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CNN Live At Daybreak

Rodriguez, Jeter Set to Write Next Chapter in Storied History of Yankees

Aired February 17, 2004 - 06:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Just think about the history. First it was Ruth and Gehrig, then Maris and Mantle, and now Rodriguez and Jeter are set to write the next chapter in the long and storied history of the New York Yankees.
Joining me now to talk about what this deal means both to the Yankees and to baseball is Chris Cotter of Sports Radio "790 The Zone."

Thanks for being with us this morning.

CHRIS COTTER, SPORTS RADIO HOST, "790 THE ZONE": Sure, Carol.

COSTELLO: You want me to read a quote from Ben Affleck, the actor Ben Affleck, about the big A-Rod trade? Because, you know, Boston lost out.

COTTER: Yes, I'm sure he's extremely displeased.

COSTELLO: He is. Let me read you his statement. He says, "George Steinbrenner is the center of evil in the universe."

COTTER: That's what Boston fans believe. And he one upped them once again.

COSTELLO: Why does he continue to do this? I mean the Yankees didn't make the World Series last year and they had a pretty big payroll then, too.

COTTER: That answers your questions right there. That's why he continues to do this. He has to win. Therein lies the difference between, you know, corporate ownership of some of these baseball teams and individuals. George Steinbrenner wants to win. He feels like he has to win. Therefore he's going to spend no matter what it takes for him to get his people in place.

COSTELLO: But the question is does this hurt baseball from a fan's perspective? And before you answer that, let's listen to some fans' sound bites that we picked up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A-Rod is going to the evil empire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They buy their players, they buy a baseball team, they put it all together and it's just every, every, I just want to swear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be one of the greatest teams you're going to see in the history of the Yankees. You watch and see.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the best move that the Yankees have made since the Babe Ruth acquisition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And what a difference between Boston fans and New York fans. But in the wider baseball fan world, a lot of people hate the Yankees for doing this. Doesn't this smear baseball's reputation even more?

COTTER: No, it's perfect for baseball in that regard.

COSTELLO: Why?

COTTER: Because the Yankees need to be the epicenter of the baseball world and they need to be either loved or hated. And they're loved inside the City of New York and they're hated everywhere else. And to me, that's perfect for baseball. Let that continue. Let them be the team to beat. Remember, they haven't won the World Series in three years and they've -- in at least two of those years, you could say, it's small market teams that went there, and really three -- Phoenix, Miami and Anaheim. So, I mean that's a case of the evil empire being toppled and everybody loved it.

You remember what it was like when Florida won the World Series last year. People were going crazy because they were beating the Yankees. I love that and I think that's good for baseball, to have the Yankees be the team -- much like when Jordan came back in the Bulls, when you had Rodman and Pipp in there and you have all these stars with the Yankees right now, everybody is going to want to know what they're doing on a nightly basis...

COSTELLO: Yes, but let me...

COTTER: ... and everyone's going to want to beat them.

COSTELLO: Let me just play devil's advocate.

COTTER: Go ahead.

COSTELLO: So the Yankees don't make the World Series and you've got two teams that nobody has paid attention to all through the year because the media has only centered its attention on the Yankees. So nobody watches the World Series. Nobody watches any other baseball team.

Doesn't that hurt baseball in the long run?

COTTER: No. People are going to watch the World Series because I think, and I think it's rightfully so to think this way, the Yankees are going to make the post-season, whether they win the division or whether they win a wild card in the American League. Therefore at least at the beginning of the post-season, all eyes are going to be on who plays the Yankees and can somebody beat the Yankees.

No one watches baseball in the regular season anyways.

COSTELLO: But they should.

COTTER: But they don't.

COSTELLO: I mean stadium...

COTTER: This is the way it is.

COSTELLO: Teams like Cleveland and Detroit aren't attracting any fans.

COTTER: Well, that's their own problem.

COSTELLO: But George Steinbrenner...

COTTER: Go out, spend some money, win some games and fans will come out and see you. That's the...

COSTELLO: Yes, but who can spend as much money as George Steinbrenner is spending?

COTTER: Nobody can. Nobody can at all.

COSTELLO: That is not fair. That brings up that old argument, doesn't it?

COTTER: I mean you saw the graphic on the left side of the infield, right there. Two players are making more money combined, those two guys, Jeter and A-Rod, than a couple of teams are...

COSTELLO: Yes, let's put up that graphic again.

COTTER: ... their entire payroll.

