November 3rd

Pay-Rod


Reports are starting to come out that the Yankees apparently didn't have a big enough offer to keep Alex Rodriguez, and were told by his agent that it would need to come up with an offer of at least $350 million to schedule a meeting. The Yanks had hoped to meet with A-Rod this week and presented him with an extension offer close to five years and $150 million to begin at the conclusion of his 2008-2010 contract, through which he would have earned $81 million. Through that proposal Rodriguez would have made about $230 million over eight years, and during the last five years of his contract would have reportedly earned the highest annual salary in MLB history. At $230 million, New York was $120 million short to schedule that meeting.

There are several things that can be taken away from this.

Up to this point in his career, all A-Rod has accomplished is being the youngest member of the 500 home run club, one MVP award (possibily two depending on the outcome of this years voting), and several other good stats seasons, all of which are personal accolades. For someone who has yet to lead his team to the fall classic, forget about winning it for a second, and is batting .159 (7-44) with 1 homer and RBI in his last 13 post-season games, I think to ask for a $100 million pay increase in your next contract ($250 million over 10 years signed with Texas in 2001) is asking for way too much and I don't blame the Yankees for passing. You may remember that after signing that record breaking deal, Rodriguez compaired the next 10 years with Texas like Kirby Puckett's career and that last contract he signed with the Twins. Difference is that Kirby stepped it up when it counted not only in October winning two world series, but during the regular season, and didn't demand a trade 3 years into his contract when the club was below .500 and losing.

It's always been pointed out that the Yankees buy their club and championships. The Red Sox bought their championship this year, almost using the same blueprint of their rivals. Forgotten by most is the multi-million dollar fee Boston had to pay to just talk with Dice-K , not counting the contract he was signed to, along with several other free agents including what was offered to Manny Ramirez to leave the Indians, and look for more to be added and bought this off-season. The Yanks didn't sign A-Rod in 2001 to a $250 million contract and decided not to sign him to a $350 million contract this time around. While at times the Yankees have made some bad investments, they don't have all the money and the most money in baseball to throw around.

It is scary to think that a player is worth $350 million, or should I say a player and his agents cut. While the economics of not only baseball, but all sports have changed over the last 10-20 years. Just breaking down baseball for a second this past season the Average Salary was just under $3 million and minimun $380,000; 2002 $2.38 million and $200,000; 1997 $1.38 million and $150,000; 1992 $1.08 million and $109,000; and in 1990 the average was $578,930 and minimum $100,000. If there were no agents, or middle-men who just get a piece of the pie but don't do a whole lot and in most cases never played sports, would there be salaries as high as there are today if 100 percent of every contract went just to the player? That does bring up a chicken and egg sort of question. What came first, multi-million dollar contracts or agents?