The Top-Salary Curse

Amid their gloom, Boston Red Sox fans can find a ray of hope in the New York Yankees' big trade for Alex Rodriguez, baseball's highest-paid player. Over the past 15 years, having the richest player on your team has not been a ticket to success (see below). One problem: because of his restructured salary deal, A-Rod's pay won't be No. 1 in 2004. That honor now goes to Manny Ramirez — of the Red Sox. Talk about cursed.

DARRYL STRAWBERRY
SALARY: $3.8 MILLION
1991 Los Angeles Dodgers
A big free-agent pickup — but the team blew a division lead to the Atlanta Braves and missed the play-offs.

BOBBY BONILLA
SALARY: $6.1 MILLION
1992 New York Mets
After wooing him from the Pirates, the Mets lost 90 games; fans booed him so loudly he wore earplugs at the plate.

ALBERT BELLE
SALARY: $10 MILLION
1997 Chicago White Sox
The Sox dumped others to trim the payroll and finished under .500.

CECIL FIELDER
SALARY: $9.2 MILLION
1995 Detroit Tigers
The slugger got a big raise and hit 31 homers, but Detroit finished 26 games out of first.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ
SALARY: $22 MILLION
2001 Texas Rangers
They paid huge bucks for Seattle's star, but it was the first of three cellar seasons in Arlington.

KEVIN BROWN
SALARY: $15.7 MILLION
2000 Los Angeles Dodgers
Baseball's first $15 million man had a league-low 2.58 ERA, but L.A. finished 11 games behind archrival San Francisco in the National League West.