This came blasting across my local news last night, and its all over sportcenter today...A-Rod to Yankees (he'll play 3rd) for Soriano and a minor league pitcher...


I had a feeling something like this would happen, because everyone knew Rod wasn't happy in Texas, and Boone fucked up and is probably never gonna suit up in pinestripes anymore. Plus, the Yankees are the only ones with the balls and the pocketbook to actually go through with a trade like this (yes, boo on you BoSox).

Just a note: the trade is "very likely" according to ESPN, but it hasn't officially gone through and there have been no press releases. But the Rangers GM has all but confirmed it.

This is just crazy. Who's going to stop them now? Teams like the Royals (who went through a lot to get decent off-season acquirements) will be crushed after a deal like this. The Yankees will now have 6 of the top 12 highest-deal players in MLB history IN THE SAME LINEUP.

With the deals made by New York in recent weeks, I'm surprised that even they could still afford A-Rod. This goes to show that baseball needs a salary cap (well, at least for us non-Yankees fans).

Congrats to the 2004 World Series Champions: The New York Yankees!!

Of course, the Yankees recent success was built on solid (not spectacular) regular players and excellent pitching. Now they've assembled a team of all-stars at almost every position but are leaving big questions about pitching.

I was listening to the radio and they were speculating - what happens the first time Jeter makes an error and George wants ARod at shortstop. There is going to be a lot of pressure on Torre this year.

Of course, I look on this with mixed thoughts:
a: I don't care for it because it has the appearance of yet another "rich get richer" deal.
b: I kind of like it because the company I work for has season tickets to the Yankees and it is more fun to see a winner.

LOL! Johnny Lips, I guess with Rodriguez now, those struggling Yankees might finally have a chance.

I see that Maddux rejected his latest offer...maybe the Yanks should go after Greg?

According to today's paper, they are. The Yankees have a $200 million dollar payroll. It will make it more fun watching them lose in the end, when their pitching doesn't hold up.

Hey Lou,

Mike Francesa asked the question: How will Javy Vasquez pitch in Yankee stadium with 55,000 screaming fans at a Red Sox game? Javy is used to 3,000 fans packed in to see the Padres. So many unknowns.

According to today's paper, they are. The Yankees have a $200 million dollar payroll. It will make it more fun watching them lose in the end, when their pitching doesn't hold up. [/b][/quote]Actually its $179,000,000 and I cant wait to see their pitching go either...

talking about piching makes me think about how the Yankees would be invincible if they still had Pettite. and even without him I think they have an amazing chance to win the WS (that's kinda obvious)

about A-Rod, do you really think he is worth all the money they put on him? of course he is amazing, probably the best player in the MLB, but there is TOO much money.

No athelete is worth $252 million, but it's just like the state of Texas full of "brilliant" people to overpay him. The only player who I could think of being paid that much is Michael Jordan, and even he isn't worth that much!

Anybody is "worth" whatever someone is willing to pay them. If the money didn't go to the "overpaid"
players it would go into the pockets of the owners.

That said, here's my take on the trade:

If I had $10 million, I wouldn't much care if I had another $2 million. If the Yankees average 6 runs a game without A. Rod and the pitching holds up, they'd win maybe 110. If they average 6.3 runs a game with A. Rod (don't forget--they didn't get him for nothing as a free agent. We have to subtract Soriano"s ofense), they'll win maybe another 2 or 3 games. That's all I figure he's worth to them: 2 or 3, or maybe 5 extra wins.

That could mean a lot to a team battling for a wild card spot, or a team battling for first in a wide open division, but the Yanks were a lock to make the playoffs before the deal, so trading for A. Rod doesn't figure to make that much difference.

How far the Yanks go will depend, as usual, on pitching, as it usually does in the post season.

I'm sorry plawrence but I gotta disagree with you. No one player is worth a quarter of a billion dollars. That's just too much money for one player. There's only so much money a man needs, the rest is just for show.

There's more than what the player does on the field that goes into the mix which determines what he's worth.

Suppose the $20 million a year A. Rod gets helps the Yankees sell an extra 5,000 tickets per game at an average of $30 each. That's an extra $150,000 per game, times 81 games, an extra $12 million or so right there.

These extra 400,000 people buy food at the game, souvenirs, etc. Throw in the extra money for stuff like A. Rod jerseys and the like, and I bet Steinbrenne comes out ahead, economically at least, on the deal.

