A-Rod is NOT Overpaid

You're missing a key point here though, A-Rod doesn't have to wear a tie.

When the team travels, he even has to wear a tie.

I'm surprised the Yahoo guy doesn't make $230 billion.

Wait a few days.

I think we can argue that Capital One and Yahoo! are a little more important to everyone's daily lives than the third basemen of the New York Yankees. He's still overpaid.

I think you are missing a key point here... A-Rod - sportsman - $25 million a year. Doctors - slightly more important than sportsmen - considerably <$1 million a year. That's the tragedy of sports.

And in the context of this article, A-Rod is not the CEO of baseball. He's so overpaid it's disgusting.

Its a tragedy of sports and of business that these guys get paid that much. But a CEO of yahoo or any major investment bank has done more in a lifetime and had a longer career than A-Rod.

Way to make a comparison of apples and oranges. You missed one key point with your comparison: 1) Alex Rodriguez is NOT a CEO of a company. He isn't in charge of hundreds of employees and he isn't required to answer questions at shareholders meetings. All Alex Rodriguez is responsible for is manning third base and right now he isn't doing that too well.

its crazy, like i'd love to play in baseball, and i'd be willing to be paid 300k a year. that is NOTHING in baseball, yet in the real world, thats a 6 figure salary and its good money! I could raise the team's spirit, pass out drinks, etc.

those executives run companies that dominate their industries AND gross A LOT more than the Yankees in revenue. their salaries reflect that.

Baseball Prospectus did a study and found that the value of A-Rod's play to the Yankees/Rangers in local revenue (gate receipts, concessions, merchandise, etc.) over the course of his 5-year contract ($122,290,000 in total) would be, at best, $91,550,000. Realistically, it's probably around $70,000,000. Meaning that A-Rod, while the best player in baseball for much of the contract, was vastly overpaid for his contributions (thanks, Winner's Curse!). Especially this season, when his VORP is lower than fellow 3b's David Wright (2006 salary: $374,000) and Garrett Atkins (2006 salary: $335,000).

No argument can be made that will lead me to believe that A-Rod is underpayed. He is the most overpaid athelete in the history of sports. Period. But thanks for trying.

The point is that in our society, in our economy, teachers (me), policepersons, and others who make great contributions, have skills that hundreds of thousands or even millions also possess. Few individuals have the skills to be major league player, which is the primary reason no player, regardless of his salary, should be considered overpaid. If film stars such as Jim Carrey and Tom Cruise get in excess of $20 million per film (which is stopping), then A-Rod deserves his money. With respect to Baseball Prospectus' study, the Yankees did pretty well at the gate with Scott Brosius at third, and interestingly, did better on the field.

A-Rod simply accepted what was offered. Another factor is that the union refused to allow his contract's value to be diminished when he was traded to Boston for Manny, which led to the trade not being finalized and opening things up for Mr. Cashman.

No athlete deserves $20 million. They all play children games. However, if someone is willing to pay them that kind of money, they would be fools not to take with. Hence, A-Rod does not deserve what he is being paid, but he would have been a fool to turn the $ down.

The toughest job in America still only makes 500k a year. Our President makes roughly 1/50th of what ARod does. Who does a better job is for another forum, but the President's job is undoubtedly much harder.

of course he's overpaid. no one dude should make 25 million a year. that's bananas. but scarier still are the people who say "okay, sounds good" and sign that contract along with him. i think our society has it wrong in many ways -- teachers scrape by while athletes and entertainers get paid millions. but sports lovers (myself included) give our teams our loyalty and our money affording the owners to pay these kind of salaries. in the words of russell crowe's gladiator "are you not entertained?" we place a high premium on our amusement.

Well if we all complain, yet still WATCH BASEBALL, then we can't back up our complaints. As long as WE arent the ones paying his salary, i have no problem with what anybody makes

Didn't someone mention in a prev. thread that A-Rod tried to take less $ when coming to the yanks, but the Players Assoc. kiboshed it?

Yeah, he wanted to take a pay cut, but the Players Assoc stopped it because they thought it would set a standard that teams could cut back lower end salaries.

Ok, if you're in a keeper league and have the first pick do you take Richard Fairbanks or Terry Semel?

Teachers ought to be paid more than baseball players. Unfortunately, schools do not make the revenue of MLB. I would love it if teachers were paid hefty salaries, but where would that money come from?