A-Rod deal could grow

Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees have agreed to the outline of a record $275-million, 10-year contract, a deal that potentially would allow him to earn millions more if he sets the career home-run record.

The amount of the guaranteed money was revealed Thursday by a person familiar with the negotiations. Rodriguez and his wife met Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., with brothers Hal and Hank Steinbrenner, but the parameters of the agreement were set in place last weekend.

“The meeting was a final get-together,” Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said. “He wanted to make sure myself and my brother knew that he was sincere and serious.”

The Yankees still must draft the agreement with Rodriguez’s agent, Scott Boras. Asked whether the only remaining details were putting the deal on paper, Steinbrenner responded: “pretty much so.”

Boras wasn’t a part of the negotiations, in which Goldman Sachs managing directors John Mallory and Gerald Cardinale conducted shuttle diplomacy.

“They were the go-betweens, initially,” Steinbrenner said. “That’s how he reached out to us.”

The Yankees were notified by Boras on Oct. 28 that Rodriguez was opting out of the final three seasons of his $252 million, 10-year contract -- the previous record -- and becoming a free agent.

New York maintained then that it no longer would negotiate with Rodriguez because the decision eliminated a $21.3 million subsidy from Texas that was negotiated in his 2004 trade.

Rodriguez and the Yankees exchanged proposals via the bankers, and the deal gradually was framed in about a dozen telephone calls.

The sides still are working on a provision that would let Rodriguez share revenue created by his pursuit of the career home run record held by Barry Bonds.