The Texas Rangers got Alfonso Soriano, age 28, one of the most exciting talents in baseball, who had mainly been a 2nd baseman, but could also play shortstop and 3rd base; and a player to be named later, who, on April 23, turned out to be Joaquin Arias, 19, a minor-league infielder who ended up playing 474 games in the major leagues, including winning 2 World Series rings as a backup with the 2012 and 2014 San Francisco Giants.
The Yankees got Alex Rodriguez, a shortstop, soon to be 29, accepted by some as the best player in baseball, and the last 7 years of the biggest contract ever signed in professional sports to that point: $252 million.
I had to explain about Arias. But we know what happened to the 2 big names. Soriano bounced around, including back to the Yankees at the end, finishing with 412 home runs and 289 stolen bases, including (as far as we know, he was clean) the only honest season in MLB history with at least 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases, with the 2006 Washington Nationals. And yet, he got traded again, although it was more because the Chicago Cubs were going for broke, and he did help them reach the postseason in 2007 and 2008.
As for A-Rod: He moved to 3rd base, because Derek Jeter had earned the right to keep playing at shortstop for the Yankees, and ended up helping the Yankees reach the postseason 7 times, but only 1 Pennant, 2009, winning the World Series. His regular seasons were solid, sometimes spectacular. His postseasons, 2009 excepted, were horrendous.
He seemed personally responsible for the Yankees' failures to show up in the 2005 American League Division Series, the 2006 ALDS, the 2007 ALDS, the 2010 AL Championship Series, the 2011 ALDS, the 2012 ALCS, and the 2015 AL Wild Card Game. And it all seemed to start with his stupid "Slap Play" in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS.
He finished his career with 14 All-Star berths, 3,115 hits, 696 home runs, 2,086 RBIs, 329 stolen bases, a batting title (before he was a Yankee), 2 Gold Gloves (both before he was a Yankee), 3 AL Most Valuable Player awards (2 as a Yankee)... and 1 World Championship, the category that Yankee Fans should care about.
And he frequently embarrassed the Yankees. If it was just little things, like the various manifestations of his huge ego, I could have lived with it. After all, my favorite player of all time is Reggie Jackson, and I lived with his similar issues.
But Reggie never cheated, as far as we know. A-Rod got caught cheating. Twice. And that was on top of his many postseason failures, and his single postseason success.
No player in the history of baseball has ever polarized fans more. If that's incorrect, then, certainly, none has ever done so within the fandom of his own team.
Since he retired in August 2016, the Yankees have not given uniform Number 13 back out. But they probably won't officially retire it. He may never get a Plaque in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. And, while he will be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022, don't count on him being elected.
*
What if the Yankees hadn't traded for A-Rod?
2004: Aaron Boone -- who, it's worth pointing out, was an All-Star with the Cincinnati Reds in 2003, before getting traded to the Yankees and hitting a certain home run -- doesn't play pickup basketball that day. He doesn't get hurt. He's ready to go for the 2004 season.
He plays. He's the Yankees' main 3rd baseman. He hits decently, if not spectacularly. Soriano bats in A-Rod's slot in the order. He's out at 1st, but doesn't make the Slap Play. Jeter gets to 2nd, and is allowed to remain there. The Yankees complete the comeback, and win the Pennant in 6 games. They beat the St. Louis Cardinals to win the 2004 World Series. Title 27.
Having failed to win the Pennant again, the Red Sox get broken up and retooled. After all, in the history that we know, there were a few notable differences between their 2004 and 2007 title teams. Knowing that he had handcuffed the Yankees in the 2003 World Series, they still sign Josh Beckett.
2005: Well, the Chicago White Sox were a team of destiny. I am not so churlish as to deny a team which appears to have been steroid-free its only World Championship in the last 102 years. Let's move on.
