Yankees, Alex Rodriguez have six painful years left on big contract as injuries mount

[SammyBirdland]

Trip to Germany shows A-Rod desperate to get healthy

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-yankees-alex-rodriguez-painful-years-left-big-contract-injuries-mount-article-1.998203

[Tony-OH]

I feel just terrible for the Yankees......not!

[Moose Milligan]

Awesome. Not that I wish injuries on anyone but it'd be awesome to see all of those monster contracts to come back and bite them in the ass.

[weams]

Awesome. Not that I wish injuries on anyone but it'd be awesome to see all of those monster contracts to come back and bite them in the ass.

They will. It is certainly the reason the Fat Prince is still out there.

[Dipper9]

Awesome. Not that I wish injuries on anyone but it'd be awesome to see all of those monster contracts to come back and bite them in the ass.

Every year we keep saying this, but as of yet it has yet to happen.

However, this really could be the year. Jeter is getting old, A-Rod has had injury issues the past few years (steroids breaking his body down?), Tex has regressed each year since signing with the Yanks, Mo another year older, etc. It won't help US at all, as we still suck no matter what, but 2012 could come down to a 2-team race between the Sox and Rays.

[Moose Milligan]

Every year we keep saying this, but as of yet it has yet to happen.

However, this really could be the year. Jeter is getting old, A-Rod has had injury issues the past few years (steroids breaking his body down?), Tex has regressed each year since signing with the Yanks, Mo another year older, etc. It won't help US at all, as we still suck no matter what, but 2012 could come down to a 2-team race between the Sox and Rays.

I know, we've been saying this for years. But I agree, this could be the year.

[Frobby]

Hopefully, more painful to the Yankees than to ARod.

[Can_of_corn]

Neyer addresses the same topic.

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/31/keeping-score-assessing-the-return-on-a-yankees-investment/?ref=sports

[weams]

Neyer addresses the same topic.

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/31/keeping-score-assessing-the-return-on-a-yankees-investment/?ref=sports

I love the comment section.

..

It was George Steinbrenner's desire to get the biggest names, even if they were past their prime. So, in 2004, the Yankees had an all star team, unfortunately it was the 1999 All Star team. But when the Yankees won four championships in five years, they largely did it through their farm system and a deep pitching staff. That is where they spent their free agent dollars. Trying to buy a championship has not worked all that well for the Yankees.

At the end of the day, the Yankees won four championships and just two of the players from those teams (Jeter and Rivera) will make it to Cooperstown.

Edward G

Nothern, CA

No major player in baseball is worth the money they are paid. In nearly every case of a huge baseball contract the best you can hope for is 2-3 years of high level play. In most cases it is less than that.

In terms of on- the field play none of the Yankee stars earn what they are paid. Is Sabathia worth over $1M per victory that he his currently earning? Derek Jeter has not played anywhere near the >$20M he's earning in the last couple of years. The best player on the team is Cano - and pretty soon he'll be over paid too.

A-Rod generates alot of interest - good and bad - which correlates to paying customers. The article leaves out his horrendous play in the post season - an argument that Jeter supporters have used for years to defend his huge contract. If you include this you could say he's even less worthy of this huge contract.

That said, this is not an A-Rod problem - this is a Yankee owner and fan problem. Yankee fans want stars and the owners need people to show up to games and watch YES. Fans keep paying the money so owners keep spending it.

A-Rod's defenders seem to overlook the real cost of his contract. Because of that huge outlay, the Yankees attempt to econmize in other areas like the bullpen and the bench. The deficit in those two areas is the real difference between the teams of 96-01 and the A-Rod teams. And the effect of A-Rod's salary on so many other positions is why the WAR is so misleading in estimating A-Rod's real cost to a team. The plain fact is that no team has gotten better by signing him, but 2 have improved by letting him go.

Jan. 1, 2012 at 2:02 p.m.

