sox
BOSTON (CBS) - What if I told you that the Major League Baseball Players Association allowed the biggest trade of the 21st century to go through?
It's interesting to look back at it now, and some Red Sox fans would like to forget this fact, but Alex Rodriguez could have, and probably should have been playing for Boston over the past decade.
The deal was all but done, but the MLBPA vetoed it on the grounds that A-Rod would be accepting a voluntary reduction in salary - a road the union was not willing to go down at that point in time.
Colin and Nick Barnicle, two local guys and brothers, appeared in studio Tuesday morning on 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich program to discuss their documentary film The Deal - a 30 For 30 short seen on ESPN.
The Yankees weren't even interested in Rodriguez until third baseman Aaron Boone blew out his knee playing basketball, so Aaron "Bleeping" Boone essentially crushed the hearts of Red Sox nation two times in just a few short months.
And what made the Yankees more attractive to the Texas Rangers over the Red Sox is the Yanks were willing to eat more money in the deal and wouldn't be sending back in the deal a problem player in Manny Ramirez.
In The Deal the two brothers interviewed everyone from Theo Epstein, Larry Lucchino and Jed Hoyer to Brian Cashman and others. Hoyer and Epstein, even knowing what they know now, would still do the deal for what was without question the best player in the game in Alex Rodriguez.
Also, that proposed offer from the Red Sox to the Rangers where A-Rod voluntarily takes a pay cut would be much more likely to pass through the MLBPA now than it was back then when Donald Fehr was running the show, according to the Barnicle brothers.
Listen below for the full interview:
If you haven't seen 'The Deal' you've got to check it out below:
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