Red Sox Blink and Miss Out

Is it possible that this was the deadline to end all deadlines?

Is it really conceivable now that after almost two months of an on-again, off-again story line, the plot of this complex and high-finance baseball soap has gone nowhere?

Time will tell, skeptics were saying Tuesday, but the cold reality seemed to be that a potentially historic trade was finally in need of a coroner.

In a strange and potentially final twist, working against a deadline imposed by Texas Ranger owner Tom Hicks, sources familiar with the situation said the Boston Red Sox suddenly blinked.

The result? The Red Sox failed to take advantage of the fact that the Rangers had removed a major financial impediment at the 11th hour.

In the process, the Red Sox seemed to have forfeited what may have been the last chance to acquire shortstop Alex Rodriguez for outfielder Manny Ramirez.

With holiday shopping in mind, Hicks enforced his mid-afternoon deadline and said in a statement it was “time for the Rangers to look forward to the 2004 season with Alex Rodriguez as our shortstop and leader.”

Is that it for sure?

Said Scott Boras, who represents Rodriguez: “Tom Hicks has indicated he will not consider a trade [involving Rodriguez] in the immediate future. I take that to mean Alex will be back with the Rangers next season.

“There was nothing more he or Tom Hicks could have done [to facilitate the trade with Boston].”

Boras refused to discuss specifics.

However, sources said he was clearly referring to two aspects of the negotiations:

* Trying to make it easier on the Red Sox, Rodriguez had already agreed to move $13 million of the $179 million remaining on his contract, the maximum allowed by the players’ union under the bargaining agreement.

* The Rangers, attempting to get out from under the Rodriguez contract in a last-ditch compromise, agreed to drop their demand that the Red Sox contribute to the $97.5 million remaining on Ramirez’ contract. Texas initially asked for $25 million, or $5 million a year for five years. That was lowered to $15 million, then dropped to zero on Tuesday, sources said.

In other words, satisfied with the $81.5 million they would be saving through the exchange of contracts, the Rangers agreed to a simple trade of Rodriguez for Ramirez and pitching prospect Jon Lester, who was agreeable to the Red Sox.

Still, Boston balked, and there was no explanation.

While a club official denied that it ever came down to a straight-up player trade, Red Sox brass simply released a terse statement that said there was nothing further to report related to consummating the trade and no further discussions were planned.

Said a person connected to the negotiations: “I think that once the Red Sox put the blame on the union [for refusing to permit a restructuring that would have reduced Rodriguez’ contract by almost $30 million], that was it.

“I think [Red Sox President] Larry Lucchino in particular saw this as a way to lower the average annual value of Alex’s contract. His vision for baseball is to drive salaries through a hole.”

As it stands:

Rodriguez and Ramirez appear to be headed back to teams they were hopeful of leaving and that were willing to see them go.

And in a potentially fractious fallout, the Red Sox now have to deal with shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, who would have been dealt to the Chicago White Sox for Magglio Ordonez if the Rodriguez trade had been completed.

If Garciaparra -- the No. 1 trade priority of the Dodgers during this off-season -- was not alienated by his club’s pursuit of Rodriguez, he would now seem to gain considerable contract leverage, although he may choose to play out the 2004 season (making $11.5 million) and leave for Los Angeles as a free agent when it ends.

Agent Arn Tellem refused to comment Tuesday, but a person close to Garciaparra said:

“I think Nomar wants to wait a few days to see if the [Rodriguez] trade is definitely dead and if the Red Sox approach him about a new contract before he says anything.”

For Rodriguez, dissatisfied with the Rangers’ direction during the three years since he signed his record 10-year, $252-million contract and willing to cooperate with Hicks when the owner approached him about a trade to Boston, the prospect of returning to Texas may not be easy.

Some Rangers have criticized him for his publicized effort to join the Red Sox, and his relationship with Manager Buck Showalter reportedly had been poor to start with.

Of course, Boras and Hicks put a good face on the situation Tuesday.

“We had said from the start that we would only make this trade if it could help make us better quicker,” Hicks said.

“I’m 100% certain that when the Rangers show up for spring training, the guy who will be working the hardest and the guy who will be our team leader is Alex.”

Said Boras: “This all started when Tom Hicks approached Alex, told him that the Rangers were going in a different economic direction as to the building of a team and asked for his cooperation in the facilitating of a trade that would give Alex the chance to join a team that figures to be an immediate winner. Alex is a professional. He has a very good relationship with Tom Hicks, and he’ll perform in the same way he always has.”

Hicks and Rodriguez spoke by phone several times Tuesday.

The Texas owner, for the first time in several days, said he also talked twice with John Henry, Boston’s principal owner, before implementing his deadline.

“We both recognized that the gulf was too big to bridge,” Hicks said. “Neither one of us thought [a Rodriguez trade] would take the public profile it did, or get as complex as it did.”

If it would seem naive for anyone to have thought that a trade involving baseball’s two highest-salaried players would be anything but high profile, is it naive to think it’s really dead?

Said a Red Sox official: “Maybe there’s still a pulse, but diminishingly so. At some point all of this is simply overwhelmed by the practicality of the calendar and the need to consider other moves.”