The fiercest agent in the business, Scott Boras, calls it “icon value.”
He uses the term to describe an organization’s franchise player, the one guy fans are most likely to plunk down a few bucks to watch.
One of the game’s biggest stars, Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez, has the one thing that will likely enable him to further alter baseball’s unwieldy economic landscape: icon value.
“This player is going to give you six more years of premium performance before he even reaches the age of 30,” Boras said in a recent interview. “That’s a package that no free agent in history has ever brought to the market.”
Icon value.
What it may eventually be worth to Rodriguez is the largest contract in baseball history, a package worth $200 million. Think about that.
This season, for example, the entire Kansas City Royals team will earn slightly more than $23 million. Rodriguez, a guy just 24 years old, may find himself on the receiving end of an annual salary of $20 million or more.
“When you bring in the economics of it, it gets kind of ugly,” Rodriguez said during a conference call. “It’s something I don’t really enjoy talking about.”
Rodriguez, a shortstop who hit 42 home runs each of the last two seasons and is on pace to hit even more this year, is eligible for free-agency after this season. Already, Boras has said “there will be things in Alex’s contract that have never been in anyone’s contract before.”
Rumors abound about where Rodriguez might wind up. What’s seems clear, though, is that only a handful of teams will have the income and, perhaps, inkling to sign him: Atlanta, Los Angeles, the New York Mets, maybe Arizona. And, certainly, the Mariners will put on an all-out blitz to avoid losing their second superstar in as many years.
Rodriguez, for his part, says he’s very happy in Seattle. He’s convinced the organization is committed to winning.
Still, he’ll leave the guess work to others. “I live my life in the present tense,” he said. “When you worry about the past and the future, you’re not thinking about the present.
“Speculation is kind of fun. I like to hear what people throw out there. [But] I’m the one who makes the final call.”