COSTELLO: This is insane, $113.4 million just for the starting lineup. We have per inning prices, Chris. Are you ready?

COTTER: Oh, I'm set for this.

COSTELLO: Derek Jeter...

COTTER: Is this going to upset me?

COSTELLO: Derek -- yes. Derek Jeter makes $11,659 per inning. A-Rod will make $14,403 per inning.

Is there any reason in the world why baseball players have to make this obscene amount of cash?

COTTER: Because somebody will pay them. They make that money because somebody out there is willing to pay them. Now, in many cases in baseball, we've seen in free agency, that money is going down. I mean A-Rod made his deal years ago when deals were just climbing through the roof. Now they've kind of settled down a little bit in hockey, in baseball, certainly. You have the cap in football and basketball, so that's going to keep deals down.

But we've seen sort of a, you know, a reshuffling of some of these free agent deals. They're not big, huge mega contracts like A- Rod signed four years ago.

COSTELLO: But if prices continue to spiral upwards, won't the salary cap issue come back into vogue and won't eventually baseball have a salary cap?

COTTER: Well, this is the one contention I have with this whole deal is that a year and a half ago we sat here on this show and talked, you know, ad nauseum about the collective bargaining agreement and the fact that the players don't want a cap, owners say they have to have a cap. They kind of came to some middle ground right here. But this is kicking sand in the face of that deal.

I mean Steinbrenner is going to pay $50 million to $60 million in luxury taxes to the rest of the teams in major league baseball because of this, but OK, the Braves and Mets are teams that are, you know, probably pretty good baseball teams, certainly good organizations that can pay players a lot of money. Combined, those two teams don't have the salary that the New York Yankees have. Combined they don't. So it's the Yankees are just the haves and have nots is getting stretched out here with this deal. And eventually, yes, they may say that, but hockey collective bargaining agreement is expiring this summer. The same type of deal. Players don't want a cap. The owners say they have to have a cap. And players won't agree to that anymore.

So I don't know if you'll ever get major league baseball players to agree to a hard salary cap.

COSTELLO: All right, Chris Cotter from "790 The Zone," thanks for coming in this morning.

COTTER: No problem.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it.

By the way, Alex Rodriguez will hold court later today with team captain Derek Jeter by his side. Isn't that pretty? CNN will have live coverage of that news conference starting at noon Eastern.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





History of Yankees>


Aired February 17, 2004 - 06:50   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Just think about the history. First it was Ruth and Gehrig, then Maris and Mantle, and now Rodriguez and Jeter are set to write the next chapter in the long and storied history of the New York Yankees.
Joining me now to talk about what this deal means both to the Yankees and to baseball is Chris Cotter of Sports Radio "790 The Zone."

Thanks for being with us this morning.

CHRIS COTTER, SPORTS RADIO HOST, "790 THE ZONE": Sure, Carol.

COSTELLO: You want me to read a quote from Ben Affleck, the actor Ben Affleck, about the big A-Rod trade? Because, you know, Boston lost out.

COTTER: Yes, I'm sure he's extremely displeased.

COSTELLO: He is. Let me read you his statement. He says, "George Steinbrenner is the center of evil in the universe."

COTTER: That's what Boston fans believe. And he one upped them once again.

COSTELLO: Why does he continue to do this? I mean the Yankees didn't make the World Series last year and they had a pretty big payroll then, too.

COTTER: That answers your questions right there. That's why he continues to do this. He has to win. Therein lies the difference between, you know, corporate ownership of some of these baseball teams and individuals. George Steinbrenner wants to win. He feels like he has to win. Therefore he's going to spend no matter what it takes for him to get his people in place.

COSTELLO: But the question is does this hurt baseball from a fan's perspective? And before you answer that, let's listen to some fans' sound bites that we picked up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A-Rod is going to the evil empire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They buy their players, they buy a baseball team, they put it all together and it's just every, every, I just want to swear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be one of the greatest teams you're going to see in the history of the Yankees. You watch and see.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the best move that the Yankees have made since the Babe Ruth acquisition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And what a difference between Boston fans and New York fans. But in the wider baseball fan world, a lot of people hate the Yankees for doing this. Doesn't this smear baseball's reputation even more?

COTTER: No, it's perfect for baseball in that regard.

COSTELLO: Why?

COTTER: Because the Yankees need to be the epicenter of the baseball world and they need to be either loved or hated. And they're loved inside the City of New York and they're hated everywhere else. And to me, that's perfect for baseball. Let that continue. Let them be the team to beat. Remember, they haven't won the World Series in three years and they've -- in at least two of those years, you could say, it's small market teams that went there, and really three -- Phoenix, Miami and Anaheim. So, I mean that's a case of the evil empire being toppled and everybody loved it.

