BASEBALL Selig approves trade; N.Y. readies warm welcome

Alex Rodriguez was to be introduced by the Yankees today.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Alex Rodriguez left New York a child, returned as a celebrity and hopes to leave as a champion.
A-Rod is moving onto the biggest stage in town, Yankee Stadium, where he's expected to help New York win the World Series for the first time since 2000.
"I'm pretty excited. This is a big, big one," Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said after commissioner Bud Selig approved the record-setting swap with the Texas Rangers.
"It ranks with when we signed Reggie," he said, referring to Reggie Jackson, who became a Yankee after the 1976 season.
Sign of the times
Rodriguez, the first reigning MVP to be traded, was to be introduced today at Yankee Stadium, where the sign board outside proclaimed: "A Rod, Welcome to NY."
Coming up from Florida to attend were manager Joe Torre, who will miss the opening of the team's spring training camp, and Yankees captain Derek Jeter, who will remain at shortstop. The 28-year-old Rodriguez, a seven-time All-Star, will shift to third base to fill the hole left when Aaron Boone wrecked a knee last month.
Texas gets second baseman Alfonso Soriano and a minor league player to be named, but it will still have to pay $67 million of the $179 million Rodriguez is owed over the remainder of his deal.
Steinbrenner and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman personally assured Jeter that he would keep his position and that Rodriguez would switch to third -- where his only major league experience is one inning during an All-Star game.
"Derek's response to me was he thinks this is pretty cool," said Cashman, who said moving Jeter was "not a consideration whatsoever."
"You go with the man that brought you to the dance," he said. "You're going to stick with him. You don't mess with success."
Former Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles will work with Rodriguez on the transition to the position.
Rodriguez, signed to a record $252 million, 10-year contract by the Rangers in December 2000, grew tired of Texas after three last-place finishes.
New York native
He was born in 1975 in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, not far from where Manny Ramirez grew up, just a few miles from Yankee Stadium. And even though his father, Victor, closed his shoe store and moved the family to the Dominican Republic four years later, his fondness for the city remained.
The trade leaves the Yankees' payroll at about $184 million, with reliever Gabe White still unsigned and eligible for arbitration this week. By mid-afternoon, Major League Baseball's Web site was selling Rodriguez's Yankees jersey for $99.99, saying it would be shipped once his uniform number, probably 13, is finalized.
Though the Yankees and Rangers finalized the trade Sunday, it needed Selig's approval because of the amount of the contract Texas is assuming.
"I want to make it abundantly clear to all clubs that I will not allow cash transfers of this magnitude to become the norm." Selig said. "However, given the unique circumstances, including the size, length and complexity of Mr. Rodriguez's contract and the quality of the talent moving in both directions, I have decided to approve the transaction."
Texas owner Tom Hicks initially opposed the trade, but later relented.
"Both of my baseball experts gave me their advice, and it was that we can build a championship team faster by doing this trade today," he said.