Tom Hicks On Alex Rodriguez
Joey MatschulatWe've seen a flurry of articles in the last week or so deriding and/or eulogizing Tom Hicks' reign as owner (mostly the former, and for pretty good reason), but MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan did a nice, fairly objective piece with a heavy concentration of candid Hicks quotes, including this head-scratcher:
"I think [the Alex Rodriguez signing] was a big mistake," Hicks said. "We had just signed a big TV contract and were really stepping up in revenues. I thought Alex was going to be a big foundation of what could be a championship team for many years. I thought he was going to be the best player in baseball. He probably will end up being the best player in baseball history statistically, but he didn't help us win."
Yes, you can certainly argue that the A-Rod signing -- particularly at its final value, which was significantly above and beyond the value of the second-highest offer -- was misguided, that it likely precipitated the onset of Hicks Sports Group's financial woes, that A-Rod wasn't necessarily a good influence in the clubhouse ... on and on it goes. There were problems. I get that. And I get that the Rangers during the A-Rod era were not remotely good, and that this was at least partially because he occupied so much payroll space.
But when Hicks says that A-Rod "didn't help us win" ... well, I understand that Hicks is referencing the big picture and the Rangers' non-competitiveness during that era, but when you take that statement literally, it's patently false. On a seasonal basis, A-Rod was a 9-10 WAR player and inordinately valuable in every on-the-field aspect. A-Rod was good enough to take a league-average team to the doorstep of 90 wins all by himself. He was ridiculously good on his own merits.
A-Rod helped the Rangers win games; the fact that it wasn't enough games to reach the playoffs is largely attributable to bad pitching, inefficient spending and poor organizational planning/decision-making, all three of which are intermingled to some extent and all three of which really had nothing to do with A-Rod. You can dislike the hell out of A-Rod for all that I care, but let's not conflate the A-Rod signing with the failure of the early-00s Rangers.
Reader Comments (8)
arod was a big mistake and no he didnt help the yankees win last yr and neither did his side kick kate hudson, lets hope arod keeps their romance out of the baseball spotlight this time round, the yankees need focus and no more hollywood distractions, otherwise trade him cos he will make no difference to a side packed with stars, let some other team pick up the k-hud slack. time for some real baseball.
Hector: Suggesting ARod didn't help the Yankees win last season is just ridiculous. Also, Rodriguez's "sidekick" was raised by the great Kurt Russell. Have you ever seen "Big Trouble in Little China?" It was awesome. I suggest you re-think your stance.
And let's not forget, the guy had a 1.526 OPS in AA before he tore up his ankle.
Hicks, classless, tactless, and tone deaf.
I hear from non-Ranger fans ALL THE TIME that the Arod signing killed the Rangers. That is not true. The signing that killed the Rangers was the Chan Ho Park signing. Arod gave the Rangers the bang for their buck. Whereas Park pitched worse than a replacement-level player while siphoning off tons of money.
That was the big storyline in the Ranger decline.
Hicks paid more for ARod than he needed to, but the Rangers had far more serious problems than that.
The Jon Hart signing was almost as bad as the Arod signing.
Alex is the man. He just needs to concentrate on the game and he'll be fine. Forgot about the tabloid boy you are the best.