Before Wednesday night's game vs. the Red Sox Alex Rodriguez, MLB's highest pais player said, "If the Rangers found they could be better off without me, whether now or a year or two down the road, I'd be willing to sit down and talk,''

From ESPN.com:

So Now He's Worried About Winning???

There is an article over at cnn/si on this. Man what a whiner. I remember when he left the mariners, he kept telling everyone he wasn't in it for the money, and then signs the biggest contract in MLB. I lost any amount of respect for him then. I am glad to see him play on a last place team 21 games behind the mariners in the AL west!

Guess a fat paycheck doesnt necessarily get you on a winning team unless your the yankees. And now Alex is whining about wanting to do whats rite by the owner and the franchise? He had to have figured that Texas was not a winner and probably wont be in the near future. His image was screwed when he left seattle for the cash and now its even worse off. Stop your whining Alex and just play ball. :mad:

I wonder if it ever occured to him that by taking the huge salary he did--I'm not knocking him for doing so; if the owner wanted to pay him, fine--he was not allowing the Rangers to have flexibility to get the one thing they've needed, pitching.

Funny how well the M's have played since Griffey and Rodriguez left......

Yeah JA, just how much money did he think the Rangers owners were going to have available after fulfilling this contract? At the time A Rod originally signed it, wasn't it the largest contract ever by double? But in the grand scheme, I don't fault A Rod. I can't imagine many players turning down that kind of cash. Just don't then come whining about how the Rangers haven't brought in anybody else to help!

So true, yet we can't seem to get any good trades to help us out on the back half of the season.

GOD I hope that no significant trade again this year doesn't turn into the nightmare that was August & September 02 for the Mariners.

Well now it seems A Rod has had a change of heart.

He said "If in a couple of years, which is 24 months, not today, tomorrow or August, we're still in this kind of rebuilding process, then in two or three years I'll sit down with Mr. Hicks and we'll get something done. There's no doubt about it, I obviously want to stay here for years to come under the right conditions -- that we try to win".

A Rod hit a walk off grand slam to beat the Bo Sox last night 7-3.

[ August 01, 2003, 08:38 AM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

I can understand A-Rod's frustration, but maybe he should step up and suggest restructuring his contract so that some of his millions could go towards 1-2 decent starters. If the Rangers were able to trade for Javier Vazquez from the Expos and 1-2 youngers, and if they could develop some young arms, they'd be competitive. But year in year out, they act as if they can win with bats alone. Memo to Rangers: it ain't going to happen!

He so talented and handsome that if the Cardinals didn't have Renteria and the Yankees didn't have Jeter, I'd say trade to get him.

I find this latest recurrence of A-Rod-bashing really disgusting, and so does Derek Zumsteg: "It is unfortunate that Alex Rodriguez, perhaps the best player of his generation, has to endure this constant sniping--this bitter rain--because he had the good fortune to be young, one of the best players in baseball, and a free agent all at the same time. Alex Rodriguez doesn't deserve scorn and cat-calls, he deserves appreciation and applause."

Somebody has to be the highest paid player in baseball, so it might as well be A-Rod, the best complete player in the game.

That said: I think there's something unseemly about a team's marquee player, who is being very handsomely compensated for services, openly speculating about what would make him demand a trade. Call me old-fashioned. But I think A-Rod acted inappropriately.

A-Rod's a great player. He might even be a Hall of Famer right now based on what he's accomplished so far in his still-young career. But Tom Hicks and the Texas Rangers are paying A-Rod enough that he should shut up about leaving his team and just be the good Hollywood celebrity type who only speaks in ways that best market his film, I mean, team.

[ August 04, 2003, 08:41 AM: Message edited by: Charlie in the Trees ]