The back-and-forth between Scott Boras and the Yankees regarding a contract extension for Alex Rodriguez concluded, as expected, without an extension. It's been suggested that this was all a ploy by the Yankees to turn the fans against A-Rod, thus making the Yankees look better when they lose him to free agency. If that's true...where have the Yankees been the last few years? The fans were already against A-Rod. That exactly why he's going to leave, though it's not the only reason.
The fact is, A-Rod has a lot more to gain by leaving. Not only can he stick to the franchise that's gotten him booed and batted him 8th in the lineup of a series-clinching playoff game, but he stands to make at least an extra $5 million annually. There is no doubt that A-Rod can be baseball's first $30 million man if he opts out of his contract at the end of the season. He is only 31 and will have reached 500 career home runs by the end of the year (maybe by the end of the month). He's got a great chance to be the all-time home run leader by the end of his career (though we said the same thing about Ken Griffy Jr. You just never know.).
There are those who say that the Yankees should let him go and spend the $25 million on a couple of players, as they try to rebuild, but no so fast. The Rangers are paying $16 million each year of A-Rod's contract and that money will be gone if he opts out. This would be devastating to the Yankees, who will probably not make the playoffs as it is and certainly would not be remotely in playoff contention if not for A-Rod. Losing their best player and only have an extra $11 million to spend (even though we all know the Yankees can spend more than that) would be a huge blow to the once-dominant franchise.
Meanwhile, A-Rod can go to another city where he will be better appreciated and, who knows, maybe he'll even win. There will be pressure for him to win anywhere that he goes, but not like in New York, where it's been World Series or bust for the last several years. It will be, at first, a fairly painless separation. A-Rod will be glad to be gone and the Yankees fans will feel that they can win without him. They'll be in for a shock when they realize just how much better A-Rod is than Derek Jeter and how, if A-Rod couldn't carry their mediocre squad, Jeter certainly can't.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Why Would A-Rod Stay?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I agree with all the points in your post, but I'll also point out that a large part of the reason A-Rod was so badly received when he came to New York was that because he came with such an enormous contract, expectations for him coming in were so high that no human baseball player -- even a sure Hall-of-Famer -- could meet them.
Fans in New York have't been kind to him, but now they are starting to resect him in large numbers (especially since the Yankees lineup is missing the power that came from Sheffield and Giambi).
If he leaves New York for another town and even more money, he;ll lose that support that he's starting to get from Yankees fans, and again have to convince the baseball fans in his new city that he's worth his astronomical strategy.
Well, with the money does come big expectations, but he's still always put up good numbers when he was in New York. Maybe A-Rod wasn't the best in clutch moments, but his lowest season BA while with the Yankees was .286 and his lowest HR total was 35. Very rarely do you get that kind of all around production from any player.
With the numbers he's putting up this season, they damn well better be respecting him. Frankly, Yankees fans should have been respecting A-Rod all along, and if he goes to another city, the fans will respect him. No other city has that "World Series or bust" attitude.
Post a Comment