Was the A-Rod Contract Really Worth it?

A-Rod was never worth the money the Yankees gave him some six years ago. (Credits: Kathy Willens/AP Photo)

There is no arguing that Alex Rodriguez is a Hall-of-Famer. I mean other than the fact he admitted to using banned PEDs, A-Rod is first ballot material. But he also changed the sport in a totally different way, he made money matter.

When the Texas Rangers offered a 25-year-old Rodriguez a 10 year/$252 millon contract the sports world was sent into hysteria. Some thought it was laughable, others tabbed it as ridiculous and even some called it horrifying. There was no arguing at the time that A-Rod was the league's best player especially after he had just posted three consecutive 40-plus home run, 110-plus RBI seasons. Ken Griffey Jr. was on the downslope of his career apex and the injury bug was about to bite him again and again. Albert Pujols was just entering the league as a promising prospect, but nothing that could topple A-Rod's play. Major League Baseball was his.

Yet unlike many stars we've seen over the years, Rodriguez immediately proved to the world that the contract was worth it or at least that he was rightfully the highest paid player in the history of sports. .318/52/135 in his first season in Texas. .300/57/142 in his second season. In his third season he garnered his first MVP award by posting .298/47/118. Even despite his Rangers' teams being subpar, Rodriguez still was tearing through the league. However, Texas realized they couldn't sustain this deal with such horrendous talent surrounding Rodriguez. The best player in baseball was on the trade block. As we all expected the Yankees made the call to the Rangers front office and soon after the best player on earth was playing for the best franchise on earth.

Rodriguez's transition from the small market Rangers to the Bronx Empire didn't exactly bring MVP results. Though A-Rod did post .286/36/106 in his inaugural pinstripes season, a pivotal play in the ALCS sent Rodriguez in a postseason tailspin. That play of course was the "slap," something Yankees fans never ever want to talk about. Since that play was proceeded by the biggest postseason choke in the history of baseball, the pressure of Rodriguez grew to immeasurable heights.

Before that '04 ALCS A-Rod had been a pretty solid postseason player, hitting .363 in four postseason series. But all of the sudden Rodriguez became a choke artist, botching almost every single clutch opportunity he had in the following years. That '05 MVP season? Didn't matter because he batted .133 in a 4-1 series loss to Angels in the ALDS. He followed that spectacular '05 season with a solid 35 homers and 121 ribbies in the '06 regular season. Again, however, failure shrouded Rodriguez in the playoffs. He had only one hit in an embarrassing sweep to the Tigers. The superstar had hit rock bottom. Yankees fans had turned on him. Every time Rodriguez toed the batter's box in a clutch situation, it was a big joke. Flailing at curve balls, popping up fastballs, striking out at will. '07 was no different from '05. An A-Rod MVP followed by another Yankees sweep, this time to the Indians. Rodriguez was 4-for-15 in that series, hardly an indication of his monstrous 54 home-run, 156 RBI-season. His career had officially entered a bizarre realm. Things would get even more strange that offseason.

An opt-out clause after the 7th year of the contract allowed the 31-year-old to get out of his already massive contract. With money grubber Scott Boras representing him, Rodriguez went to war with the most successful organization in baseball. Rumors of 10 years/$300 million were swirling and as one of my friends, Alex Antilety put it, "He was looking for a contract only God deserves." He was right. I don't care how good the slugger was in the regular season, his putrid playoff numbers gave him no right to approach the Yankees with such gaudy dollar demands. No one that averages .230 in five playoff series (24 games) deserves that money. God doesn't choke in primetime anyways. The sides eventually met on a 10-year/$275 million extension, making Rodriguez far and away the highest paid athlete in the world.

Once again A-Rod put together a solid .302/35/103 season in that '08 campaign, but this time the Yankees couldn't even muster a playoff berth. It was considered a gigantic waste for the Bronx Bombers to miss the playoffs in the final season at historic Yankee Stadium. Rodriguez was at the center of that debacle. But something clicked in the 32-year-old after that season. The superstar had enough of being the butt of everyone's joke, being labeled a "choke artist." Late-gaem magic came out of nowhere in the summer of '09.

It's August 7th, the Yanks and Sox are locked in an epic 15-inning scoreless struggle in the new Yankee Stadium. A-Rod steps to the plate with a runner on base and proceeds to deposit an absolute bomb into the center-left-field bleachers and the rest was stunningly history. I remember that game like it was yesterday. I mean a 0-0 game in the bottom of the 15th between the Sox and Yanks can oddly be both the most boring, yet exciting thing you'll ever watch. But that's not the thing I remember from it. That's not why I remember that game so fondly. I remember sitting there as the ball sliced through the humid August sky saying this could be A-Rod's career-changing moment. It was...at least for that year. The slugger batted .330 in the months of August and September with 11 home runs and 42 RBIs. But October was when the much maligned superstar changed the world's perception.

The '09 playoffs were all about Rodriguez, who was a scorching hot .378 in 15 games with six home runs, 3 of which of the late-game tying variety, and 18 RBIs. Championship number 27 was ultra sweet for Rodriguez because it was his first, along with his first World Series MVP. For Yankees fans that postseason run was so magical, not just cause it was their first since 2000, but because A-Rod was just so sizzling hot and so clutch you couldn't believe it. The guy went from a pariah to a surefire late-game playmaker. Consider the world stunned. Consider A-Rod vindicated.

But the ugly playoff numbers have continued since that epic run in 2009. In his last five post season series those ugly numbers have returned. 21 games, only 12 hits and zero home runs. Rodriguez's struggles peaked last year in the ALDS when he was benched in the ninth inning in favor of an aging Raul Ibanez. The 40-year-old pinch hitter tied the game with home run in the ninth and then won the game with another bomb in the 12th. Rodriguez was thoroughly embarrassed and eventually was benched in Game 4 of the ALCS, the game in which the Tigers completed their sweep of the Yankees. Then the offseason brought about unexpected hip surgery which will have A-Rod on the DL until some time in July.

Here's the question though, were all the headaches associated with Rodriguez's lack of a clutch gene and monetary desires really worth it for the Yankees? Was one World Series trophy and a slew of embarrassing playoff exits worth the near $30 million he earns a year?. He hasn't been effective since 2010 and yet he's still under contract for at least $20 mil a pop until 2017. A mind bogging statistic when you think about it. He'll be 42 when the contract is up. 42 years old. And with all the injuries he's dealt with lately (he hasn't played more than 140 games since 2007) you have to wonder if it's going to be truly wasted money.

Giving a 32-year-old a 10-year extension is never something you want your team to do. But if it gets you a title does it then verify the necessity to ink such a deal? I'd say so if it was for a franchise that didn't have 27 championships. But no, the Yankees botched this one. They bit on Scott Boras' strategies and it may have costed them a chance to re-sign their future, also known as Robinson Cano, unless they want to forfeit their sanity and have a $300 millon dollar-plus payroll.

Prima donas aren't worth 275 million dollars. Matter of fact, no one is worth $275 million. Lesson learned Bronx Bombers. Lesson learned Major League Baseball.