Despite a weekend that included the Daytona 500, the NBA All-Star game and a plethora of exciting college basketball match-ups, the talk of the sports world was the blockbuster trade between Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers and New York Yankees.
After Bud "the Nutty Professor" Selig gave his stamp of approval from the Commissioner's Office yesterday, reigning American Leauge MVP Alex Rodriguez officially became the next hall-of-famer to don the famous pinstripes. In exchange for All-Star second baseman Alfonso Soriano, the Yankees acquired the best player in baseball at a bargain price thanks to the Rangers agreeing to pay a heavy chunk of A-Rod's remaining salary.
Many naysayers and baseball doomsayers, including my esteemed colleague Joe Lemire who will share his views of the A-Rod deal to the "Evil Empire" in tomorrow's edition of The Cavalier Daily, clamor that this trade is bad for baseball and further reinforces the notion that the playing field between small-market and big-market clubs is uneven. Nevertheless, I believe the Yankees' acquisition of Pay-Rod is actually a good thing for baseball.
First, fans love All-Star caliber squads as much as they love offense and the Yankees will bring both. The commotion over the Yankees' probable starting lineup is quite similar to the hoopla that surrounded this season's Los Angeles Lakers. The Yankees lineup, which includes All-Star catcher Jorge Posada most likely hitting eighth (eighth!), could seriously make a run at the season scoring and home run records.
Second, the sport can only benefit by having its best player (and perhaps most marketable) playing on the world's largest stage and in its biggest fishbowl. The popularity of the Yankees' five infielders will only be rivaled by the celebrity of another quintet famous for redecorating and makeovers.
America loves superstars and will get to see baseball's brightest a lot on national television. Whereas Rodriguez's brilliance was somewhat muted because he was playing for a losing squad in the Midwest, we will all now be able to watch his power and grace probably to the point of saturation.
Third, America loves great rivalries, and the Rodriguez trade to the Yankees adds further fuel to the fire of mutual hatred that exists between the cities of Boston and New York. This baseball off-season has witnessed a dual stockpiling of weapons with each organization trying to out do the other. The A-Rod deal has only given the Yankees the most recent bragging rights, especially since it was the Red Sox who came so close to getting Rodriguez a few short months ago.
With the addition of Rodriguez to the likes of Giambi, Williams, Matsui, Jeter and Sheffield, how could a baseball fan not be excited about a weekend series with that offense going against the arms of Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling? It's like an All-Star game without the possibility of a tie.
Now many disgruntled fans, especially those from Boston, will point to this transaction as proof that MLB is really just the Yankees and everybody else. While it is true that New York's wallet is much thicker, it is also worth noting that the Yankees are willing to put that wallet where their mouth is.
However, we must remember it was Texas owner Tom Hicks -- not the Evil Empire -- who, at his own free will, outbid himself by $100 million to get A-Rod to sign with the Rangers. After taking into consideration the amount Texas will pay the Yankees for taking on A-Rod's historic contract, the Yankees are really only paying around $16-17 million a year for Rodriguez (a bargain considering Manny Ramirez is pulling down $20 million per year).
Want further proof that the Rodriguez trade is good for baseball? I end where I began. On a weekend that featured NASCAR's Super Bowl, basketball's star power and Valentine's Day, the sports world is talking about a baseball season that is still six weeks away.
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