Nomar Garciaparra is now the best shortstop in the majors, and I couldn't be more upset about it. Fear not, my affinity for all things "Nomah!" has not diminished. The predicament, as always, lies in a development at Yankee Stadium.
With ALCS Game 7 still reigning in my lifetime as "The Worst Thing Ever," the trade of Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees can only be dubbed "The Worst Thing Ever, Part Deux" (inconceivably, it is even worse to stomach than the "Hotshots" sequel). Acquiring the best player in the game for a leadoff hitter with a meager career-high on-base percentage of .338 can only be seen as catastrophic under normal circumstances. Admittedly, Alfonso Soriano is young, athletic and talented, but his free-swinging ways and mediocre defense will never allow him to be mentioned in the same class as A-Rod.
What makes this situation wholly unpalatable is, of course, the drama two months ago in which A-Rod nearly became a Red Sox before the deal fell through because of -- take your pick -- union squabbles, A-Rod's reluctance to switch from shortstop, Boston's limited bankroll and Texas' unwillingness to take on any more of A-Rod's salary.
Fast forward to last week, the Yankees want a third baseman. Amazingly, the union approves without hesitation, A-Rod agrees to play third base, New York proves it has no budgetary limit and Texas chooses to assume $67 million of the remaining money on his contract.
Furthering the intolerable nature of the situation is the role of Aaron Boone in all of this. By all accounts, Boone was a bust of a midseason acquisition for the Yankees. He batted .254 with six home runs in 54 regular season games and hit .173 in the playoffs. He was even benched for part of the ALCS. Yet, he has still managed to stick it to the Red Sox. Twice. His lone brilliant flash while a playing member of the Yankees was his extra-inning home run in "The Worst Thing Ever" to eliminate the Sox. Thus, it is only fitting that even in injury he screws the Sox again. Who knew a knee injury in pick-up basketball could have such cataclysmic proportions? New York never would have pursued A-Rod had it not been for the hole at third base created by Boone's ACL tear.
I don't fault New York for wanting to win. In fact, I applaud a consistent desire to be the best. But they've gone and made a mockery of the league's market discrepancy by spending outlandishly. Some critics have argued that the Red Sox are just as much to blame as the Yankees for their free-spending ways. Au contraire. The Yankees will have a $190 million payroll; the Sox will be at $120 million. While Boston may rank second in the league, let's not kid ourselves about how large a $70 million discrepancy is. Suppose you take away $70 million from Boston's bankbook, and then you have a team like the 2003 Kansas City Royals with their $48 million payroll. No one to date has confused the Red Sox's personnel tactics with those of the Royals -- they're in totally different leagues, just like the Sox and Yankees.
Consider this: Three of the Yankees' four infielders -- Rodriguez, Jeter and Jason Giambi -- are now in the midst of contracts with a combined net worth of $561 million. That number, for those of you who keep track of such things, is larger than the gross domestic product of 28 independent nations (according to the 2003 CIA World Factbook). The Yankees have four of the game's seven $100 million players.
In yesterday's The Cavalier Daily, my fellow columnist Paul Crane discussed possible benefits of this trade. Of which I see none. Except that it might take fewer well-placed meteors to purge this world of all its evil.
He points out that having the game's "best player playing on the world's largest stage" is a good thing. Was Jeter not big enough for you? Having two stars of that caliber on one side of the infield means the shadows from their stars will constantly cross each other. As many newspaper and media outlets as there are in New York, there are only so many hours in the day, and the Yankees already get around-the-clock coverage. Can all of their egos be satisfied? Loud-mouth Gary Sheffield might combust without more attention.
Besides, shouldn't we be more concerned about having stars dispersed throughout all baseball markets? Now, the poor child in New York City with enough money to buy one Yankee shirt will have to choose between A-Rod and Jeter while the same child in Texas, having to suffer through a single offseason in which the Rangers lost A-Rod, Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez, might be forced to choose between Chan Ho Park and Brad Fullmer. That's just cruel! Think about the kids, man!
Said less dramatically, think about who would want to see the Texas Rangers play this year. They have no star power and no pitching. That equates to a lot of children from Texas going to bed each night distraught after another Ranger loss.
Sure, I'm bitter and biased. I didn't want A-Rod earlier this season, not out of idealism about baseball but because of my adoration for Nomar. What does matter is the growing disparity in the league and the Yankees' continued one-uppance of Boston. I can't take it anymore.
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