It's All About the Marketing

How dumb of me. I’ve been critical of the Yankees for signing A-Fraud to the most expensive contract in the history of baseball. I figured they were wasting millions each year, perhaps hundreds of millions over the length of the contract, to sign a guy who may have great individual numbers, but has never played in a single World Series game, let alone on a championship team. He’s a guy who won two MVP awards the past three years, and in that same time managed a single post-season RBI. His cumulative post-season average in the last three years is .159. And that was only after he broke out of his slump, so to speak, in the ALDS against the Indians. So why throw all that money at him; why not find a kid who can actually deliver when it counts? And in the process save twenty million dollars a year, money that could spent signing pitchers?

But who am I to criticize the most successful franchise in sports history? Furthermore, I’ve come to learn that it’s not about winning; it’s about running a business. Here’s what Danny said in a recent comment to set me straight:

“A-Rod is worth every penny he will be paid. The Yanks will make a huge return economically on that contract (which means they will actually have a net cost much lower) and so will A-Rod. Baseball is a business to those involved and religion only to its fans.”

News from the holiday weekend has proven Danny right. A-Rod and the Yankees have signed a marketing agreement worth another $30 Million. That’s above and beyond the $275 million they’ve already agreed to pay. Under the new contract, the marketing contract, A-Rod will get five million every time he passes a home run milestone – Mays, Ruth, Aaron, Bonds, and the record. (He gets paid twice for passing Bonds, and setting the new record at the same time. That’s a two for one milestone, an extra five million for good measure. Five million here, five million there – what’s the difference?) So it’s win-win; the Yankees sell out the stadium as A-Rod approaches and then surpasses each of these historical numbers (like 714, which needs no explanation to fans); A-Rod makes gobs of money, and gets his picture on the back page of the Post over and over; and fans get to witness all these historical events. Everyone is happy, except of course those few fans who want to see the Yankees in the World Series, and don’t really care so much about individual accomplishments. Hey, maybe the agreement should toss in an extra million every time he gets photographed coming out of a strip club with a new bimbo. One million per Bimbo; no repeat payoffs. After all, that’s good publicity for the Yankees; the Post will run the photo on the back page.

But if it’s just a business, there’s only one measure of success; it’s determined not by the final standings, nor the World Series, but by the Financial Statements. The accountants can all get together at the winter meetings, and declare who was the best team – i.e., who made the most money. And if signing A-Rod helps the Yankees accomplish that, who am I to suggest they do anything different? What do I know?