Recommended1

.A-Roid has demonstrated all that is wrong with major league baseball: he's left bankrupt franchises in Seattle and Texas where they only began winning once he was gone; he's been frighteningly unproductive in the post-season when, that is, he hasn't been nursing one injury or another, perhaps due to his south-of-the-border PED use; he is the epitome of loyalty to the almighty dollar, a transient player willing to follow the money wherever it leads regardless of the impact it has on the game; and the only positive attribute I have seen from his signing his mega-contract was that he's been draining the Yankees coffers ever since.

He is the poster-child for all that is wrong with this sport...

Pax vobiscum...

Jan. 1, 2012 at 1:46 p.m.

Recommended1

For those of us who despise the Yankees and what their foolish spending has done to baseball, there's a very healthy dose of schadenfreude that comes with watching them pay for a continuously deteriorating A-Rod.

Jan. 1, 2012 at 1:14 p.m.

Recommended1

The problem with this kind of nostalgia is that the players you remember so fondly had no choice but to play for the team that signed them and for whatever said team was willing to pay (you do remember the reserve clause right?). Because teams had all the power, they could easily keep them together and pay them a fraction of their worth and there was nothing, (aside from holding out and not being paid) players could do about it.

Jan. 1, 2012 at 3:28 p.m.

Rodriguez was a terrible investment. He never produced in the end of the season. And you cannot fight the clock. Albert Pujol seems just as bad for the Angels. The problem is that the Major League teams do not compete, but rather cooperate with each other. The Yankees are almost guaranteed to appear in the post season and the extra money allows them to make bad decisions like this. There are just too many minor league teams in the majors to be able to compete with the Yankees.

Jan. 1, 2012 at 12:22 p.m.

A-rod has become his former teammate, Ken Griffey. He is a player that burst on the scene at a very young age, and has become broken down.

Steriods? I'm a Yankee fan, but believe that age and the former use of steroids accelerates the breakdown of a player. A-Rod has nagging injuries. I think this will continue and he will not achieve those lofty goals like being the HR king. I think his contract is absurd. As someone already mentioned, the Yanks will be stuck with him as well as Jeter as they age and decline.

Jan. 1, 2012 at 12:18 p.m.

Let's not forget about Mr. Rodriguez' opt out, costing the Yankees $21 million that the Rangers were paying, when simply extending him would have kept those funds coming to the Yankees. Let's also not forget Yankees' management avowing NOT to sign him if he opted out. If only they had held to their promise. Had he simply extended his contract, per your logic, his cost/value gap would have been LESS negative, but still negative. I still shake my head and wonder how anyone is willing to pay a guaranteed fixed price up to 10 years in the future....with all evidence, aside from perhaps Jeter, pointing to the foolishness of it.

Jan. 1, 2012 at 12:16 p.m.

A good analysis...but why no mention of his admitted use of steroids (he claims for the three years in Texas, but....) and known medical science that attributes steroid use to eventual muscle breakdown and other degenerative aliments (i.e. Mark McGwire and the patellar tendonitis that forced him to retire). The aforementioned hip injury and apparent arthritic knee fit into the category of steroid-related maladies.

[ccbird]

I think it's possible the Yanks in effect buy him out and he retires in 2 or 3 years if things get that bad. The worst case for the Yanks is Rodriguez is just good enough and just healthy enough to actually hang on for all 6 years left on his contract.

[Gurgi]

If he sucks they will move him to DH after giving him every chance to play third. If he really craters they will just eat the contract and go out and buy the next megastar to hit free agency. Rinse and repeat.

[Can_of_corn]

I think it's possible the Yanks in effect buy him out and he retires in 2 or 3 years if things get that bad. The worst case for the Yanks is Rodriguez is just good enough and just healthy enough to actually hang on for all 6 years left on his contract.

Unless he breaks down totally I don't see his ego letting him quit. He wants the homerun record.

[jjdman]

He also gets a 6M bonus with HR #660, he's at 629 right now.

[byrdz]

The Yankees will find a dumb team to unload him onto and get their entire farm system in return.

[SammyBirdland]

The Yankees will find a dumb team to unload him onto and get their entire farm system in return.

Ugh, please don't be us. We expressed interest in Posada. We're inquiring about Soriano. We're interested in Abreu. We're watching Manny Ramirez take BP. I could definitely see A-Rod in an O's uniform someday.