Monday, October 29, 2007
Good Riddance, Goodbye!
A-Rod opted out of his contract with the Yankees, today. He is the height of arrogance, the soon to be three time A.L. MVP. He listened to the man most loathed in baseball by fans of all teams, Scott Boras.
The Clarion hopes A-Rod never plays another game in a Yankee uniform. We would much rather Cashman stole free agent to be Mike Lowell from the rival Red Sox. Or traded one or two of the young pitchers for Florida's pudgy (hopefully from boredom) Miguel Cabrerra. Cabrerra would fit quite well under the new Joe Girardi regime. He was one of Girardi's young Marlins when Joe won manager of the year.
Incidentally, the Clarion was vehemently opposed to the Torre firing. We knew, as all folks who grew up in the New York Metro area should, one year contracts are untenable in the City. In New York a one year contract meant if the Yanks opened the season 2 up and 5 down in 2008 the speculation about Torre's job would have immediately begun. It wasn't about the money, Joe needed at least a two year deal. Yes, Bobby Cox, manages the Braves on one year deals, but that is Atlanta, and the entire Atlanta media corps is equivalent to the press Joe has to deal with from say, Connecticut alone. (Furgit about Manhattan, the Bronx, Jersey, etc.) The deal offered to Joe was designed to get him to quit and it did.
As for A-Rod a few telling stats and one anecdote says it all.
The anecdote, during World Series Game 4 as the Red Sox were completing their sweep of the embarrassingly over-matched Colorado Rockies, Sox fans behind the Rockies dugout chanted, "Don't sign A-Rod!!" As in, we know he's about to be MVP again, but he is a choking dog, a millstone around his franchises neck, and as we have only recently gotten out from under the curse of the Bambino, please don't bring us the curse of A-Rod. The Yanks haven't won a series since A-Rod showed up. The most telling statistic for Rodriguez is playoff hitting. He is 8 for 59 a woeful .136 in the postseason since 2004. Moreover, the bigger the moment the worse he is, 0 for his last 18 in the playoffs with runners in scoring position.
If you have any doubts that the bigger the moment the worse A-Rod is, his one prolonged slump in the regular season this year was when he got to 499 homers. As attention and media pressure mounted, A-Rod went into a 0 for 20+ skid. He is at his worst the more of focal point he is. But if your up 10-0 and looking for a grand slam to go up 14-0, A-Rod is your man.
So the Clarion says, "So long A-Rod. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out! Good luck with the Devil Rays or the Cubs or wherever."
A-Rod may hit 60 dingers next year, but rest assured none of them will be playoff game winners.
Comments:
How arrogant are Boras and A-Rod??! Look at this quote, where Boras's presumption is A-Rod equals the entire franchise, "Alex's decision was one based on not knowing what his closer, his catcher and one of his statured pitchers was going to do."
Boras, his closer? his catcher? Does he pay their salaries? Or dip from the same pool which their salaries come from?
My Dad has it right. It is time to give Boras and A-Rod the Herb Kohl treatment. As he once said to Big Dog, Glenn Robinson, "You take the team, I'll take the contract." A-Rod has a lot in common with the Big Dog. They both have never won anything. I am sure the Marlins or the Rays would gladly give A-Rod the whole franchise and all the headaches for a cool $300 million.
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Boras, his closer? his catcher? Does he pay their salaries? Or dip from the same pool which their salaries come from?
My Dad has it right. It is time to give Boras and A-Rod the Herb Kohl treatment. As he once said to Big Dog, Glenn Robinson, "You take the team, I'll take the contract." A-Rod has a lot in common with the Big Dog. They both have never won anything. I am sure the Marlins or the Rays would gladly give A-Rod the whole franchise and all the headaches for a cool $300 million.
