Everyday until spring training begins the "Respect Jeter's Gangster" blog will review one player from the Yankees roster. We will review a total of 25 players, the 25 we believe will be on the active roster after spring training. Our reviews are all edited by Carl Pavano himself to insure they're up to the stringent "Pavano Tough" standards.
Alex Rodriguez is a strange player. The fans largely are unsure whether to hate him or love him. He's probably the best hitter we've seen in a while, a one of a kind player, who is nearly always a lock for 30+ homeruns and 100 RBI's. That he hasn't performed well in the post season has been held against him, but a torrid 2007 season seemed to get the fans behind him. Well, at least until 2008. Last season was an odd season for A-Rod. Not anything like his 2006 season, which was considered a failure despite a .290 average, 35 homeruns and 121. Perception is everything with fans, as A-Rod hit .302 last season with 35 homeruns and 103 RBI's, and the fans were not nearly as relentless as they were in 2006. Perhaps his MVP 2007 season played into this, or perhaps since the entire team was awful, he seemed to get more slack. Either way, the fans didn't really start booing him until he set a personal record for grounding into double plays in August, and then followed it with a lackluster September.
My Fearless Prediction:
So far with the Yankees, A-Rod has sandwiched so-so seasons with MVP seasons, which means that he's due for an MVP season next year. My guess is he bats .310 with 62 homeruns, breaking the true homerun record in the process, and gets suspended for 5 games when he gets pegged by Daisuke Matsuzaka and finaly snapping, he spin kicks Varitek and then puts Daisuke in a choke hold until he passes out. Daisuke comes to 10 minutes later and as he stands up, Melky punches Mike Lowell in the back of the head for no reason. A-Rod and Melky serve their suspensions together, but the production loss is made up by Derek Jeter, who suddenly decides to break out his homerun swing, knocking out 12 homeruns in the 5 days the two guys are suspended.
Little Known A-Rod Fact:
Alex Rodriguez was genetically manufactured by Dominican scientists with DNA of former great players after which he was bitten by a radio active lumberjack, which gave him his powerful swing, but then was also bitten by a radio active Bill Buckner giving him his achilles heal of choking under pressure. In 2007 he was bitten by a radio active Reggie Jackson, only to be bitten by Bill Buckner again in 2008. He was also bitten by Roger Clemens, but the Rocket wasn't radio active at the time.
8 comments:
Fine post as always. I can't wait to see that brawl!
Does anyone know why the MLB website says it is 20 days until pitchers and catcher report for ST, but the Yankee website says 21?
I'm not unsure whether to hate him or love him. I think he's a great player and he'll prove it in '09 with yet another MVP season! Love the idea of him snapping after getting plunked by Dice K, but no suspensions!
I think different teams report on different days. The MLB countdown represents when the earliest of teams report, and the Yankees report one day later.
Jane, I'm with you in that I'm not sure how to feel about A-Rod. If that opt-out thing happened after 2006, I'm almost positive the Yankees would have let him go. He was given a lot of breathing room because of his 2007 performance, and I think the fans largely overlooked the opt out thing...until he started playing poorly in 2008. He's going to have to get used to the boo birds at Yankee stadium. He may bee hearing them through 2017.
A-rods a trcky case. no clue wether I like him or not. I definately love him cause hes a yankee and he can perform at certain times, but right now I am definately not hapy with him. New york is itching for a ring and a titel.... he needs to get on the right track and help the boys win another banner in the stadium. I'll give him a few months into the 09 season. if he's still stalling at the plate... i can't be responsibel for my boo reflecx.
Can't stand AROD, but do love when he helps the Yankees win.
I think that sentiment sums up Yankee fans fairly well. We don't particularly care for the guy, but we love it when he helps the team win. Why don't we like him? He kind of reminds us of that pretty boy in high school who thought he was the man, but whom everyone else hated, but since he hung out with all the girls, you had to be cool with him. That's A-Rod.
The Yankees got the player they traded for when they traded for A-Rod.
They only thing he hasn't done is live up to the unrealistic expectations of fans who thought they knew the player he was rather than appreciate the player he is.
Time for Yankee fans to start expecting more out of other players to step up and help carry the team and not expect A-Rod to shoulder the whole load.
Here's a Sox comparison most will hate but it's true. Papi underperformed, Youkilis stepped up. Lowell got hurt, Pedroia stepped up. Teams that don't count on one guy to be the man win. Teams that count on one guy to be the man go home early.
NYYankFan, I absolutely agree with you. If you look at some of the other players numbers in the last few post seasons, you'll see that we collectively sucked as a team. You can't put that on A-Rod. But you also know that New York fans needs just one head to roll, and that head easily becomes the highest paid, most talented player who ever sucked in the post season.
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