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| Tuesday, December 12 | |||||
| A-Rod's great, but can he pitch? | |||||
| Here are a selection of your responses on Alex Rodriguez's 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers:
Your wallet or your life Examine a wallet ... any wallet. Look at this wallet very carefully. Now answer me this. Are wallets built to support this much cash? Is a life able to support this much cash? What puts a price on a person to make him so much better than a 10-hour-a-day working man? The World Series has unofficially become an object for which you can buy. What happened to the days of farm systems and staying loyal to a club? Look at the Yankees. What has happened? Johnny Woodland Hills, Calif. How's A-Rod's fastball? Texas still won't contend, even with A-Rod! They had Gonzo and Pudge together for all those seasons with the same results every year. They couldn't get by the Yankees in the playoffs because they couldn't match the Yankees pitching. Bottom line is this; a solid everyday lineup has that much more pressure on it to compensate for a mediocre pitching staff, which is still the case in Dallas. The Rangers will need to average at least six or seven runs a game next year if they are going to contend for the post season in 2001 with a staff that had an overall ERA of 5.52 in 2000. PITCHING wins championships, ask the Yankees! Ron Costa Mesa, Calif. I feel that it is his right to go out and get as much as he can, as well as it's the Rangers right to pay him if they want to. The Rangers now have a tremendous lineup anchored by A-Rod and Pugde, but when Kenny Rogers is your number two starter you can't expect Yankee fans to go sleepless worrying about the Rangers. This is going to be the Seattle Mariners of the mid-90s again. Richard Gonzalez Bronx, N.Y. The Rangers will still not be able to compete with the Yankees or even Oakland. Signing A-Rod to a huge contract will not make them much better. They are old and have almost no good pitching either. They might be able to score a few more runs but with no pitching they still won't be a winner. Tim Dayton, Ohio Playing the blame game Blame the game not the player. If I had that kind of money to throw around and I wanted to improve a baseball team, I would certainly spend it on a player like Alex Rodriguez. Also, if I was Scott Boras, I would certainly try to get as much out of the Rangers as possible. I don't think anyone would turn down that kind of money if they were offered it. So, let's stop blaming the owners and players. The system is not perfect, but what do you suggest? There's not a lot that can be done about the game's economic problems except maybe a better system of sharing local TV revenues. Don't blame the parties involved because if you were in the same situation, you'd probably do the same thing. Shaun Payne McDonough, Ga. When do the ticket prices go up? I was just thinking to myself as I saw the contract terms for A-Rod; I was thinking how many championship rings does A-Rod have? Zero. So we are paying $252 mil for a guy who has never won a championship ring or an MVP. Also, don't we already have a good shortstop in Clayton? Unless A-Rod takes up pitching, the Rangers are still going to lose in the playoffs. Why did Hicks not go after any of the star pitchers when his staff ranked last in the league in era? This just shows why my Rangers will never win a championship because we are stupid and refuse to get good pitching. And now I am gonna have to pay $100 for a last row seat. Yippee! Josh Dallas You have got to be kidding me! The price tag on players is getting out of hand, this makes me sick! I wonder how teams are going to pay these huge pay checks. Oh yeah, RAISE THE TICKET PRICES! When is this going to stop, when will baseball finally put an end to all of this and install a salary cap. Other sports have a salary cap, what is so wrong with baseball having one. It would even out the playing field and make the game more interesting. This is getting nuts and I have a feeling that there is trouble in the future for baseball. Eric Dembowski Indianapolis Just in time for the lockout I feel that A-Rod will bring alot of excitment to baseball here in Texas. I feel that the Rangers have finally caught the break that this franchise has been so desperatly seeking. You must remember that this is the franchise that has given up on players like Gonzalez, Sosa, and Kevin Brown ... to name a few. A-Rod will help solidify this Rangers offense and will bring leadership on and off the field. However, $252 million dollars is too much money for any one baseball player, and this will surely bring on the 2001 lockout. Brad Grmela Dallas That is the last straw. For a baseball player to get a contract worth $252 million over 10 years. I am not surprised that baseball is heading towards another work stoppage at the end of the 2001 season. Texas just jumped in to the playoffs, but at a cost of mortgaging they're whole franchise. John Lorusso New York In A-Rod we trust First of all, no player is worth a quarter of a billion dollars. The Rangers have got to be kidding themselves if they think one player is going to take them to the playoffs, let alone the World Series. They have absolutely NO pitching. Helling had an ERA of 4.50 and their team ERA was 5.52. Does anyone remember two years ago when Seattle had Griffey and A-Rod and they didn't come close to the playoffs? The reason was that they had no pitching. Last year they had the second best ERA in the AL. Besides, he isn't worth anymore than Nomar or Jeter. Look at the numbers. Obviously, A-Rod had more homeruns and RBIs, but let's look at some other numbers: (Nomar had 27 less at bats and played in eight less games). Nomar's average exceeded A-Rod's by almost 60 points. Nomar's OBP was higher. Slugging was about the same. Nomar had more doubles and 23 more hits. And don't talk to me about runs. A-Rod had Edgar Martinez behind him. Nomar had Troy O'Leary. A-Rod had Martinez and John Olerud protecting him in the lineup. Nomar occasionally had Everett if Everett wasn't going off the deep end or batting in some odd spot in the lineup because Williams put him there. There was no one else on the Red Sox who batted over .300 besides Everett (Everett batted .300). I'm not going to talk about Jeter because I hate the Yankees, but he is one hell of a player. When the Rangers are struggling to make the playoffs, I'm going to love every second of it. I think A-Rod should thank the media, especially you guys at ESPN for getting him such a huge contract. People make him sound like he's the second coming of Babe Ruth. Geoff Blacksburg, Va. The root of all evil The only thing that matters in life is money. Alex Rodriguez proved this statement by signing this deal. The love and fun for the game of baseball is no more and leaves at age 25. For the rest of his baseball years and life, he will not be able to enjoy one minute of the game because of the amount of pressure and attention he will generate towards himself because of this deal. It's ashame that A-Rod will never have time to enjoy the sweet smell of a green grass field ever again. Everytime he looks at that green grass field he will be reminded of the daily pressues brought to him caused by the dark green money. Jesse Pittsburgh A-Rod brings hope I think that the addition of A-Rod, along with Andres Galarraga, Caminiti and Velarde will definitely propel the Rangers into the playoffs and give them a chance to win the pennant. The two young guys at the bottom of the rotation (Doug Davis and Ryan Glynn) got valuable experience last year and showed improvement late. Helling will be a 20-game winner again. The Ballpark is a hitter's park and the Rangers have a chance to have the best lineup of all-time. The Rangers organization is definitely going in the right direction. Outslugging people is the only way they can win with the Yankees cornering the market on starting pitching in the American League. Cody Hooten Sulphur Springs, Texas Kudos to Mr. Boras That deal just sealed the coffin on franchises like, the Brewers, Pirates, Padres, Reds, Expos, and any other small market teams. Maybe they can become Triple-A cities. Why does he need that much money? Good job Mr. Boras, you have ruined baseball. James Rossman Boston | ALSO SEE A-Rod to join Rangers with 10-year, $252 deal  | ||||