By Dannielle Lowe
Well, he's done it again. The Yankee's infamous third baseman has done the unfathomable and broken his own record.
Salary record that is.
After a tumultuous month and a half, Alex Rodriguez has decided that he will stay with the Yankees, who are ignoring the fact A-Rod just cost the club $21 million when he opted out of his previous ten-year contract and are willing to shell out around $275 million to keep him in pinstripes for the next ten years.
If A-Rod performs as expected, the total cost for keeping him could top out around $310 million after bonuses and such.
And that's the discount price. That's right, $27 million a year is the special. I wonder how the player making the average $2 million feels about that.
I'm happy for A-Rod. I really am, despite the fact the guy has been causing controversy with his bush league tactics and scandalous behavior. He's a great athlete and he makes the game interesting.
But is he really worth it?
I mean I get that he is an MVP and that he'll probably break Bond's homerun record, but is he really worth all that money?
Is any baseball player worth that much?
There's a trend occurring in baseball right now: salaries are soaring, and ball clubs are shelling out big bucks to stay competitive. A-Rod made more last season then some ball clubs spent on their entire payroll. But $26 million is pocket change to Steinbrenner and the Yankees who had a payroll of $189,639,045. But it still wasn't enough to get them to the series.
Steinbrenner's response is to whip out the checkbook. But is that really a solution?
No, it's not. Rather it belittles the game and adds fuel to rampant greed. There are solutions.
A salary cap could fix this problem.
Yep, I said the two little words.
In 2002, the MLB owners where pushing salary caps. Even Commissioner Bud Selling thinks a cap could make baseball interesting again. He stated that a salary cap would create equality and fairness while also bringing real rivalry to the game.
Critics state that a cap isn't needed because teams like the less-affluent Colorado Rockies remain competitive. But just look at postseason appearances and team revenue. The findings suggest that half of making it to the playoffs is determined by team revenue. And that's just sad. The NBA has a salary cap. The NFL has a cap. Nothing happened. The players didn't go hungry. Some would even say popularity in those sports increased.
So why not a salary cap for the MLB? If nothing else why not a salary cap for Rodriguez?
