Alex Rodriguez informed the New York Yankees last night - via text message by the way - that he is officially opting out of his contract and will become an unrestricted free agent when the offseason begins in the next few weeks. It was a classless, lowlife act by a prima donna, whiny, pretty boy who still believes that being booed at Yankee Stadium is this generation's version of being fired on at Bastogne.
Now comes the hard part. The Yanks have said there is NO chance they will get back involved with the mega-talented anchor and they HAVE to stick to their guns. Why? Will the Yanks, on the field, be better off without him? Of course not, but the truth is that, eventually, someone has to yell ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is the reason to bring A-Rod back: He is the lynchpin to this lineup. Without A-Rod, there is no sure fire fourth hitter in a lineup that no longer features the type of all around, clutch performers it once did so abundantly. In those days, with Tino and Paulie and Bernie, you could get away with having a fourth place hitter that only hit 25 homers because everyone, from 1-9, was just so damn good. Everyone had power, just not too much. Everyone could hit for average. The Yanks were the FIRST team to perfect the "wait him out" approach to tough starters, getting the likes of Pedro to wear down over the course of a game and then force the other team to turn to a lesser bullpen. Now? Without A-Rod, the fourth place hitter would probably be Jorge Posada. While Jorge is a terrific player, he is a catcher, meaning he won't play in a good percentage of games, and he is not likely to duplicate the type of season he had last year. After that, the only other candidates are Giambi, who could work but is no longer CLOSE to the type of player he once was, Matsui, who no know truly knows what to expect from going forward, or Cano, who is a third place hitter in the waiting, not a fourth place hitter.
That means the Yanks will have to FIND another bat somewhere, but with the current state being that A-Rod is gone, right now, there is no other bat to plug into the fourth hole. Don't kid yourselves Yankee fans, that is a HUGE hole to fill.
Okay, here are the reasons NOT to bring him back: He doesn't make the difference between a championship and going home empty handed. Remember, before the Yanks got A-Rod, the YEAR before, they went to the World Series. They didn't have Paulie. They didn't have Tino. Bernie was a shadow of himself. They had Aaron Boone at third. They had Giambi basically injured the entire year. They went to the WS.
As great as A-Rod is, he has never proven to be a difference maker. It is truly uncanny, when one thinks about it. When A-Rod was on a good team in Seattle, they got better AFTER he left. When he went to a horrid team in Texas, they actually got WORSE with him on the roster. And, going to a great team in the Yanks hasn't meant anything different for the team. It is as if, while A-Rod is compiling his numbers, his effect on the team is minimal (now, don't scream about this year. There is no question that the only reason the Yanks sniffed the playoffs is because of A-Rod. I am talking about overall. When A-Rod goes to a team, he leaves it in the the same shape, or the team gets better when he leaves. It might be the worst luck, the worst timing in the history of the game, or it may just be that, for whatever reason, A-Rod is not a difference maker).
For a team like the Giants or the Dodgers or even the Mets, or the Angels, teams that need to make big personnel changes, teams that need to have a huge star, teams that need that draw more than they need a "difference maker", A-Rod makes perfect sense, no matter what the cost. The Giants are seemingly scoffing at the notion of signing the Rod, but the truth is they would make the $30 mill they are gonna pay him back in about 6 weeks of his first season out there. He is a tremendous draw, and coming to New York has raised his star level. A-Rod was always viewed as perhaps the best player in baseball. Now, his name is one of the few that trancends the sport. That wasn't the case before the Yankees, but now he can sell on that for the rest of his career.
For the Yankees (and even the Red Sox), for which winning is the most important thing, A-Rod has already proven he guarantees nothing. Why pay him all that money? He won't be as worth it to the Yanks as he is to some other team. The only thing that matters in Yankeeland is winning, and since A-Rod has been here that hasn't happened.
Second reason: His act is really, really getting old. How could the Yanks bring him back now? Think about it: Yankee fans have always been luke warm to this guy (and downright hateful last year). Now, he opts out of his contract without even involving the Yankees in a negotiation. He won't even return phone calls made to him by the organization. Then, he states that the Yanks can only speak with him if they are willing to offer $350 mill contract. Anyone remember the first battle scene from Braveheart, where William Wallace "negotiates" with the British general in order to start a war? That's what that was essentially. The only thing else he could have done to get his point across was demand that Mickey Mantle's ashes be dug up somewhere so A-Rod could shit on them.
Then, A-Rod upstages the world series. Then, he comes out and tries to blame all of this on Mariano Rivera, who was sooooo ungracious as to actually not get three outs in game 4 of the 04 ALCS, which would have allowed A-Rod to continue on to the world series, which is the only thing I was concerned about at that moment, I'll tell yah that. And now he says he would still like to be a Yankee?
Yankee fans would treat this guy like their sister's rapist coming back to work for the family business. Seriously, this whole thing has been so distasteful, has painted A-Rod in such a bad light, it would actually end up being a BAD PR move if the Yanks brought him back. His obsession with all things A-Rod, his love affair with himself, his twisted devotion to his agent, and their dogmatic devotion to money, makes him such an unlikeable character Yankee fans would feel compelled to boo him if he didn't have as good a year last year. It is bad business all around.
