Will ARod Become Baseball's First $30 million Dollar Man

[KoryMac5]

Interesting discussion on the Mike and the Mad Dog show on the Yes network today. Both Mike and Chris speculating that ARod might opt out of his contract and sign for big dollars with another team. Mike suggested that the Giants might cut ties with Bonds after the season and make a run at ARod for 6 years $180 million. It is a very staggering figure but one that is entirely possible with the dollars owners are paying players.

[Johnny Footstool]

ARod would be a good fit for the Giants -- an established star over 30. He'd still be just about the youngest regular on the squad.

[Red Leader]

6 years and $180M. Wow. That's a lot of money.

No matter how much A-Rod gets crap, I still think he's a fantastic ball player. I love watching him and wish him nothing but success in the future. I wonder if he'll move back to SS on another team. I wonder if he can still play SS at a MLB level, or if growth and age would have forced a move to 3B by now anyway. Will be interesting to see where he'd play on another team.

[Mario-Rijo]

Originally Posted by Red Leader

6 years and $180M. Wow. That's a lot of money.

No matter how much A-Rod gets crap, I still think he's a fantastic ball player. I love watching him and wish him nothing but success in the future. I wonder if he'll move back to SS on another team. I wonder if he can still play SS at a MLB level, or if growth and age would have forced a move to 3B by now anyway. Will be interesting to see where he'd play on another team.

I found myself wondering about him moving back to SS the other day. Of course I was thinking about it because I had heard someone talk of perhaps A-Rod and Jr. going to Chicago next year to be re-united with Sweet Lou.

I thought that would be a heck of a lineup right there.

LF Soriano
CF Pie
RF Griffey
SS A-Rod
1B Lee
3B Ramirez
2B Theriot
C - ???

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by Mario-Rijo

I found myself wondering about him moving back to SS the other day. Of course I was thinking about it because I had heard someone talk of perhaps A-Rod and Jr. going to Chicago next year to be re-united with Sweet Lou.

Oh, they won't be able to afford him. Not after all the money they gave out last year. I think he stays in NY because the Yankees are the only team who could afford him.

[jojo]

Originally Posted by Mario-Rijo

I found myself wondering about him moving back to SS the other day. Of course I was thinking about it because I had heard someone talk of perhaps A-Rod and Jr. going to Chicago next year to be re-united with Sweet Lou.

I thought that would be a heck of a lineup right there.

LF Soriano
CF Pie
RF Griffey
SS A-Rod
1B Lee
3B Ramirez
2B Theriot
C - ???

Arod is aging into a pretty average third baseman at best. He can't play a credible shortstop any longer.

[Unassisted]

A-Rod should go to San Diego, LA or Anaheim so that he can have the rare distinction of playing for teams in the 4 corners of the continental US.

He'll probably go where the money is bigger, though. That seems to be his pattern.

[jojo]

Originally Posted by Unassisted

A-Rod should go to San Diego, LA or Anaheim so that he can have the rare distinction of playing for teams in the 4 corners of the continental US.

He'll probably go where the money is bigger, though. That seems to be his pattern.

Has there ever been a more talented player that was more impossible to relate too?

I remember watching Jordon play basketball. He was another insane talent that got paid the insane money he was probably worth. But you could see the obvious passion and drive and I don't ever remember thinking of Jordon in terms of his contract. Jordon on the court was in many ways everything we all aspire to be when facing our daily challenges (at least his game was a great analogy for life to me).

Arod on the other hand is the $200M man. Yaaaaa. I guess.

[KronoRed]

Originally Posted by Chip R

Oh, they won't be able to afford him. Not after all the money they gave out last year. I think he stays in NY because the Yankees are the only team who could afford him.

Yep, after the debacle his contract was on the Rangers I don't think anyone outside of New York is going to go over 20mill a year.

Hey..maybe A-Rod will sit out a year because no one will pony up the cash

[vaticanplum]

Originally Posted by jojo

Has there ever been a more talented player that was more impossible to relate too?

I remember watching Jordon play basketball. He was another insane talent that got paid the insane money he was probably worth. But you could see the obvious passion and drive and I don't ever remember thinking of Jordon in terms of his contract. Jordon on the court was in many ways everything we all aspire to be when facing our daily challenges (at least his game was a great analogy for life to me).

Arod on the other hand is the $200M man. Yaaaaa. I guess.

And yet the numbers he puts up don't come without passion or drive. I can't really believe that he plays as well as he does because of money, not least of all because he played that well when he didn't have money.