2006: Soriano's 40-40 year. Having Soriano and Boone instead of A-Rod, when practically no one else hit, either, might have made a difference in the ALDS against the Detroit Tigers. Then, just as the Tigers did, the Yankees sweep the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS, making all those "Moneyball" fans look like idiots. Only now, since it was done by New York, not by Detroit, people notice, and the movie never gets made. The Yankees again defeat the Cardinals, who, as you'll recall, won only 83 games that year. Title 28.
2007: Boone tails off, and is no longer a factor, but Soriano still is. The Yankees win the AL Eastern Division, so the Playoff matchups are different. There is no Bug Game in Cleveland. But maybe the Yankees lose to the Indians in the ALCS anyway. The Indians beat the Colorado Rockies, and end their World Series drought at 69 years.
A-Rod opts out of his contract with the Rangers, just as he did with the Yankees in real life. But no one wants him. George Steinbrenner, no longer in full control of the team, doesn't tell his sons Hal and Hank to get him, and instead tells them to focus on the managerial situation. Since Joe Torre now has 2 more titles, he gets offered a new contract that he finds acceptable. Joe Girardi becomes one of his coaches.
2008: The Yankees miss the Playoffs.
2009: The Yankees acquire CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher and A.J. Burnett. Soriano has a down year, but the pitching is enough to get the Yankees Title 29.
Alfonso Soriano after hitting a home run
in the 2009 World Series
2010: George Steinbrenner dies. Tom Hicks, owner of the Texas Rangers, goes into financial freefall, and has to sell the team. Arte Moreno, owner of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, makes a deal to take A-Rod. The Rangers still have enough to make the Playoffs, but the Yankees win the Pennant. This time, though, they lose to the San Francisco Giants.
2011: A-Rod finally gets his ring, as the Angels beat the Yankees in the ALCS and the Cardinals in the World Series.
2012: With Mike Trout as Rookie of the Year, and Albert Pujols having been signed by the Angels as well, having joined Alex Rodriguez, the Angels win the Pennant again, but lose the World Series to the Giants. Joe Torre retires as Yankee manager. Joe Girardi is appointed.
Mike Trout and Alex Rodriguez
2013: The Angels beat the Red Sox in the ALCS, and the Cardinals in the World Series. St. Louis is now 0-6 in World Series play since 1982, and "the Curse of Keith Hernandez" lives. Meanwhile, the Red Sox haven't won the World Series in 95 years.
2014: Soriano retires in midseason, and his Number 12 is retired. Jeter retires at the end of the season, and his Number 2 is retired. The Yankees don't make the Playoffs. Meanwhile, A-Rod keeps playing, since, not being a Yankee, nobody seems to give a damn that he used performance-enhancing drugs. He hits his 700th career home run, and his 715th, to surpass Babe Ruth for 3rd place on the all-time list.
2015: The Yankees do not make the Playoffs. The Mets win the Pennant.
2016: A-Rod hits his 756th home run to surpass Hank Aaron for 2nd place. On August 12, 2016 (in real life, the day of his last game), he hits Number 762, to tie the all-time record set by Barry Bonds. It's off Carlos Carrasco of the Cleveland Indians, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, but the Indians still win 13-4. (That day, Carrasco helped them win 13-3.)
A-Rod is then held out until the next home game, at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, August 16, 2016 -- the anniversary of Babe Ruth's death, and a game against his original team, the Seattle Mariners. Off Arquimedes Caminero, he hits Number 763, The Angels win, 7-6. (Which actually happened that night.) He finishes the season with 770, and retires. The Angels retire his Number 3.
Very few people bring up the fact that he had ever cheated. It's like they want to believe that he, unlike Bonds, was clean.
The 2017 and 2018 seasons play out like we remember. Except, now, the Red Sox haven't won the World Series in 100 years, and the Cardinals in 36 years.
So, in a few ways, the Yankees are better off never having had A-Rod.
Or, I could be very wrong.
We'll never know, because, 15 years ago today, the Yankees traded for A-Rod, in a move that change baseball history in ways at which we -- including, as seen above, myself -- can only guess.