MLB: How Rangers' Owner Tom Hicks and Alex Rodriguez Screwed Over St. Louis

10 years, $252 million. Tom Hicks’s Texas Rangers were looking to make a splash in the AL West when they signed Rodriguez to his 10-year deal in December of 2000. Hick’s team had finished near the bottom of the AL West for two years in a row, and he was looking to add some new life to the team.

However, by luring Rodriguez away from Seattle, Hicks changed the way that the free agent market would function in baseball for the decade to come.

After Hicks gave Rodriguez his deal, it became the norm for major leaguers to seek long term max deals when eligible. While it may have been the usual before 2001 for a player to seek a big contract, Rodriguez’s deal blew everything else away. It took only a few solid years for a player to garner a huge deal on the open market. Hell, Barry Zito signed the most lucrative contract ever for a pitcher in 2007.

Small market teams had basically no chance to resign their all-stars after their first or second contract had expired. With a limited budget, these teams could not afford to sign a high priced free agent to a long-term deal. The risk is simply not possible to assume for smaller clubs. 

Albert Pujols is now 31 and in contract negotiations with the St. Louis Cardinals. While the Cards are not a true small market team, they can’t afford to offer him the type of contract he is seeking: an ARod-type deal, 10 years at over $20 million per year.

Pujols is the best player in the game and has been for almost a decade. By all accounts, he is a valued member of the community and a clubhouse leader. He certainly deserves a gargantuan contract, especially if Jayson Werth and Carl Crawford just signed contracts worth well over $100 million.

On the other hand, St. Louis certainly deserves to keep him in a Cardinals uniform as well.

There are only a few teams in the position to offer Pujols the type of contract that he is looking for. The Cardinals are not one of these teams. In 10, years Pujols will be 41. The Cards simply can’t afford to be in the position to owe Pujols $20+ million/year when he is 40.

Though both Pujols and St. Louis would like to believe he will produce at his current rate until well after the contract would expire, the numbers don’t lie: in the post-steroid era, players stop producing in their mid-30’s. 

It will take a concession on both sides for this deal to get done. For the good of the game, I hope that it does. Baseball fans don’t need another high profile free agent in Boston or New York or LA. The most valued stars are those who stay with one team, and it is severely detrimental to the game when these great players leave their teams for bigger contracts elsewhere.

I truly hope Albert Pujols retires a Cardinal. If he doesn’t, St. Louis fans can thank Tom Hicks and Alex Rodriguez.