JABO: Has Alex Rodriguez Been Worth the Money?
Alex Rodriguez has had an interesting few years. Ok, so that’s a big understatement. Besides the controversies, the 3,000 hits, and the various arguments with management and professional baseball catchers, we’re now witnessing something most people didn’t expect: a 39-year-old A-Rod putting together an incredible offensive year. As he heads toward the final two years of his contract in New York, two questions arise: has Rodriguez been worth the incredible amount of money he’s received over the span of his current contract? And has he been worth the money he’s getting this year?
First, it’s important to establish just how great and anomalous Rodriguez has been this season for, well, how old he is. It is pretty well known that most offensive categories should have taken a serious hit by the time a slugger approaches 40, but A-Rod has bucked that trend — in fact, he’s been close to his former greatness, at least offensively.
We can measure his success this year in a number of ways: by simple numbers (his current 152 wRC+ is in line with some of his better previous seasons — he posted the same wRC+ in his stellar 2008 campaign), average batted-ball velocity (he’s top five in the league), and fly ball/home run distance. The short story: A-Rod is hitting the ball really hard, really far, and he’s even being pitched to like he’s a slugger in his prime.
Now that we’ve established how great he’s been this season, let’s talk about the contract, and free agent deals. We often hear about teams backending contracts. They do so because inflation will devalue the later years of a deal, and they might be able to deal the player to a team who will eat some of the contract later on. It’s the free agent version of kicking the can down the road: sign the player now, get the production, and deal with the hard decisions later.
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Owen Watson writes for FanGraphs and The Hardball Times. Follow him on Twitter @ohwatson.
Isn’t his ‘current’ contract from 2008-2017 though? His two main ‘big’ seasons (2005 and 2007) were part of the original contract from Texas (and I think Texas paid a portion of those years, which makes it a bigger win for the Yankees). He opted out of the contract, and the Yankees could have walked away at that point.
They re-signed him to his current 10-year deal, and the Yankees have been on the losing end of that one just about every year, aside from small positives in 2008 and, so far, 2015.
Yeah, that was my first thought too. It kind of throws this whole article off.
Thanks for pointing that out — Texas paid about $11.4 million/year for the 2004-2007 years, meaning yes, an even bigger win for the Yankees.
Yeah, he’s likely been a net positive overall for the money the Yankees have paid him but, simultaneously, that doesn’t excuse the 2008-2017 abomination of a contract.
Except the Yankees gave up more than just money for those four years of A-Rod. They also traded away three years of Alfonso Soriano, including his huge 2006 season.
That’s the first thing I thought too. The new deal he is currently on is not a bargain in any way. In this manner, Mike Trout could become a replacement level player and “justify” his current contract based on total service.