A-Rod Great Player, but Bad Investment
By RICHARD JUSTICE,
AOL
Posted: 2007-11-08 00:54:06
Filed Under: MLB
Sports CommentaryAlex Rodriguez is seeking a contract worth at least $30 million per season. If it's for, say, 10 years, that's a $300 million commitment.

How in the world will agent Scott Boras be able to convince a team owner that A-Rod is worth that kind of dough? Only the large-market teams -- Dodgers, Mets, Angels, Cubs, etc. -- will even consider that kind of contract.

Since those teams are already among the MLB leaders in attendance and since they're all raking in big dollars with their local broadcasting contracts, it's almost impossible to see what other card he can play.He'll talk up sponsorships, corporate partnerships, franchise value, etc. He'll tell teams that A-Rod will be the perfect partner.

But how can A-Rod be worth $300 million? Seven big-league teams are worth less than that, according to Forbes. There's nothing to believe A-Rod will deliver a championship, either.When the Astros won the National League pennant in 2005, they were the first team in history to make the World Series with one player (Roger Clemens) making more than 20 percent of the club's total payroll.That same year, the Chicago White Sox won the World Series despite not having a single player making $10 million. This year, the White Sox had six players making that much and finished 24 games out of first.The Boston Red Sox didn't have a single player taking up more than 12 percent of their $143 million payroll this season.

OK, numbers can be twisted to make whatever argument you'd like to make. A-Rod's other numbers can't.In four years with the Yankees, his postseason batting average was .245. That's 61 points below his career average.To put it another way, when the games count the most, Alex Rodriguez delivers the least. In seven trips to the postseason with the Mariners and Yankees, his teams failed to get out of the first round four times and never got to the World Series.

Is it fair to put the failures of an entire franchise on the shoulders of a single player? Of course not. But when a player demands extraordinary compensation, isn't it fair to demand extraordinary production?Plenty of great players have been great postseason performers. Jack Morris and Kirk Gibson. Reggie Jackson and Bob Gibson.When the Kansas City Royals won the World Series in 1985, it seemed George Brett was going to do whatever needed to be done. Inside the clubhouse, there was a feeling that Brett simply wouldn't let the Royals lose.

Alex Rodriguez is about two-thirds through a marvelous career. He has 518 career home runs and a .306 career batting average. He seems on track to become the game's all-time home run king and is a slam-dunk first-ballot Hall of Famer even if he never plays another game.But I keep wondering if he has regrets about the way he'll be remembered. He has been all about the money.

No one should ever fault A-Rod or Boras for taking full advantage of baseball's economic system. But Rodriguez has allowed himself to be defined more by the money than by his production.When he signed that $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers, that number had significance. It was exactly twice what the Minnesota Timberwolves were paying Kevin Garnett, who was then the highest-paid professional athlete in a team sport.Now with $92 million left on the table and the Yankees offering an extension that would have raised the value of his deal to more than $200 million, Rodriguez wants even more.

More than that, he wants a hand in running the franchise. Before he signed with the Rangers, he wanted a rundown on the team's minor league system.The Rangers were foolish enough to think their farm system would be a deciding factor. In the end, the fact that Boras fleeced owner Tom Hicks for another $100 million was all that counted.Rodriguez began complaining about the lack of talent in Texas about six months after he arrived. Never mind that his $25 million salary kept the Rangers from adding meaningful pieces.Boras said two of the reasons A-Rod opted out of his Yankees deal were his concerns about free agents Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera and how the club will be operated under Hank and Hal Steinbrenner.

He has to be kidding. Did he think the Yankees were on the verge of becoming the Reds?

Baseball people don't believe his line about evaluating farm systems before he finds a proper home. They believe money will decide it. And that's sad.

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