A - Bombs

I have won at least four bets in the last two years with co-workers, specifically betting against A-Fraud coming up with a hit or a clutch play in a key situation of a random game where the Yankees are on TV. Specifically two of those four bets were when he grounded into a game-ending DP with one out in the ninth and the tying run, usually Jeter, on first. That means nothing, in the grand scheme of things. But it's UN-FUCKING-CANNY how A-Fraud seems to come up just a little bit short when the game is on the line.

Doesn't take anything away from how great Rodriguez is as a player -- he and Bonds are the two greatest individual talents I've seen on a ballfield in the last 25 years. I think he'll break Aaron's record one day and be the first to hit 800 home runs ... and it'll be a legit 800 home runs.

But it doesn't mean I'd want him on my team if I want to win the World Series. Mostly because of his contract -- I don't care how much money George spends, you can't have one player with a $252 million contract and expect to have a cohesive team. It's too imbalanced. One player cannot win a game, not in baseball. One great player can carry a team -- can lead a team -- for an entire season and lift an average team to a championship (see: Puckett, K., 1991; and Gibson, K., 1988), but one player cannot win a game in this sport. (Puckett, of course, had Morris, J., among others, while Gibson had Hershiser, O., among others.) And A-Rod hurts the TEAM by his contract, by his distant personality, by his reputation for coming up short (fair or not.)

A-Fraud exists. Fo' sho'.

 

       Excuse me. I hsve a question. Which team is in first in the American League East?
       Excuse me, I have another question. What player in the history of baseball ever "stepped it up". and "became a true leader" by hitting 60 more homers and 230 more RBI when his team lost two All-Star outfielders for the year due to injuries?
      If I ruled the world, both Yankee fans and fans who define themselves by hating the Yankees would be relegated to a special area of all baseball chats, one to whcih I was denied access.

 

Great. So he's stepped it up at times.

What's he ever done in October? What's he ever done before a national, all-eyes-on-me audience, such as Opening Day/All-Star Game/September pennant race/playoffs? When's he ever brought his team back from the dead in more than a meaningless midseason game, a la Pujols v. Lidge last fall, or Ortiz two falls ago? When's he ever taken charge of his team and put it on his back in September or October, not May or June?

A-Fraud's most MEMORABLE play, to most people, I think, is a) attempting to slap the ball out of the pitcher's hand in the '04 ALCS; or b) getting a faceful of leather from Varitek at Fenway. What else does he have? ... That 47-hop walkoff single in the WBC this past March? That walkoff slam against the Rangers or whoever two summers ago?

Even Bonds, who was a postseason fraud most of his career until he finally shed that label in '02, had other memorable in-season moments that made up for it. So did Ted Williams, another noted postseason fraud. A-Rod's been around for a decade now -- tell me, where are his memorable moments?

 

I think A-Rod is a fraud but in a sense of fairness - here is a pretty good defense of him not being "clutch"

http://baseballforthought.blogspot.com/2006/06/rod-and-fallacy-of-not-clutch-label.html

Personally - I would argue that the people who believe A-Rod is the best all around player in the game are being silly. He's not even the best all-around third baseman. I would take Wright, a healthy Scott Rolen or Miguel Cabrera over A-Rod at this point

As far as the Yankees being in first - that has a lot more to do with Giambi, Jeter and Posada playing above their heads than anything A-Rod is responsible for.

 

Buckweaver: Please watch the financial revisionism. George did not give A-Rod a $252 million contract, Tom Hicks did.
And with the restructuring that took place when he was traded to the Yankees, A-Rod is making less money this season than Mike Mussina, Juicin' Giam-Balco and Derek the greatest Yankees Captain of All-Time.

And will somebody please tell me how Gary (Yeah, I used steroids, too, fuck you) Sheffield and Hideki Matsui hit in the final 4 games of the 2004 ALCS.

And ChrisLou, I think David Wright will, in a few years, become the best player in Mets history but to put him on a par with A-Rod right now is ludicrous.

 

Wright - .325 BA / 14 HR / 50 RBI / 43 R / .989 OPS / 7 Errors
A-Rod - .275 BA / 14 HR / 47 RBI / 52 R / .874 OPS / 11 Errors

Explain to me how Wright isn't on par with A-Rod.

 

You moron! [just thought I'd give you some feedback ;D ]

 

It's ludicrous, Lou, to make a case for Wright after less than two full years in the bigs. Yeah, his numbers are better RIGHT NOW. He's having a better yeat at this point. But it's ridiculous to say he's a better player based on less than half of 2006.

And like spnited, I believe Wright could end up being the best player in Mets history.

But let's not be so damn knee-jerk.

By the way, the rings argument is preposterous in debating a player's worth. Especially in baseball. The Yankees can't keep sending ARod to the plate the way the Miami Heat keeps putting the ball in Dwyane Wade's hands.

 

Ok, Lou, let's try this again:

A. I am a METS fans
B. I am a Yankee hater
C. I think David Wright is one the verge of becoming a great, great player.
D. Alex Rodriguez is having, for him, a bad year
E. Let's wait until the 24-year-old future star accomplishes just a little bit more before you put him on a par with A-Rod, no matter how much you're hatred for A-Rod and all things Yankee blinds you.
F. David Wright is playing better this year than Alex Rodriguez, that does not mkae him a better player.
G. I believe you saber-geeks usually refer to 65 games as too small a sample to be significant. You can't play it both ways.

 

I think it was Wright who blew me in the Bronx (/long dead mickey)

 

Does anyone think Wright's performance so far in his career is a fluke? Does anyone not think that barring injury - Wright will continue to improve?

I happen to think that the A-Rod of today and of the future will be much more like the A-Rod of 2004 than the A-Rod of 2005. I doubt A-Rod ever finishes another season with an OPS over .950. We can disagree but that's what I think and I feel strongly about it.

 

I think A-Rod will play better when he relaxes and stops thinking so much. And I'm pretty sure he'll have some ridiculously torrid stretch in July or August and still finish with reasonably good numbers. Now, as much as I like Wright as a player,he needs several more seasons like this before I'll put him Rodriguez's class. With that said, I would bet on that happening. I don't think Wright is as physically gifted as Rodriguez but he'll never have the propensity for screwing himself up mentally llike Rodriguez, either.