A Rod to Miami?

Re: The ARod question

I'm talking about a single game in that series. In that game, Brett carried them.

 

Re: The ARod question

After the fact that -- buy any objective measure -- he's one of the greatest infielders of all time, his other lasting legacy may be that he helped us all recalibrate our expectations for the way an aging superstar is likely to perform as he inches toward 40. The Bonds stuff fucked with everyone's expectations. It's ridiculous to think ARod was going to continue to be the player he was at 32 when he got to be 38. He's never going to stay healthy for a full season anymore (he hasn't played 140 games since 2007), he's never going to have the bat speed he once did (Fangraphs says 31 percent of his swings come on pitches outside the zone, easily the highest percentage of his career, which means he's straight up guessing more than ever), and playing in that city, there is no way he can go out there at 38 if he's hitting .220 over a full season and slugging in the .300s. And those are very real possibilities.

If I were a GM looking seriously at Josh Hamilton, I would take a long look at what's happening to Rodriguez right now. I can't fathom how anyone could offer Hamilton a deal longer than 5 years.

As for the likelihood of a Jeter bounce-back year, I think one of the most fascinating things about Rodriguez throughout his career is how human he really is. I'm not sure any great baseball player has been plagued by personal doubts the way he has. It's conjecture to feel this way about Jeter, of course, but you always get the sense he survived his slumps by living in total denial. Rodriguez seems to wonder if, deep down, this is who he really is.

From a technical standpoint, A-Rod would probably need to shorten his swing to have a "bounce-back" year like Jeter did, which would mean sacrificing even more power. And probably change his hitting philosophy as well. Schilling (and his four chins) was saying on Baseball Tonight recently that Rodriguez has always been a big-time guess hitter. He was able to survive like that because he had quick hands and quick hips. Now his hip is shot and his hands aren't as quick anymore, and it's harder to survive if you don't guess right.

 

Re: The ARod question

I wonder how long of a deal Hamilton will get. I wouldn't be surprised at all if some team was stupid enough to give him a six-year deal...

 

Re: The ARod question

It sure won't be the Rangers. Nolan Ryan ripped him yesterday for the timing of his decision to quit tobacco.

 

Re: The ARod question

Jeter did not stink up the joint for the last 2 years. He hit .27X in the first half of last year but had a strong 2nd half hitting .327. .297 for the year at age 37 is pretty damn good.
Even though he hit .270 at age 36 in 2010, he still played 157 games and led the AL in plate appearances, scored over 100 runs and had 30 doubles. Compared to his numbers from 2009 it was a down year, but how many middle infielders at age 35 have hit .334 with over 200 hits and 30 stolen bases.

Jeter's career is almost without peer since WWII, remeber Cal played the last 5 years of his career at 3B.

And for all the ARod bashing, and he deserves some, he should have been the Yankee shortstop for the past 9 years. How much better would they both have been with Jeter @3B or LF and ARod at SS

 

Re: The ARod question

I think it's been assumed for awhile that he won't be back.

 

Re: The ARod question

Did we get any closer to an answer tonight?

Actually, Cano and Grandy should send him a fruit basket ( or, you know, a lady with huge biceps) for taking the pressure off their awful performances this series.

 

Re: The ARod question

He had a hit and a walk.

 

Re: The ARod question

Worth every penny.

 

Re: The ARod question

The strikeout, in a situation when any contact at all would have driven in the winning run, was a nice touch. That guy was blasting the 88 mph heat by him.

 

Re: The ARod question

85.8 was his fastest pitch in that at-bat, actually.

 

Re: The ARod question

Cute. Of course, you got the argument wrong, but that's not surprising given your posting history when it comes to any opportunity to defend baseball.

Hell, I'm not even sure Rodriguez is an upgrade over Pedro Alvarez any more.