Although many players have come and gone through the Bronx Zoo and the franchise has remained solvent despite it all, this is different. It all comes down to money. No one in baseball has ever made the kind of money A-Rod makes. As a result, no one has ever had the kind of expectations placed upon A-Rod. When you put a player like that in an environment like the Yankees, it’s like dropping Mentos into a bottle of Coke.

The Texas Rangers are already paying a hefty chunk of A-Rod’s salary, so the Angels would only be on the hook for the portion the Yankees are paying now, around $15 million per year. If Moreno promised a major acquisition, he should be able to handle that, especially since he’s already shelling out about $14 million apiece to Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colon.

The issue of where A-Rod would play should work itself out. Orlando Cabrera is probably settled in at shortstop, but young Maicer Izturis easily could be ousted at third to make way for Rodriguez.

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And the Yankees would not part with A-Rod simply to help Moreno save face with fans. They’d want a load in return, and that might include one or two of the Angels’ arms like Scot Shields and/or Ervin Santana plus maybe a position player and/or a prospect or two. But the Angels have enough talent on their roster and in their farm system to withstand a Yankees’ pillaging and still come out with a competitive club.

Besides another stick, what the Angels need most of all is veteran leadership. They’d get that in A-Rod. In New York, he’s a magnet for controversy, dissension and jealousy. In Anaheim, he’d be looked up to and respected, because he’d be needed and appreciated there. It would be the closest he could get to the relative comfort he used to have during his early days in Seattle, while still having the assets necessary to compete for a World Series ring.

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A-Rod is not a brittle, insecure basket case. A-Rod in the Bronx, however, is. With a fresh start in a place like Anaheim, he would have to deal with smaller media hordes and fewer backstabbing teammates. The closest he would have to a rival in the Angels’ clubhouse is Guerrero, but Vlad can’t speak English, and even if he could he wouldn’t say more than two words of it.

If Arte Moreno really wants to make a major acquisition, he should call the team that has made major acquisitions a way of life. Maybe they have one to spare. 

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