He's notoriously perfectionistic and hard on himself, which is one reason he's "choked" at times (though the choking has been very much magnified). He's withstood, unquestionably, more crap than any player in baseball over the last few years with the exception of Bonds, and it's certainly worth argument which of those two brought it on himself. But I believe A-Rod suffers because of his inward-thinking, eager-to-please personality -- and the more he tries to change those things, the less genuine he seems. I for one relate to someone like A-Rod a whole lot more than someone like Michael Jordan. Jordan always seemed perfect. That to me was something to admire and aspire to. A-Rod is brilliant and quite obviously terrified of failure, which stops him from reaching his fullest potential every time he's tantalizingly close. That to me is something to relate to. And something to cheer for, frankly. I don't care about his money. Money is not something I have time to worry about as a fan.

I understand why he's less publicly appealing than someone like Jordan in the way of personality, though I remain skeptical of a public that beats to a pulp a man when he seems his most human, when everyone from a seemingly invincible god like Michael Jordan to an utterly uninteresting speciman such as Paris Hilton attracts endless adulation and coverage. I do, though, feel sorry for people who can't see beyond the dollar signs where A-Rod is concerned -- and that is to me completely their doing, not his. He is probably the most talented player I have ever seen, and to watch him on the field -- which is where all baseball players should be judged -- is timelifting when he's playing at his best. And he plays at his best a lot more than people bother to realize. I'm not directing this specifically at you, jojo, just a general response to a version of a sentiment I hear a lot.

Lou Gehrig was another Yankees superstar who was paid pretty well and had a personality this side of standoffish. I wonder how people who overlooked him early in his career, when he was quietly in the shadow of his team's beloved, felt about that later on and regretted what they missed.

[jojo]

Originally Posted by vaticanplum

I'm not directing this specifically at you, jojo, just a general response to a version of a sentiment I hear a lot.

I guess thats why they make Mountain Dew and Pepsi.

[KoryMac5]

Originally Posted by KronoRed

Yep, after the debacle his contract was on the Rangers I don't think anyone outside of New York is going to go over 20mill a year.

Hey..maybe A-Rod will sit out a year because no one will pony up the cash

I really have to disagree I think a team like San Fran will come calling in a big way for his services. It would be a good marriage too. San Fran has never turned its back on Bonds no matter how bad the Balco case got. I have to believe they would embrace ARod in the same way. Over the next 5 years if he stays healthy he will shatter some records and put fans in the seats. He currently sits at 492 hr's and will turn 32 at the end of July. I do have to agree with Vatican too in that he really is underappreciated by many because of his current salary which is around 27 million. Just imagine how bad the Yankees would be without his numbers this year.

[StillFunkyB]

I never understood the hatred for A-Rod. I have always "liked" him.

Agent or not, someone was willing to pay that contract. George was even willing to trade for it.

I would like to see him go somewhere that he is a little more appreciated.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by StillFunkyB

I never understood the hatred for A-Rod. I have always "liked" him.

Agent or not, someone was willing to pay that contract. George was even willing to trade for it.

I would like to see him go somewhere that he is a little more appreciated.

I don't know if A-Rod is "hated". Bonds is hated. A-Rod is not liked. Maybe he's not as well liked because everything came too easy for him. Of course there were other superstars like that. Jr. comes to mind B.C. (Before Cincinnati). But Jr. was always smiling and gregarious - again, B.C. A-Rod has never really seemed like he was enjoying himself out there and when he has, it seemed forced.

BOS came awful close to getting A-Rod, people forget.

I don't know if he'll ever be appreciated until after he retires. If he does leave NY he'll be welcomed right away, like Jr. was here. But if his team isn;t winning, the fans and the media are going to point out the guy making $30M a year as the reason. You've head it before, "For that much money they could have signed 2 pitchers." Jr. had a great year in 2000 but he got the blame for the Reds not winning the division and finishing with a poorer record than the year before. Although it is funny in NY that if the Yankees are playing well it's Jeter who gets the credit and if they are playing poorly, it's A-Rod who gets the blame. And it never happens the other way around.

Some players are never going to be beloved. I think A-Rod is one of them.

[KronoRed]

Originally Posted by KoryMac5

I really have to disagree I think a team like San Fran will come calling in a big way for his services.

Probably but IMO no team outside of the NE can field a competitive team with 30 million going to one player, to me it would be a good way for a team to say "hey we don't care about winning, come see this superstar set records"

For 30 million this year you could get a Dunn, a JR and have enough left over for a bullpen.