Alex Rodriguez is a
profesional baseball player for the
Texas Rangers. During the
off-season between the
2000 and
2001 seasons, he became
baseball's highest paid
player, at $252 million
dollars over 10
years. The
Rangers will pay him $21
million per
season from 2001 through 2004, $25
million in 2005 and 2006, and then $27
million per for the remaining four
seasons. The deal has been met with everything from
glee (
Scott Boras) to
disgust. $252
million dollars could purchase an
entire team. In fact, the
Texas Rangers themselves were bought for $250
million only a few years before.
Alex Rodriguez was able to command a $252 million dollar price tag because of his youth, he was only 25 at the time of the signing, and his amazing talent, both on offence and defence. In 2000 he hit .316 with 41 home runs and only committed 10 errors despite playing shortstop, one of the most difficult positions in baseball. Rodriguez apparently choose to play in Texas because of the amount of money they were offering him, the large Latino population in Texas, and he believed that Texas had a shot at the World Series.
Before signing with Texas, Rodriguez said his number one concern was playing for a contender. However, the Texas Rangers have never advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs and last year finished last in its division, which included the Seattle Mariners, the team Rodriguez left. The 2001 baseball season should be really interesting in the AL West.