Third reason: The future is pitching. The Yanks are still gonna field a competitive team next year, I hate to tell yah. I know a lot of people want that not to be the case, but before all is said and done, the Yanks will certainly trade for another bat, and may make yet another trade for a pitcher. Either way, starting next year, with NO changes, the Yanks will have a rotation of Pettite, Wang, Hughes, Chamberlain, Mussina. If each one of those guys lives up to billing, it is argueably the best in baseball. That is where games in the playoffs are won.
Look at the Sox this year. Their offense came alive in a HUGE way, but that was made possible mostly because their pitchers kept them in the game. The Red Sox did a lot of scoring late in games, busting what had been tough fought contests into blow outs. The Yanks, on the other hand, were always cleaning up after terrible starts, with their pitchers routinely only going a few innings and their bullpen being horribly overtaxed (and pretty much under talented). Next year, with young, talented fireballers in the rotation, and the mainstays of Pettite and Wang, the rotation has the chance to be amazing, truly amazing. THAT is what wins championships, not all star players hitting home runs in 10-9 games. The Yanks will find a bat. Pitching has been what they were missing.
Final point: There needs to be a final cutting of the chord between the team and the 04 season. Now, there are still gonna be some guys on that team, but A-Rod was, with Sheffield, one of the newcomers that infected that 04 team. I know the Yanks have 26 championships to heal all possible wounds, but the sting of 04 was real and it hasn't gone away. A-Rod leaving, for many people, will end thaat unfortunate chapter and turn the reigns of the team over to a younger generation of players, who can learn how to win from players like Jeter and Mo and Posada and Pettite, rather than being infected with the loser karma of one Alex Rodriguez.
Look, I understand what a great player A-Rod is, and I understand how difficult his departure is about to make the Yankee offseason. I'm not a fool. Any team that nabs him will be getting a GREAT, GREAT player. But his act wasn't right for New York and it never will be. A-Rod is a fake. He's a phony. Now, some players have gotten away with being fakes in this town, but the list is pretty small, and the truth is A-Rod's name was never gonna be listed on it. A-Rod became bigger, more important than the team a lot of times, which was a hideous turn of events for a team, and a franchise, that had really become famous for being a non-descript, single-body entity that moved in one motion, always. It made for boring headlines, but it created amazing baseball.
A-Rod's act will be appreciated somewhere else. Where? I have no idea, but somewhere, probably somewhere on the West Coast, where days seem to end a little quicker out there and sports isn't taken all that seriously. For me, I don't care where A-Rod goes, as long as it isn't back to this team, at this time. I just want A-Rod to go away.
Now comes the hard part. The Yanks have said there is NO chance they will get back involved with the mega-talented anchor and they HAVE to stick to their guns. Why? Will the Yanks, on the field, be better off without him? Of course not, but the truth is that, eventually, someone has to yell ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is the reason to bring A-Rod back: He is the lynchpin to this lineup. Without A-Rod, there is no sure fire fourth hitter in a lineup that no longer features the type of all around, clutch performers it once did so abundantly. In those days, with Tino and Paulie and Bernie, you could get away with having a fourth place hitter that only hit 25 homers because everyone, from 1-9, was just so damn good. Everyone had power, just not too much. Everyone could hit for average. The Yanks were the FIRST team to perfect the "wait him out" approach to tough starters, getting the likes of Pedro to wear down over the course of a game and then force the other team to turn to a lesser bullpen. Now? Without A-Rod, the fourth place hitter would probably be Jorge Posada. While Jorge is a terrific player, he is a catcher, meaning he won't play in a good percentage of games, and he is not likely to duplicate the type of season he had last year. After that, the only other candidates are Giambi, who could work but is no longer CLOSE to the type of player he once was, Matsui, who no know truly knows what to expect from going forward, or Cano, who is a third place hitter in the waiting, not a fourth place hitter.
That means the Yanks will have to FIND another bat somewhere, but with the current state being that A-Rod is gone, right now, there is no other bat to plug into the fourth hole. Don't kid yourselves Yankee fans, that is a HUGE hole to fill.
Okay, here are the reasons NOT to bring him back: He doesn't make the difference between a championship and going home empty handed. Remember, before the Yanks got A-Rod, the YEAR before, they went to the World Series. They didn't have Paulie. They didn't have Tino. Bernie was a shadow of himself. They had Aaron Boone at third. They had Giambi basically injured the entire year. They went to the WS.
As great as A-Rod is, he has never proven to be a difference maker. It is truly uncanny, when one thinks about it. When A-Rod was on a good team in Seattle, they got better AFTER he left. When he went to a horrid team in Texas, they actually got WORSE with him on the roster. And, going to a great team in the Yanks hasn't meant anything different for the team. It is as if, while A-Rod is compiling his numbers, his effect on the team is minimal (now, don't scream about this year. There is no question that the only reason the Yanks sniffed the playoffs is because of A-Rod. I am talking about overall. When A-Rod goes to a team, he leaves it in the the same shape, or the team gets better when he leaves. It might be the worst luck, the worst timing in the history of the game, or it may just be that, for whatever reason, A-Rod is not a difference maker).
