Rodriguez became a free agent after the 2000 season. He eventually signed with the 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 million (equivalent to $ million in ). The deal was worth $63 million more than the second-richest baseball deal. The contract was highly criticized, because it tied up valuable payroll space that could have been spent to improve other areas, such as pitching. 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 that Rodriguez had signed was: Did Texas offer him $250 million and he wanted two more? How did they get to $252 million?"