Rollins can ask for five years, but it doesn?t mean he?ll get it

If your first offer doesn't get laughed at, you're doing something wrong.

That's my first rule of deal-making and it's a lesson that I learned from my father as we were being escorted out of a dealership while looking for my first car.

Considering that, I can't snicker at the contract baseline that Jimmy Rollins laid down on Tuesday in advance of his impending free agency. Despite turning 33 this November, Rollins wants a five-year deal from the Philadelphia Phillies or whoever's crazy enough to give it to him (cough - Brian Sabean -�cough). Rollins' role is not to act reasonable at the outset of the process.

"Five would be great. Five would be the number,'' Rollins [told SI's Jon Heyman last month]. "I don't think I want six or seven. You start thinking about 39 (years old). Do I want to play at 39?''

Most 39-year-old shortstops not named Omar Vizquel don't get the chance to make that decision and you have to figure that most GMs realize that.

But all it takes is one (cough - Brian Sabean -�cough), which is why Rollins is throwing that figure out there. Is it more likely that he'll be offered a three-year deal in the $40-45 million range by some team and end up being forced to take that? If baseball's front offices act reasonably and prudently ? an assumption that's no guarantee with Brian Sabean around ? you'd have to think so.

You also can't blame a guy for trying, though.

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