Yankees won’t pay 660th homerun bonus to A-Rod. Fair or not?

Last Friday, Alex Rodriguez hit his 660th homerun that tied him for fourth place with Willie Mays. The way he reached this goal remains questionable. Most of his career he used PEDs so his numbers are tainted for sure.

Now the Yankees say that they will not pay him the agreed $6 million bonus for reaching this milestone. They claim that their image has been damaged because of A-Rod’s PED use. They also claim that they cannot market the milestones that A-Rod can reach because of the PED use.

To me this is a lot of bull. They knew that he used PEDs. He even got the green light by MLB in 2007 and in 2008 when he made clear that his body was so  much accustomed to PEDs that he could not do without. So how on earth can the Yankees say that their image has been damaged?

For sure A-Rod is one of the least liked players. He was very self centered. But to deny him this bonus goes a bit too far perhaps. Like I wrote above, they must have known about his PED use. If he had not been caught, they would have advertised his milestones to draw more fans to Yankee Stadium. But now all of a sudden their image has been damaged because of the PED use?

On the other hand, these milestones are tainted, so are they worth the extra money? Of course Rodriguez will think that they are. Catching Ruth at 714, Aaron at 755 and Bonds at 762 will add $6 million per mileston extra on his account. That alone will be $18 million. Not bad for hitting a couple of dingers.

The players union will back A-Rod if it comes to a dispute. The essential passage in the contract says the following: “The Yankees have the right, but not the obligation, to determine whether it’s a commercially marketable milestone.” So when you look to the passage literally, they have a point. Hardly anybody will care about Rodriguez surpassing the other homerun greats, so these milestones will not attract many extra fans to the stadium probably.
Of course the main reason for the denial will be that the Yankees can save at least $18 million and of course they will never admit this.

You can wonder why they added the clause in the contract. Probably they knew that he would be caught sooner or later. A perfect escape route.

So is it fair that the Yankees deny these bonuses? Even though I disagree with the way they are dealing with this, I think it is fair. Not because the milestones aren’t marketable anymore. The Yankees would have been the first to take full advantage when A-Rod had not been caught. But merely because A-Rod’s numbers are tainted.

As far as I am concerned, the only way how Rodriguez will enter the HOF is by buying a ticket.