The rumors appear to be true - Alex Rodriguez is coming back to the Yankees.

A-Rod, the man who was supposed be persona non grata in pinstripe-land after ticking off boss Hank Steinbrenner, is now negotiating with Steinbrenner himself - without the direct involvement of his agent Scott Boras. The new talks apparently got started after A-Rod reached out to Steinbrenner through mutual friends at Goldman Sachs and said he was sorry about the whole opting-out thing, and anything else he may have done that irritated Yankees brass.

Apparently A-Rod didn't hate being a Yankee as much as we thought - which goes to show that media hype can sometimes be just that, a load of hype. In fact, A-Rod loves being a Yankee, as he attested on his website yesterday:

Prior to entering into serious negotiations with other clubs, I wanted the opportunity to share my thoughts directly with Yankees' ownership. We know there are other opportunities for us, but [wife] Cynthia and I have a foundation with the club that has brought us comfort, stability and happiness.

A-Rod just wants to be happy. And he will be, if indeed he signs the $270 million/10-year contract that's rumored to be on the table.

The interesting thing about all this is that it's being done without Scott Boras. No one is coming right out and saying that Boras is totally out-of-the-loop, but if you read between the lines a bit, that's exactly the indication you get. First there's that A-Rod statement, where he says, "Prior to entering into serious negotiations with other clubs, I wanted the opportunity to share my thoughts directly with Yankees' ownership." In other words, without strong-arming Boras in the way. And then there was this from Hank Steinbrenner himself:

I think he won the fans over during the season last year. I just think he was apologetic for things that happened earlier, when he wasn't necessarily calling the shots. He wants to stay a Yankee.

I guess it doesn't take much "reading between the lines" to see what Hank is saying there, does it? A-Rod wasn't calling the shots. Boras was the one who told him to opt out of the contract, in the middle of the World Series no less. That little move not only ticked off the Yankees but made A-Rod seem like even more of a jerk in the eyes of baseball fandom.

Somewhere along the line, A-Rod figured out that Boras wasn't doing him any favors, either in the PR department or in his attempts to negotiate another giant contract. In fact, A-Rod reportedly told friends that he was upset by the negative public reaction to the whole opt-out kerfuffle and was considering taking less money to stay with the Yanks.

So A-Rod has a heart after all, and Scott Boras has been told to go sit in the corner and keep his mouth shut. I don't know about you, but I'm starting to feel all warm and fuzzy inside.