"My back was to the wall and I had to cut payroll."
But the government didn't respond by cutting its own payroll.
Rodriguez makes $25.2 million a season, and the Rangers are trying to cut their payroll.
That salary is more than the Yankees want to pay while trying to cut payroll for next season.
Improving those areas while cutting payroll and keeping young players is the challenge.
And he said that the agreement, even with its conditions, was essential to cutting the city's payroll by 15,000 jobs.
American Airlines said it might lay off 1,000 managers to cut its payroll by 10 percent.
But after his first year on that job, the Tigers traded players to cut their payroll, and they paid for it.
"I'm looking to cut payroll and put a championship-caliber team on the field," he said.
In that time, he moved aggressively to cut the bank's payroll and improve its efficiency.