The “A” in A-Rod eventually going to stand for albatross?
Written by Joe Veno on June 22, 2009 – 9:47 AM -Pete Abraham, via Rob Neyer, explains that the Yankees must find a way to fix what could become a terrible contract.
Money:
“Whether it’s his hip, his age, his use of PEDs for three years, his personal issues or whatever, Alex is in a steep decline and the Yankees have to figure out a way to stabilize that and get something out of him. Otherwise that $258 million they owe him through 2017 is going to go down as the worst contract in sports history.
Maybe it already is.”
Look, no one overlooked the potential that Rodriguez’s contract could be a disaster the last few seasons, when he is at age 40, and age 41. And during those ages, earning $20 million a year. I mean, for the short term, the contract was very comforting to Yankee fans. And even the ones who hated ARod most knew that he would be very good-great for at least half of that contract, possibly more.
But anytime a ten-year contract worth $275 million is handed out to a player on the wrong side of 30, then there are serious risks.
Part of what was supposed to ease the financial hit, was supposed to be ARod’s chase for the all-time Home run record. And that should still exist down the road, should. But also might not. And since A-Rod is now “tainted.” How will that effect how fans view it when the “chase” comes?
It seems that most will forget anything ever happened if he starts putting up great numbers again, and does that for the next say five seasons. But even with that, some will dismiss his accomplishments. Some will turn their back. A lot of revenue will come the Yankees way, but will it take a hit in that regard?
ARod has posted OPS+’s over the last three seasons of 150, 177, and 134. All varying in importance, but all very good.
This season his OPS+ is 117, and his medicore defense is sub-par thus far. His ability to hit the fastball has taken a hit too. In past seasons, AROD has killed the fastball, but this season he isn’t killing it as much.
But this just might be because of the “temporary-solution surgery,” rather than the “fix the problem completely surgery.” Maybe A-Rod just needs to wait until seasons end until he will be himself again. Maybe panic should be abandoned, as it all may be health related.
But maybe, just maybe, this will be a contract the Yankees regret much sooner than expected.
Tags: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees, pete Abraham, Rob NeyerPosted in New York Yankees, Player Analysis | 8 Comments »
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:10 AM
Joe, I think the 10-year deal was a disaster of an idea, even before A-Rod’s recent dip in production and his shaky disclosure of his use of PEDs. I wonder if the Yankees can sue him to void his deal on the grounds that they were led to believe he was a clean player when, clearly, he was not.
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:17 AM
I don’t think they can because that was supposed to be confidential. But if given an opt-out, I think the Yankees would choose that route, easily.
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Joe – I have to wonder – did the Yankees rush A-Rod back too quickly after hip surgery and should he have had the more extensive surgery? Mike Lowell took a whole offseason and part of spring training to recover.
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 AM
They could have. But he may just be slumping, and of course could be suffering form *some* of the lingerings of the injury. I think that this needs more time to play out. And if he can’t do anything moving forward then they may have to let him have the surgery now.
June 22nd, 2009 at 1:49 PM
To what degree the Yankees rushed A-Rod back, or he was more than willing to take the quicker fix solution, is a source of conjecture. However, I myself have speculated, as has Joe, that this might be contributing to his recent struggles. He’s probably not 100%. The Yanks also did not, as Pete Abraham rightly mentions, give A-Rod a single day off despite their declared intentions of maintaining a program in which he would get games off. Not a single day. That’s mismanagement. Players don’t beg off the chance to play; A-Rod didn’t. The brass botched that, as well as that huge contract. Before the hip injury and, more importantly, the steroids scandal, I’d speculated that if any player could be productive into his early 40s and come close to justifying that monstrous deal, it’s A-Rod. Now, in the words of the great Jon Stewart, not so much.
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:21 PM
I have no doubt that he has lingering issues after the surgery. I have just written my longest blog post to date about the problems of the yankees and one of them is the way alex is being over-used, especially in the field 36 out of 38 games in a row.
nate silver predicted a swift decline for alex and if i’m not wrong he made that prediction before the hip injury came out. i’ll try to come up with that for you. I have no doubt that this is a bad contract, but i do have hope that alex will return to being a great player by the end of this year and for the next 3 or 4 years as well. after that, who knows…
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:37 PM
Yea, seems too quick for a serious decline. But questions will linger on…the pale blue sky. Sorry, had to quote the Velvet Underground there at the end
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:48 PM
Jason,
Seems that your comment got lost in the “spam” folder for a few. But I agree. And that IS mismanagement, as you said. For what player isn’t going to want to be out there just about every day? Well, aside from JD Drew and Milton Bradley…