Editing Alex Rodriguez (section)

===Texas Rangers===
Rodriguez became a [[free agent]] after the 2000 season. He eventually signed with the [[Texas Rangers (baseball)|Texas Rangers]], who had fallen to last place in their division in 2000. The contract was at the time the most lucrative contract in sports history: a 10-year deal worth $252&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|252|2000}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}). The deal was worth $63&nbsp;million more than the second-richest baseball deal.<ref name="ARodRangers">{{cite news|author=Reid|first=Jason|date=December 12, 2000|title=Texas-Sized Deal|periodical=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-dec-12-sp-64536-story.html|url-status=live|access-date=February 4, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100204025804/http://articles.latimes.com/2000/dec/12/sports/sp-64536|archive-date=February 4, 2010}}</ref> The contract was highly criticized, because it tied up valuable payroll space that could have been spent to improve other areas, such as pitching.<ref>{{cite book|last=Coppedge|first=Clay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_iozvgAACAAJ|title=Texas Baseball: A Lone Star Diamond History from Town Teams to the Big Leagues|publisher=[[The History Press]]|year=2012|isbn=9781609495985|page=151}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Engel|first=Jen Floyd|date=July 29, 2013|title=Mega-deal doomed A-Rod from start|url=http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/alex-rodriguez-downfall-began-with-252-million-texas-rangers-contract-072913|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801164158/http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/alex-rodriguez-downfall-began-with-252-million-texas-rangers-contract-072913|archive-date=August 1, 2013|access-date=April 27, 2014|work=[[Fox Sports]]}}</ref> [[Dave McNally]], one of the players who had successfully challenged the reserve clause in the 1970s to create free agency in baseball, said, "My first thought when I saw [reports that Rodriguez had signed] was: Did Texas offer him $250 million and he wanted two more? How did they get to $252 million?"<ref>{{cite news|last=Goldstein|first=Richard|date=December 3, 2002|title=Dave McNally, 60, early free agent, dies|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/03/sports/dave-mcnally-60-early-free-agent-dies.html|access-date=September 17, 2017}}</ref>

In an interview eight years later, Rodriguez said he regretted signing with the Texas Rangers and wished he had signed with the [[New York Mets]] instead, and that he had heeded the advice of his agent, [[Scott Boras]]. (See [[Alex Rodriguez#Opt-out controversy|Opt out controversy]].)<ref>{{cite news|last=Harper|first=John|date=March 24, 2008|title=A-Rod regrets saying no to Mets, doesn't make same mistake with Yankees|work=[[New York Daily News]]|location=New York City|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/a-rod-regrets-no-mets-doesn-mistake-yankees-article-1.286061|access-date=August 18, 2012}}</ref>

====2001–2002====
Rodriguez's power-hitting numbers improved with his move to the Texas Rangers. In his first season there, Rodriguez produced one of the top offensive seasons ever for a shortstop, leading the American League with 52 home runs, 133 runs scored, and 393 total bases.<ref name="b-r" /> He became the first player since 1932 with 50 homers and 200 hits in a season, the third shortstop to ever lead the league in homers, and the second AL player in the last 34 seasons (beginning 1968) to lead the league in runs, homers, and total bases; his total base figure is the most ever for a major league shortstop. His 52 homers made him the sixth youngest to ever reach 50 homers and were the highest total ever by a shortstop, surpassing [[Ernie Banks]]' record of 47 in 1958, and also the most ever for an infielder other than a first baseman, breaking Phillies 3B [[Mike Schmidt]]'s mark of 48 in 1980.<ref>{{cite web|title=Single-Season Leaders & Records for Home Runs|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/HR_season.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070620135024/http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/HR_season.shtml|archive-date=June 20, 2007|access-date=July 20, 2007|website=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|publisher=[[Sports Reference]]}}</ref> It was his fifth 30-homer campaign, tying Banks for most ever by a shortstop. He also tied for the league lead in extra-base hits (87) and ranked third in RBIs (135) and slugging (.622). He was also among the AL leaders in hits (fourth, 201), average (seventh, .318), and on-base percentage (eighth, .399). He established Rangers club records for homers, runs, total bases, and [[hit by pitch]]es, had the second-most extra-base hits, and the fourth-highest RBI total. He led the club in runs, hits, doubles (34), homers, RBI, slugging, and on-base percentage and was second in walks (75), stolen bases (18), and game-winning RBI (14) while posting career highs for homers, RBI, and total bases. Rodriguez started 161 games at shortstop and one as the [[Designated hitter|DH]], the only major league player to start all of his team's games in 2001.

