Major League Baseball

A-ROD WILL COLLECT FROM RANGER$

Published Oct. 14, 2010 10:09 p.m. ET

foxsports

When Alex Rodriguez was asked about facing his former team, the Rangers, in the ALCS, the Yankees star stared straight ahead.

"No emotion," he said.

When the Rangers declared for bankruptcy earlier this year, though, he had some emotions. Rodriguez still is owed $24.9 million by the Rangers from the monster contract he signed after the 2000 season. When the Rangers filed for Chapter 11 this summer, Rodriguez found himself as the team's largest unsecured creditor.

Before the team was sold to a group including Nolan Ryan, Rodriguez had his lawyers file an objection to the team's bankruptcy plan because it was unclear how he was getting the deferred money the team must pay him until 2025.

"Well, I was in the middle of that," Rodriguez said yesterday. "I'm just happy that they got funded. I'm happy for them."

Asked if he was concerned about getting his money, Rodriguez said, "No, I'm not worried about that too much."

Rodriguez and the Rangers worked out a deal in 2001 that deferred $45 million of his salary to 2011-20 at two percent interest. When he was traded to the Yankees in 2004, the Rangers still owed him $183 million. The Rangers agreed to pick up $71 million of that to facilitate the trade. The payments don't end until 2025, or eight years after his current contract with the Yankees expires.

"I met a lot of great people there," he said. "We had high hopes, just like they have now. Just things didn't work out with us winning games.

He wasn't so nice in 2004 after the trade. Rodriguez co-authored an article in ESPN The Magazine in which he complained about the organization.

"I would have never gone to Texas if they had told me, 'Alex, it's going to be you and 24 kids,'" he wrote. "Never. For no amount of money."

The Texas fans surely will greet Rodriguez with boos, and the stadium operators at The Ballpark at Arlington always play The Who's "The Kids Are Alright" when Rodriguez is in town.

"They're cheering for their team," Rodriguez said. "They want their team to win. I enjoy going back there and I'm sure they're just being good sports about it.

"Boos are a compliment. When they stop booing me, I'll be out of the game."