For a team like the Giants or the Dodgers or even the Mets, or the Angels, teams that need to make big personnel changes, teams that need to have a huge star, teams that need that draw more than they need a "difference maker", A-Rod makes perfect sense, no matter what the cost. The Giants are seemingly scoffing at the notion of signing the Rod, but the truth is they would make the $30 mill they are gonna pay him back in about 6 weeks of his first season out there. He is a tremendous draw, and coming to New York has raised his star level. A-Rod was always viewed as perhaps the best player in baseball. Now, his name is one of the few that trancends the sport. That wasn't the case before the Yankees, but now he can sell on that for the rest of his career.
For the Yankees (and even the Red Sox), for which winning is the most important thing, A-Rod has already proven he guarantees nothing. Why pay him all that money? He won't be as worth it to the Yanks as he is to some other team. The only thing that matters in Yankeeland is winning, and since A-Rod has been here that hasn't happened.
Second reason: His act is really, really getting old. How could the Yanks bring him back now? Think about it: Yankee fans have always been luke warm to this guy (and downright hateful last year). Now, he opts out of his contract without even involving the Yankees in a negotiation. He won't even return phone calls made to him by the organization. Then, he states that the Yanks can only speak with him if they are willing to offer $350 mill contract. Anyone remember the first battle scene from Braveheart, where William Wallace "negotiates" with the British general in order to start a war? That's what that was essentially. The only thing else he could have done to get his point across was demand that Mickey Mantle's ashes be dug up somewhere so A-Rod could shit on them.
Then, A-Rod upstages the world series. Then, he comes out and tries to blame all of this on Mariano Rivera, who was sooooo ungracious as to actually not get three outs in game 4 of the 04 ALCS, which would have allowed A-Rod to continue on to the world series, which is the only thing I was concerned about at that moment, I'll tell yah that. And now he says he would still like to be a Yankee?
Yankee fans would treat this guy like their sister's rapist coming back to work for the family business. Seriously, this whole thing has been so distasteful, has painted A-Rod in such a bad light, it would actually end up being a BAD PR move if the Yanks brought him back. His obsession with all things A-Rod, his love affair with himself, his twisted devotion to his agent, and their dogmatic devotion to money, makes him such an unlikeable character Yankee fans would feel compelled to boo him if he didn't have as good a year last year. It is bad business all around.
Third reason: The future is pitching. The Yanks are still gonna field a competitive team next year, I hate to tell yah. I know a lot of people want that not to be the case, but before all is said and done, the Yanks will certainly trade for another bat, and may make yet another trade for a pitcher. Either way, starting next year, with NO changes, the Yanks will have a rotation of Pettite, Wang, Hughes, Chamberlain, Mussina. If each one of those guys lives up to billing, it is argueably the best in baseball. That is where games in the playoffs are won.
Look at the Sox this year. Their offense came alive in a HUGE way, but that was made possible mostly because their pitchers kept them in the game. The Red Sox did a lot of scoring late in games, busting what had been tough fought contests into blow outs. The Yanks, on the other hand, were always cleaning up after terrible starts, with their pitchers routinely only going a few innings and their bullpen being horribly overtaxed (and pretty much under talented). Next year, with young, talented fireballers in the rotation, and the mainstays of Pettite and Wang, the rotation has the chance to be amazing, truly amazing. THAT is what wins championships, not all star players hitting home runs in 10-9 games. The Yanks will find a bat. Pitching has been what they were missing.
Final point: There needs to be a final cutting of the chord between the team and the 04 season. Now, there are still gonna be some guys on that team, but A-Rod was, with Sheffield, one of the newcomers that infected that 04 team. I know the Yanks have 26 championships to heal all possible wounds, but the sting of 04 was real and it hasn't gone away. A-Rod leaving, for many people, will end thaat unfortunate chapter and turn the reigns of the team over to a younger generation of players, who can learn how to win from players like Jeter and Mo and Posada and Pettite, rather than being infected with the loser karma of one Alex Rodriguez.
Look, I understand what a great player A-Rod is, and I understand how difficult his departure is about to make the Yankee offseason. I'm not a fool. Any team that nabs him will be getting a GREAT, GREAT player. But his act wasn't right for New York and it never will be. A-Rod is a fake. He's a phony. Now, some players have gotten away with being fakes in this town, but the list is pretty small, and the truth is A-Rod's name was never gonna be listed on it. A-Rod became bigger, more important than the team a lot of times, which was a hideous turn of events for a team, and a franchise, that had really become famous for being a non-descript, single-body entity that moved in one motion, always. It made for boring headlines, but it created amazing baseball.
A-Rod's act will be appreciated somewhere else. Where? I have no idea, but somewhere, probably somewhere on the West Coast, where days seem to end a little quicker out there and sports isn't taken all that seriously. For me, I don't care where A-Rod goes, as long as it isn't back to this team, at this time. I just want A-Rod to go away.
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