Rodriguez Now Multimillion-Dollar Player

Dec. 12, 2000 -- It’s a lot of money.

Alex Rodriguez can now say that he won the race for the most-prized baseball contract ever. And it’s a lot of money. Rodriguez and the Texas Rangers agreed to a $252 million, 10-year contract — the richest deal in the history of sports.

The contract calls for annual salaries ranging from $21 million to $27 million. Rodriguez’s deal is exactly double the previous record for a sports contract: a $126 million, six-year agreement between forward Kevin Garnett and the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves.

“Alex is the player we believe will allow this franchise to fulfill its dream of continuing on its path to becoming a World Series champion,” Rangers owner Tom Hicks said at a news conference Monday evening.

Hicks paid $250 million to buy the entire franchise three years ago from the group headed by George W. Bush and Rusty Rose.

At a press conference today, Rodriguez said he was glad that the free-agent process was over and that he “wants to play baseball and win a World Series.”

Unprecedented Contract

After a full day of negotiations Sunday stretched into early Monday, Rodriguez’s agent, Scott Boras, said he was working on a contract that would give his client the ability to opt out at certain points. He called the opt-out clause was a “precarious part” of negotiations.

“It’s kind of unprecedented,” Boras said.

There is also a clause in the final two years that guarantees Rodriguez will be the highest-paid player in the game. He also gets a $10 million signing bonus that is to be paid out in one-year, $1 million installments.The Seattle Mariners and the Atlanta Braves had also been competing for the free agent. So far, the only team Rodriguez has played for is Seattle.

“Tom [Hicks, the team owner] wants to win and win badly,” Rangers manager Johnny Oates said. “At our monthly meeting in August, Alex was a player he very much wanted in our organization.”

Not everyone was thrilled about the deal, however. Sandy Alderson, an executive vice president in baseball’s commissioner’s office lamented the deal.

“This amount of money spread out over 10 years could probablybuy three franchises or so at the bottom end of market value,”said Alderson.

But, still others argue that the star power of today’s athletes help make the game function.

“Yes, he’s special because he can hit a baseball. Yes, he’s special because he can hit it a long way,” Oates said. “We’re talking about more than hitting a baseball. We’re talking about marketing an area.”

In Texas, Rodriguez will join a team that has never gotten beyond the first round of the playoffs. He would join a team that already had signed three free agents in the first three days of the winter meetings: first baseman Andres Galarraga ($6.25 million), third baseman Ken Caminiti ($3.25 million) and right-hander Mark Petkovsek ($4.9 million).

Joining a Strong Squad

The Rangers already have a powerful lineup that includes Ivan Rodriguez and Palmeiro, but starting pitching is weak, with Rick Helling (16-13 last year) and Kenny Rogers (13-13).

After winning the AL West in 1999, its third division title in four years, Texas dropped to 71-91 and finished with a 5.52 ERA, the worst among the 30 major league teams.

Until Saturday, the largest deal in baseball history had been a $116.5 million, nine-year contract agreed to in February by Ken Griffey Jr. and the Mariners.

Left-hander Mike Hampton and the Colorado Rockies agreed Saturday to a $121 million, eight-year contract, just short of the record for any sport, a $126 million, six-year deal between Kevin Garnett and the NBA’s Minnesota Timnberwolves.

Rodriguez falls short of the highest average salary. Shaquille O’Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers will average $29.5 million in an $88.5 million, three-year extension that starts with the 2003-04 season.

The Associated Press, Reuters and ESPN.com contributed to this report