Running 2011 Baseball Thread, Vol. I: Dedicated to spnited

Yankees win if Jeter had left front-row, right-field seats for Jeffrey Maier.

 

I'm mostly with the statheads on this Arod question, but what I think is true and fair is that once he gets into a bad stretch in the postseason, he doesn't have the time (in a short series) and/or wherewithal to turn it around, which is why while you can't take away 2009, or the beginning of 2004, anyone who has been paying attention knew that h was not going to come through in these big spots. Whoever said that he could have had 5 strikes is right, and make it ten.

 

Same deal with Ryan Howard. The Phillies could go on to win the Series, and Howard won't get a ball out of the infield off a lefty for the whole playoffs. Once he gets stuck, he's in the slump for longer than postseason series last.

 

I don't know if I agree with that or not, but it's a defensible assertion given the information we have available to us.

 

With Howard, though, it's an obvious flaw in his skill set. He never hits good left-handed pitching well, even in the regular season.
A-Rod's struggles are something you can't really define.

 

Not really. Hitting a pitched baseball is exceedingly difficult, and even moreso when said baseball is leaving the hand of a pitcher good enough to toil for a team that won enough games to qualify for the playoffs.

While over the course of 162 games guys like A-Rod will see enough hanging sliders, belt-high changeups and generally terrible pitches to hit 30-plus HRs and drove in 100 runs, it's not that difficult to see why quality hitters struggle in short series against top-caliber pitching.

For a hitter, a bad five-game Division Series is essentially just a week-long slump ... and statistically, those aren't uncommon at all, even for the most accomplished players.

 

Whatever you think about A-Rod's playoff suck -- signs of another choke or statistical anomaly -- the fact that he'll be 37 next year and has six years and $143 million left on his contract is stunning.

Adam Kilgore with a quick sobering reminder. Seeing Rodriguez at 41 years old trying to do this will not be pretty.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/baseball-insider/post/alex-rodriguezs-contract-not-lack-of-contact-is-new-york-yankees-biggest-problem/2011/10/07/gIQAbDSWSL_blog.html

 

It will be fun, though.

Geez, I hadn't even considered how on the hook they are.

 

Sorry guys, this is the Yankees you're talking about.

It's just money to them. They'll wind up cutting A-Roid loose in a couple years, eat half of that $143 million and life goes on.

Such is life for the top 1 percent.

 

They won't cut A-Rod loose until he either passes Bonds or it becomes clear that he won't be able to reach him. As long he's pursuing the home run record*, A-Rod will be wearing pinstripes. That's why they gave him the 10-year extension to begin with, because they believe they're going to get their money's worth with his pursuit of 762*.

 

Sorry, Pern, but I don't know if you heard: Big Stein is dead.

I don't think the Little Steins and Cashman will be quite so hung up on the pursuit of a steroid-aided record by one of their own steroid-aided players. They seem to be a lot more cold-blooded and calculating in their analysis of the franchise.

Nunez will take over for Jeter at SS and a younger 3B will take over for A-Roid in short order.

Unless A-Roid gets back on the juice and experiences a Bonds-like renaissance in his late 30s, the Yankees will cut him loose before they pay $30 million a year for a full-time DH.

 

Must have been an early edition.

This is what is on the newsstands.



Sports went with From Start To Finish (subhead: early home runs, late pitching help Tigers) (or something like that in the sub hed).


Detroit News had Texas Bound on A1.