That's what makes A. Rod worth the money to the Yankees. He's not worth that money to the Texas Rangers. That's why he was traded.

How much do big movie stars get for one film?
How much does each cast member of FRIENDS make for one episode ($1 million or so, I think).

Why do they get that kind of money? Because their work produces a profit that is greater than what it costs to hire them.

From a philosophical standpoint, I'd agree. No one is worth $20 million a year, except maybe a cancer researcher or something. Schoolteachers contribute more to society than A. Rod does.

But this isn't about philosophy. It's about economics.

It's the same scenario as when Jordan was getting $36 million from the Bulls. It sounds like no one should be paid that much. Not even considering the impact of the attendance, concessions, etc.. the owner looks at the value of the franchise. The value of the Bulls skyrocketed while Jordan was there until it was one of the most valuable teams in all of sports. Reinsdorf bought the team for around $20 million and it was worth over $250 million at one point. I haven't seen the recent values of teams, but I would guess that the value of the Bulls is down from the Jordan era.

That being said, I don't see how adding ARod adds value to the Yankees. They are like gold as it is with all the TV/radio revenue on top of attendance. It is great for the fans, though.

As I said, I don't see that he adds all that much value to the team on the field once you subtract Soriano's contribution.

Economically, though, it's a different matter.

I heard on the radio earlier this morning that the Yanks have already sold about 80,000 more invidual game tickets this year than they had at the same point last year. And the average ticket price is $35. So they've gottten back almost $3 million already.

As I said, I don't see that he adds all that much value to the team on the field once you subtract Soriano's contribution.[/b][/quote]What are you talking about, A-Rod is a much better player on the field than Soriano is. The only thing Soriano has over A-Rod is stolen bases. A-Rod can hit 50+ home runs (which Soriano has not). A-Rod is a better power hitter with better statistics, plus A-Rod isn't streaky like Soriano.

A. Rod out-homering Soriano is strictly a result of the parks they play in. Over the last two years, Soriano has hit more homers than A. Rod on the road.

I'm not say ing Soriano is a better player. I am saying the difference is only marginal, though. It's a little more offense added to a team that's loaded with offense already.

I can't see A. Rod making a difference. If the pitching doesn't hold up the Yanks won't win. If it does, they'd win without A. Rod.

The difference is more than marginal, and it's more of a difference on the defensive end. A-Rod has won I believe 2 Gold Gloves playing shortstop & an MVP. Soriano was having mega problems the past 2 years at second base. Not only is A-Rod better offensivaly, but also defensivaly.

I'm not saying AR is not a better player than AS. Of course he is.

Defensively though, we don't know for sure that AR's defense at third will be any better than Aaron Boone's was, or that the Yanks defense at second will be any better with whoever they put there than it was with Soriano.

Offensively, it means that there will be a bunch of games when the Yanks score 7 or 8 runs instead of 6 or 7. Since 6 runs is probably enough to win about 70% of the time anyway, I don't think the extra offense will amount to more than a handful of wins over the course of the season.

Look at it this way: If you had a team of 9 Sorianos in your lineup, how many games do you think they would win? 120? 130? The only time they would lose is when the other team had a great pitching performance. So how many more games would they win with a team of 9 A. Rods? They'd still lose all the games when the opposing pitcher was outstanding. How many times would they need that extra run that A. Rod will provide now and then that Soriano wouldn't?

As I keep saying, how far the Yanks go this year will all come down to pitching. If 3 out of the 4 of Brown, Vasquez, Contreras, and Lieber are OK, the Yanks will be fine. A. Rod won't make much difference. If the starting pitching falls apart, A. Rod won't make much difference either.

You're a Yankee fan, right? Wouldn't you have liked it better if they traded Soriano for Mark Prior, or Zito or Hudson, or Bret Halladay?

No, I'm glad that we got A-Rod for his offensive & defensive abilities. Also b/c we got him & Boston didn't. Also, b/c we took him from Texas! However I would have loved to see Schilling in New York, but I've got my hopes up for Randy Johnson or even Pedro....yes THAT Pedro!

It'll be Enrique Wilson.

Right :rolleyes:

Like George might ever go into the season figuring on Enrique Wilson to start 130-140 games.

They'll pick up an Aaron Boone type somewhere along the way, probably sooner rather than later.