Alex Rodriguez: 8 Home Runs on June 18?

Alex Rodriguez may have only eight home runs, but he is still smiling knowing that he will have earned $264 million by the end of the 2010 season despite his offensive numbers dropping for the last three seasons.

Alex Rodriguez didn’t play in his first game last season until May 8, yet by May 23 he had already hit seven home runs. This season he played in his first game on April 4 and only has eight home runs on June 18.

He has hit only two home runs since May 19 this season. He is tied for fifth with Derek Jeter on the Yankees in home runs with eight and is second behind Robinson Cano in runs batted in with 44. He is only two ahead of Nick Swisher with 42 and five ahead of Derek Jeter with 39.

Robinson Cano leads the Yankees in slugging with a .617 percentage while Rodriguez is fourth on the team with a .481 mark behind Jorge Posada at .557 and Nick Swisher at .513.

79 major league players have hit more runs than Rodriguez. To his credit, only nine players have more runs batted in than his 44; but at his salary he should be near the top in every offensive category.

The following stats show how his numbers have been dropping since the 2007 season. Included are his offensive statistics from 2007—2010 (2010 season is only 15 games from being half over).

Hits – 183-154-127-67

Home Runs – 54-35-30-8

Runs Batted In – 156-103-100-44

Total Bases – 376-292-236-111

Slugging Percentage: .645-.573-.532-.481

OPS: 1.067-.965-.933-.842

Extra Base Hits – 85-68-48-26

While ESPN.com and Baseball-reference.com list his 2010 salary at $33 million, Cot’s Baseball Contracts lists it at $32 million. To me, this number seems more reliable since they show his year by year salaries over the life of his contract.

Oddly enough, Rodriguez's contract is front-loaded. After making $64 million between this season and last season, his earnings will depreciate until eventually bottoming out at $20 million for the 2017 season.

His salary breakdown details just how much Rodriguez is making by the hour, day, week, etc. These numbers are based on 12 months:

Hourly: $3,363

Daily: $87,910

Weekly: $615,400

Monthly: $2.667 million

Yearly: $32 million

Using baseball terms he is making $138,528 an at bat so far in 2010.

Per game: $533,333

Per home run: $4 million

Rodriguez's player page on Baseball-reference shows that he will have earned $264.4 million by the end of the 2010 season; which puts him well on his way to becoming the first player in major league history to earn half a billion during their career. This, of course, doesn’t account for any commercials, endorsement deals, or pension plans.

Being paid all that money, is it too much to ask for Rodriguez to at least lead the Yankees in every offensive category?

Instead, Robinson Cano leads the Yankees in most offensive categories while only earning $30 million over four years not the $32 million Rodriguez is earning in 2010.

Miguel Cabrera is leading the majors with 19 home runs while Rodriguez is 11 behind with only eight home runs. Rodriguez could get hot or he could continue to lag behind the home run leaders all season.

Rodriguez and teammate Mark Teixeira, who has ten home runs, have combined for 18 home runs in 2010 which is one less than Cabrera has hit alone. They are collectively earning over $52 million this season while four major league teams have payrolls of less than $52 million:

Oakland Athletics $50.8 million

Arizona Diamondbacks $48.4 million

San Diego Padres $38.1 million

Pittsburgh Pirates $34.9 million