Angels To Pass On A-Rod?

ESPN recently interviewed Angels owner Arte Moreno, who speculates that Alex Rodriguez may be looking for a $200MM contract.  Moreno's subsequent argument on why he wouldn't pick up that tab is suspect.

Moreno believes that since Vladimir Guerrero is one of the best players in baseball and Vlad's contract had an average annual value of only $14MM, signing A-Rod at $25MM+ would disrespect Guerrero and his teammates.  Dan Weber points out that the Halos offered Alfonso Soriano almost $17MM annually...was that disrespectful also?  What about Garret Anderson making only $2.5MM less than Vlad? 

The reality is that the market was different when the Angels signed Guerrero.  He was signed in January of 2004 to the five-year, $70MM pact.  In this day and age, that's a monstrous bargain.  A 27 year-old Miguel Tejada would get more than $12MM annually if he signed next winter.  I don't buy the disrespect argument.  If Rodriguez is overpriced, just leave it at that and don't sign him. 

Comments

[Ankur]

Wouldn't it be considered tampering if he showed interest? If that's the case, the question seems absolutely pointless.

[zubes007]

Sounds like a stupid excuse to be cheap...of course, if Stoneman hadn't given ridiculous contracts to a pile of garbage (Anderson) and a soon to be pile of garbage (Sarge Jr.).

(Speaking of, how disrespectful is it that Matthews makes close to what Vlad makes?)

[boomshwa12]

indeed. which is more disrespectful: making around 8 million less than arod, or about 3 million more than sarge?

[RotoAuthority]

I thought tampering applied more to players one might trade for. I believe folks can talk freely about free agents they might like. Or at least vaguely, as in, "He's a great player and we are interested in any great players who become free agents."

[Ankur]

I was assuming he's still talking about a player bound under a contract. It can be implied that he'd be interested in him. But if he says something like "We would make it our top priority to acquire Alex Rodriguez if he were to opt out of his current deal" it would be considered tampering. But I don't understand how the rules apply in each league (because I think this is tampering under NFL rules).

[spieldogg]

I think that was Moreno's way of saying "we don't want that arrogant S.O.B to ruin our team!!!". I highly doubt it has anything to do with dollar-performance ratio's.

[quintjs]

So they want another bat? thats clear?

Soriano, Lee, A-Rod, Giabmi..

All they do is say No. Not saying that is the wrong move.

Angels are not going to get another Vlad, its just never going to happen.

[ArodSucksAtLife]

Any team that can afford to spend, that passes on A-rod needs to be sold to someone who has a clue. That being said, I don't believe a word that he says, A-rod hits the market, they are making an offer.

[Guitar Hero]

He's just trying to bring down A-rod's market value by not dealing for him from a position of weakness/need/without leverage.

[Guitar Hero]

BTW, he's taking a passive interest in A-Rod. Like, he'd do it if its real cheap but he won't be fleeced. That sort of thing.

[DentalPlan]

I think the market for A-Rod is more limited than people think. No one even knows if he can still play shortstop, he'll be 33 next year, how much are you supposed to invest? 7 years, $182 million? Guess what, I wouldn't go there either.

The teams with a chance of signing him are probably the Dodgers, White Sox, and Yankees. That's it. The Cubs don't have money and their impotent leadership is paralyzed. The Red Sox of course wouldn't grab him, etc.

[ArodSucksAtLife]

"The Red Sox of course wouldn't grab him, etc."

I beg to differ.