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.