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For many years, I have believed that money can’t buy everything. Now the Yankees are going to test that theory.
Not that winning is everything, but in the world of professional sports, it’s very close. Last week, the New York Yankees picked up who many believe to be the greatest player in baseball, Alex Rodriguez.
For those of you who are not familiar with the career of A-Rod I’ll quickly fill you in. At the age of 18, he signed with the Seattle Mariners where he managed 11 hits and zero home runs in his first season.
Then in 2001, A-Rod signed the most expensive deal in professional sports with the Texas Rangers. It is more money than most people can imagine, even people at DU. His contract, which will easily extend longer than his career, was a ten year deal for over a quarter Billion dollars.
Yes, that’s billion with a “B.” I’m not even going to tell you the starting salary for journalists.
As it stands, the Rangers had to pay the Yankees $67 million in the trade while the Yankees stand to pay the remaining $179 million of his contracts which extends through 2025.
All of this makes me wonder, why?
Why does one man deserve to make so much money, and why is this better for baseball?
Yankees fans will propose that the trade is allowing the greatest player in baseball to play on the brightest stage.
It is the same excuse for moving Shaq from Orlando to Los Angeles or for Broadway Joe Namath to show off how good he looked in a Jets uniform. It is also the same reason why people said Eric Lindros shouldn’t be playing in Quebec City or why Vince Carter shouldn’t play in Toronto.
Big players deserve the biggest markets. So, do only big cities deserve to be consistently competitive for championships?
What does this trade do for baseball? It makes baseball exciting in a couple cities while alienating baseball fans elsewhere in the country.
Let’s see, baseball is exciting in New York, Boston, Anaheim, Houston and occasionally in San Francisco. Despite losing two of their best pitchers, Andy Pettitte and Rocket Roger Clemens to the Astros, the Yankees have almost an entire starting lineup and starting rotation making over a million dollars a year.
This of course includes a left side of the infield that costs almost half a billion dollars, $441 million.
Boston has Nomar, Anaheim has Arte Moreno, a rich Mexican-American, who just bought Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colon. Finally, Houston now has Rocket Roger and Pettitte despite their age.
Who do the Rockies have? Twelve pitchers making close to the league minimum and Danny Neagle.
Larry Walker and Todd Helton are good players, but could only do so much. Honestly, how competitive are we expecting the Rockies to be this year after last year’s finish where they completed the season 26.5 games behind the Giants in the NL West?
The Blue Jays have AL Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, who will make just over $10 million this year, and the man who made almost $18 million last year, Carlos Delgado. However, last year they only had four players earning over a million and should still expect to finish a distant third to New York and Boston in the AL East this year.
Furthermore, the Jays and their fans are not alone. The majority of baseball fans have no reason to be excited for this upcoming baseball season.
Last week, many teams began their spring training and the big question is obviously: how difficult will it be for the Yankees to once again make it to the big show?
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig reluctantly approved the deal moving A-Rod to New York, but warned that he is likely to approve such a deal in the future.
In the mean time, rich owners and big cities are attaining a monopoly on the great players while they leave Rocky fans wondering what is exciting about having a major league ball team in the Mile High city.
