Keeping Score: Rangers Emerge From A-Rod’s Shadow – NYTimes.com
Posted by Neil Paine on October 14, 2010
Keeping Score: Rangers Emerge From A-Rod’s Shadow – NYTimes.com
One of the most interesting storylines of the ALCS is the fact that the Rangers now face their former star, Alex Rodriguez, a decade after lavishing him with a 10-year, $252 million contract they eventually couldn't afford.
October 14th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
If memory serves, when the Rangers signed Arod, the next nearest bidder was the Braves at around
126 million. This means that Tom Hicks, bidding against the Braves, doubled the other offer.
Clearly, Arod's agent earned his commission. And clearly Tom Hicks, based on this signing proved
that bankruptcy was in his future.
October 14th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Fine piece, Neil.
But for what it's worth -- I've always thought the A-Rod contract was a convenient excuse for the Rangers' results in 2001-03. The 2000 club (pre-A-Rod) was last in the AL in runs allowed and next-to-last in ERA+. The 2001 edition was last in both, by a wide margin. What did they try to solve their pitching problems? It's true that Kenny Rogers and Aaron Helling went from decent in 2000 to bad in 2001. But some of these other decisions are dubious:
-- In 2000, Darren Oliver started 21 games and came in with a 7.42 ERA. In 2001, they trotted him out for 28 more starts, and he posted a 6.02 ERA.
-- In June 2001, they traded for Rob Bell. In a year-plus with the Reds, Bell had a 5.12 ERA in 35 starts, with a grotesque HR rate of 2.0 HR/9 IP. Bell started 18 games for Texas in '01 and was predictably awful, with a 7.12 ERA and (no, really?) 2.0 HR/9 IP. (Bell got 15 more starts in '02, with a 6.22 ERA.)
-- Before the 2001 season, they traded for Aaron Myette, who had BB and HR troubles in 1999-2000 in the high minors. The Rangers gave Myette 15 starts, and he put up a 7.14 ERA, with high BB and HR rates.
-- In 1999-2000, Ryan Glynn started 26 games for Texas, with a 6.22 ERA and dreadful K and HR rates. Glynn got 9 more starts in 2001 and shocked no one with a 7.04 ERA and 2.9 K/9.
Then, after the 2001 season, they went out and signed Chan Ho Park for 5 years at one of the highest average salaries ever paid to a pitcher to that point. Park had been a good pitcher for LA, but I suspect that the Texas front office did not properly weigh the park effects (no pun intended). In his last 2 years with LA, Park had home ERAs of 2.36 and 2.34, but road marks of 4.83 and 4.29.
I think the Texas front office in this period did not have a good plan for building a pitching staff. Even if A-Rod's contract did restrict what else they were able to do, it's not clear that they would have had any better results if they'd had more money to spend.
Any club with a finite budget will struggle if they don't make wise decisions. Any resourceful GM should be able to work around one excessive contract. And any owner who gets buyer's remorse 3 years into a 10-year deal, when the player in question has played as well as A-Rod did, is clearly in over his head in the baseball business.
October 14th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Nice work John.... are you a Rangers fan? or at least an AL West team fan? or just know everything....
October 14th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Thomas -- I just like baseball. I'll think about any team. I'd smile biggest if the Tigers ever won a title.
October 14th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
I agree with John. A-Rod's contract shouldn't have crippled the Rangers.
A-Rod's contract was made possible by a 15-year $550 million deal from Fox. The deal doubled the Rangers' broadcast money.
The team didn't have great success with him, even though he played well. What really prompted the Rangers to want out was the post-2002 revenue-sharing of local broadcast money. Now they were sharing a chunk of that money with the Pirates, Brewers and others.
This aspect seemed to get little attention during the negotiations with the Red Sox, Yankees after the 2003 season.
You all will be happy to know it looks like Tom Hicks will come out of this OK. Here is a link to see how the lovable ol' owner is doing.
http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/65598
October 15th, 2010 at 9:48 am
Rob Neyer cited Neil's piece in a Thursday "SweetSpot":
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/5798/the-untold-story-about-the-rangers
Rob's conclusion:
"The key to the Rangers' transformation isn't that they're spending more money on pitching. The key is that with essentially just one exception (Harden), what money they have spent on pitching, they've spent well."
October 15th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Interesting read on Hicks. I can tell you he isn't very popular over here (UK)!