The guy is the best all around baseball player in the world. He's carried the team offensively for months at a time and he's been playing Gold Glove defense at a premier position. His baserunning is underrated as well. So why do Yankee fans continue to complain? Do we really care about his salary? Compared to guys like Giambi, Mussina, Clemens, Farnsworth, Damon, Igawa, Abreu, etc. he's an absolute BARGAIN! Hell -- he'd still be a bargain at $30mm or $35mm a year if it meant the difference between making the playoffs and finishing five games out. So while I still believe that team needs to be built around home grown talent like Jeter, Mo, Jorge, Cano, Melky, Phillips, and Hughes -- lets not discount the idea that they also need a guy like A-Rod to carry the load. And besides -- the guy wants to win so badly -- I wish everyone on the Yankees cared as much as he does. So I say after the season we go to A-Rod and tell him if he doesn't opt out we'll tack on 4 years at $30mm a year at the end of his current deal. That'd be something like 6 years, $175mm (??) and if he turns that down he's crazy.
Viva la A-Rod!
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6 comments:
I'm with you on this one. Gay-Rod, despite the purple lips and whiny diary entries, can easily be argued to be on of the top five or ten players of all time and is currently in his prime. Unless his salary was handicapping the team into not getting more good players (like in the NBA or NFL), how could any fan possibly complain about that?
...until October.
I'm lifting these stats from my one of my favorite blogs, FireJoeMorgan.com (other than the fact that it's written by Red Sox fans its great).
Anyway:
2004 ALCS vs. Boston
ARod: 8-31 with 2 2B and 2 HR (.258/.378/.516)
Derek Jeter: 6-30, no HR and one 2B (.200/.333/.233)
Mariano: 2 blown saves
2005: Lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Angels.
ARod: 2-15
Bernie: 4-19
Posada: 3-13
Matsui: 4-20
Tino: 0-8
Mussina: 8.1 IP, 11 H, 5 ER
Unit: 7.1 IP, 12 H, 5 ER
2006: Lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Tigers.
ARod: 1-14
Cano: 2-15
Damon: 4-17
Giambi: 1-8
Sheffield: 1-12
Mussina: 7 IP, 8 H, 4 ER
Unit: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 5 ER
Jaret Wright: 2.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER
Lidle: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER
Bottom line...you win and lose as a TEAM. ARod is a huge part of this team, and we need him if we're going to make the playoffs and make a run deep into October. But he still can't do it himself...so people need to recognize that these losses can't just be pinned on him. Sure he's underperformed the last two playoff series, but so have a lot of other very highly paid players. Every single Yankee should beg ARod to re-sign with them because it's almost like they all get a free pass whenever things go wrong as long as Alex is around to take the blame.
I like your last argument best -- all the other Yankees get a free pass when things go wrong because A-Rod is the punching bag. It's the first argument I can believe in.
I've watched A-Rod for three and a half seasons now. Despite his MVp win two seasons ago, he was never the best player on the team, much less the best player in baseball or in history. This year he is having a monster year. You couldn't ask for anymore both at the plate and in the field. And I have no problem with his salary. But I don't feel he's a team player. I don't think the other players rally around him or feel excited when he makes things happen. He's a great stat compiler, but he is not a great teammate. He just doesn't fit into the puzzle. He MIGHT fit in somewhere where he was the Man and everyone else was in his orbit. Given his track record, I doubt it. But I do think he'd be happier somewhere else. And I don't think his loss would hurt us. That $30 mil would be better spent on pitching because as we'e seen this season, it's all about pitching and Pettitte and Clemens are the past, not the future.
Jewcie G, may I call attention to a question you asked in March of 2006:
"Is Doubleplay-Rod [aka Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees] actually a dirtbag? Most evidence points to that he is, but he did give up playing short for Jeter...so maybe he's just a dirtbag with a crush on Jeter? Oh, and I want this answered without using the letter 'R'." - Bruce in Jersey
Is the above considered "complaining" or something else?
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