Rodriguez followed the previous year with a major league-best 57 home runs, 142 RBIs and 389 total bases in 2002,<ref name="b-r" /> becoming the first player to lead the majors in all three categories since 1984. His nine home runs in April matched a team record that was shared (through 2008) with [[Iván Rodríguez]] (2000), [[Carl Everett]] (2003), and [[Ian Kinsler]] (2007). He had the sixth-most home runs in AL history, the most since [[Roger Maris]]' league record 61 in 1961 and the most ever for a shortstop for the second straight year. He won the [[Babe Ruth Home Run Award]] for leading MLB in homers that season.<ref>{{cite news|last=Sanchez|first=Jesse|date=May 23, 2003|title=Notes: Strength in the message|work=[[MLB.com]]|publisher=[[MLB Advanced Media]]|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20030523&content_id=334171&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=null|url-status=dead|access-date=November 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114070315/http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20030523&content_id=334171&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=null|archive-date=November 14, 2012}}</ref> He also won his first [[Gold Glove Award]], awarded for outstanding defense.

His 109 home runs in 2001–02 are the most ever by an American League right-handed batter in consecutive seasons. However, the Rangers finished last in the [[American League West|AL Western division]] in both years. He finished second in the MVP balloting to fellow shortstop [[Miguel Tejada]], whose 103-win [[Oakland Athletics]] won the same division.<ref>{{cite web|title=2002 Awards Voting|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_2002.shtml|access-date=April 8, 2020|website=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|language=en}}</ref>

====2003====
The 2003 season was Rodriguez's last year with the Rangers. He led the American League in home runs, runs scored, and slugging percentage, and won his second consecutive [[Gold Glove|Gold Glove Award]]. He also led the league in fewest at-bats per home run (12.9) and became the youngest player to hit 300 homers. He was tied with [[Jim Thome]] for the MLB lead in homers, and he won his second Babe Ruth Home Run Award.<ref name="morrissey">{{cite news|last=Morrissey|first=Michael|date=June 6, 2004|title=Hospital ward in Bronx|page=50|newspaper=[[New York Post]]|url=https://nypost.com/2004/06/06/hospital-ward-in-bronx/|access-date=November 8, 2011|quote=Before the game, Rodriguez received the Babe Ruth Award (for most homers in the majors last season) from Ruth's daughter and grandson.}}</ref><ref name="baberuthcentral">At the following webpage, '''''scroll down to''''' "The Babe Ruth Homerun Award". {{cite web|title=06 Fan Stories: Ultimate Babe Ruth Fans|url=http://www.baberuthcentral.com/Fan%20Stories/#HomeRun|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110915121619/http://baberuthcentral.com/Fan%20Stories/|archive-date=September 15, 2011|access-date=September 15, 2011|website=Babe Ruth Central|publisher=}}</ref>

Following five top-10 finishes in the AL MVP voting between 1996 and 2002, Rodriguez won his first MVP trophy. Rodriguez, a two-time runner up in the balloting by the [[Baseball Writers' Association of America]], joined outfielder [[Andre Dawson]] from the 1987 [[Chicago Cubs]] as the only players to play on last-place teams and win the award.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Perry|first=Dayn|date=November 17, 2016|title=Making the MVP case for Mike Trout and great players on bad teams|language=en|work=[[CBS Sports]]|url=https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/making-the-mvp-case-for-mike-trout-and-great-players-on-bad-teams/|access-date=December 9, 2017}}</ref>

Following the 2003 season, Texas set out to part ways with Rodriguez and his expensive contract. The Rangers initially agreed to a trade with the [[Boston Red Sox]], sending Rodriguez to Boston for [[Manny Ramirez]], 19-year old pitching prospect [[Jon Lester]], and cash considerations. However, the [[Major League Baseball Players Association]] vetoed the deal because it called for a voluntary reduction in salary by Rodriguez.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Jaffe|first=Jay|date=August 9, 2016|title=What if Alex Rodriguez had been traded to Boston?|language=en|magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]|url=https://www.si.com/mlb/2016/08/09/alex-rodriguez-trade-red-sox-yankees-alternate-history|access-date=December 9, 2017}}</ref> Despite the failed deal with the Red Sox, the Rangers named him [[captain (baseball)|team captain]] during that off-season.<ref>{{cite news|date=January 25, 2004|title=A-Rod: 'I feel a grand responsibility'|url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=1718315|access-date=December 9, 2017|website=[[ESPN]]|agency=Associated Press}}</ref>