You remember what it was like when Florida won the World Series last year. People were going crazy because they were beating the Yankees. I love that and I think that's good for baseball, to have the Yankees be the team -- much like when Jordan came back in the Bulls, when you had Rodman and Pipp in there and you have all these stars with the Yankees right now, everybody is going to want to know what they're doing on a nightly basis...

COSTELLO: Yes, but let me...

COTTER: ... and everyone's going to want to beat them.

COSTELLO: Let me just play devil's advocate.

COTTER: Go ahead.

COSTELLO: So the Yankees don't make the World Series and you've got two teams that nobody has paid attention to all through the year because the media has only centered its attention on the Yankees. So nobody watches the World Series. Nobody watches any other baseball team.

Doesn't that hurt baseball in the long run?

COTTER: No. People are going to watch the World Series because I think, and I think it's rightfully so to think this way, the Yankees are going to make the post-season, whether they win the division or whether they win a wild card in the American League. Therefore at least at the beginning of the post-season, all eyes are going to be on who plays the Yankees and can somebody beat the Yankees.

No one watches baseball in the regular season anyways.

COSTELLO: But they should.

COTTER: But they don't.

COSTELLO: I mean stadium...

COTTER: This is the way it is.

COSTELLO: Teams like Cleveland and Detroit aren't attracting any fans.

COTTER: Well, that's their own problem.

COSTELLO: But George Steinbrenner...

COTTER: Go out, spend some money, win some games and fans will come out and see you. That's the...

COSTELLO: Yes, but who can spend as much money as George Steinbrenner is spending?

COTTER: Nobody can. Nobody can at all.

COSTELLO: That is not fair. That brings up that old argument, doesn't it?

COTTER: I mean you saw the graphic on the left side of the infield, right there. Two players are making more money combined, those two guys, Jeter and A-Rod, than a couple of teams are...

COSTELLO: Yes, let's put up that graphic again.

COTTER: ... their entire payroll.

COSTELLO: This is insane, $113.4 million just for the starting lineup. We have per inning prices, Chris. Are you ready?

COTTER: Oh, I'm set for this.

COSTELLO: Derek Jeter...

COTTER: Is this going to upset me?

COSTELLO: Derek -- yes. Derek Jeter makes $11,659 per inning. A-Rod will make $14,403 per inning.

Is there any reason in the world why baseball players have to make this obscene amount of cash?

COTTER: Because somebody will pay them. They make that money because somebody out there is willing to pay them. Now, in many cases in baseball, we've seen in free agency, that money is going down. I mean A-Rod made his deal years ago when deals were just climbing through the roof. Now they've kind of settled down a little bit in hockey, in baseball, certainly. You have the cap in football and basketball, so that's going to keep deals down.

But we've seen sort of a, you know, a reshuffling of some of these free agent deals. They're not big, huge mega contracts like A- Rod signed four years ago.

COSTELLO: But if prices continue to spiral upwards, won't the salary cap issue come back into vogue and won't eventually baseball have a salary cap?

COTTER: Well, this is the one contention I have with this whole deal is that a year and a half ago we sat here on this show and talked, you know, ad nauseum about the collective bargaining agreement and the fact that the players don't want a cap, owners say they have to have a cap. They kind of came to some middle ground right here. But this is kicking sand in the face of that deal.

I mean Steinbrenner is going to pay $50 million to $60 million in luxury taxes to the rest of the teams in major league baseball because of this, but OK, the Braves and Mets are teams that are, you know, probably pretty good baseball teams, certainly good organizations that can pay players a lot of money. Combined, those two teams don't have the salary that the New York Yankees have. Combined they don't. So it's the Yankees are just the haves and have nots is getting stretched out here with this deal. And eventually, yes, they may say that, but hockey collective bargaining agreement is expiring this summer. The same type of deal. Players don't want a cap. The owners say they have to have a cap. And players won't agree to that anymore.

So I don't know if you'll ever get major league baseball players to agree to a hard salary cap.

COSTELLO: All right, Chris Cotter from "790 The Zone," thanks for coming in this morning.

COTTER: No problem.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it.

By the way, Alex Rodriguez will hold court later today with team captain Derek Jeter by his side. Isn't that pretty? CNN will have live coverage of that news conference starting at noon Eastern.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





History of Yankees>