Tyler gives Steinbrenner finger for A-Rod trade

No, not that finger

Greetings to all.

So the New York Yankees traded for Alex Rodriguez, the 2003 American League MVP.

Please, excuse me for a minute while I chop off my middle finger and send it to Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

It's not that I don't like Alex Rodriguez, because I do. It's that he's a great player going to the greatest franchise in sports. I just happen to despise the Yankees and Steinbrenner.

The Yankees have, by far, the highest payroll in baseball at $184.8 million spread over 25 players. That's an average salary of just under $7.4 million per player.

To top all of this off Rodriguez, a Gold Glove shortstop the past two seasons for the Texas Rangers, has agreed to switch to third base because Derek Jeter, another premier player in baseball, already occupies the shortstop position.

Making Steinbrenner even more gleeful is that the Yankees‚ heated rival, the Boston Red Sox, had tried to acquire Rodriguez in December.

Red Sox owner John Henry is not smiling. Henry said that Rodriguez transaction proves that MLB's economic system is "woefully out of whack."

Henry, whose Red Sox have the second highest payroll at $125 million, continued on to promote a salary cap for baseball.

Henry previous voted against a salary cap for baseball, but it is now granted his favor because there are "there is really no other fair way to deal with a team that has gone so insanely far beyond the resources of all the other teams," said Henry.

Steinbrenner reacted to Henry with a simple, one paragraph statement of his own, as follows:

"We understand that John Henry must be embarrassed, frustrated and disappointed by his failure in this transaction. Unlike the Yankees, he chose not to go the extra distance for his fans in Boston.

"It is understandable, but wrong that he would try to deflect the accountability for his mistakes on to others and to a system for which he voted in favor. It is time to get on with life and forget the sour grapes."

Steinbrenner leaves such a nasty distaste in my mouth. The "extra distance" he speaks of is equivalent to some teams' payrolls.

The Yankees will be paying Rodriguez close to $16 million a year, that is over half of the entire 2003 payroll for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Devil Rays had the lowest payroll in MLB with $31 million.

It had to be embarrassing for the Yankees and Steinbrenner to be defeated by the Florida Marlins in last season's World Series. The Marlins‚ payroll last year was $63 million, one-third of the Yankees.

It is clear that the majority of baseball fans are getting tired of Steinbrenner's antics.

Henry pointed out in his statement that "Fifty-seven percent of baseball fans polled this week by ESPN.com characterized this week's events as "disgusting and sad."

I know that I am experiencing disgust and sadness, but I don't know if the emotions are because of the Yankees or because I just sliced my finger off.

Tyler did not actually cut off his finger in protest of Steinbrenner. If you are also offended by Steinbrenner and the Yankees then you can reach Tyler by email at sports@mccookgazette.com