Baseball / Slant | Mr. Rodriguez, Welcome To Your 15 Minutes of Not Being Totally Despised By New York

If there is a town that is more fitting of the expression, “Yeah, that’s great. But what have you done for me lately?” than New York, I think we should be scared to travel there. New Yorkers and in particular, New York Yankee fans, demand a certain level of satisfaction and with those aforementioned Yankee fans that level is perfection. In many cities, I think that level of demand varies. In the Tampa Bay’s and Kansas City’s of the world, I think competing is the realistic hope they have. For teams like Anaheim or the south side of Chicago, I think the playoffs are expected and any thought beyond there is a bridge they hope to have the opportunity to cross. But with Yankee fans, getting to the World Series is not enough to warrant a pat on the back and a congratulatory ‘good job’, rings are demanded. This isn’t news that is to shatter anyone’s worldview. We all know George Steinbrenner gives the OK for the payroll that the Yankee have, not for what they do in the regular season but what is expected in the postseason. The regular season, to the Yankee fans I know at least, is viewed to be merely a lengthy roadblock they have to endure to their expected postseason appearance. It’s no surprise with this attitude that a player such Alex Rodriguez has become a pariah. In what other town could a player with a career batting average of .306 and 468 homers, all by the age of 31, could be perhaps the most loathed player on the team?

Let’s settle one issue, Alex Rodriguez makes more money in a few at-bats than nearly anyone who is reading this article makes in a year. It is insane money. Does he deserve it? Not really. But does any star major league player truly deserve the amount of money they make when you consider the people who make the world go around (some professions, like the medical field, being very specialized and out of the reach of the common man) make so much less? And when you consider the Yankees payroll, his impact is even less. Had one of the low market teams took on Rodriguez’s contract, such as the Devil Rays who in past years had an entire payroll comparable to Rodriguez’s salary, I could understand a fan’s complaint regarding it. The Yankees are overpaid though, Igawa carrying a 46 million dollar contract certainly doesn’t look all that logical after seeing him in action on Saturday. So let’s just drop it and look at Rodriguez for what he is, which is simply a very talented hitter who makes enough money to fill cruise ships (its quite a sight when he goes all Scrooge McDuck and dives headfirst into his money pools.)

But that’s usually not the heart of the issue with Yankee fans, rather its his ability to deliver in the clutch. For instance typing in Alex Rodriguez and Clutch on Google will net 260,000 results, Alex Rodriguez alone nets 2,690,000 results, so it’s clear that it is an topic that sparks ire more often than not from fans. Never mind the fact that he has hit 58 homeruns, 33 doubles, and hit for a .298 batting average with runners on, or still has extremely respectable albeit not as great numbers for runners in scoring position over the past three seasons; it’s not enough. His 2005 and 2006 playoff efforts have been dismal to say the least and he has taken the majority of the blame from the fans and the press alike. Many Yankees have failed and contributed to the losing effort. But due to that 250 million dollar plus contract, A-Rod is expected to carry the team when no one else can, except for Derek Jeter of course, whose playoff efforts usually can’t be scrutinized (besides its hard for Yankee fans to stay mad at The Captain.) Rodriguez hasn’t delivered, and no matter what efforts would have been needed to result in a win or not during the postseason, a pariah had to be found. Again, it doesn’t matter what he did during the regular season, at his contract and the general attitude of what title the Yankees are expected to hold, fans will ignore the efforts that got them to the postseason while only considering what was the failures there in the postseason that left them without a World Series title. If you gambled on both Rodriguez slugging 40 plus bombs and a 120 RBI’s and A-Rod at some point becoming public enemy number one during that effort, both bets have a good chance to pay out but bet number two would have a drastically lower payout given how safe of a bet it is. For fans to be livid with A-Rod after his 2005 campaign of hitting .321, 48 homers, and 130 RBI’s, it shows you what truly counts with New York press and media.

I know it sounds like I have been tough on New Yorkers, and in many regards, I intended it that way. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of truth in how they feel, expecting only the best from their club by setting their standards for nothing but the gold medal. They have traits a lot of fans should carry and whether the dream for those other fans is just a step beyond impossible or their team’s recent letdowns have destroyed the meaning of hope, its just more difficult for other fans to grasp how they feel outside of a few other upper echelon clubs. Its the way though that some of the more lower class fans have gone about voicing their displeasure with any postseason disappointment that disgusts me so much as a fan of the game. People like to talk about how great David Ortiz or Albert Pujols have been over a four year or so stretch, being the best in the game, in tones of amazement. Obviously, those are fantastic players, but their feats can’t hold a candle to Rodriguez’s until they can match the consistent performance he has had since the start of his career in 1996, with no one being able to match it. This is a man who has crushed so many records related to reaching certain hitting plateaus by a certain age and more importantly completely redefined the expectations we have for an elite shortstop.

Rodriguez doesn’t lack clutch ability, he lacks support from where he needs it most, which is the fans (and somewhat related to the level of fan support is how much the press tells the fans to support him.) During the regular season, as I have shown with what he done over his three year Yankee career, he can hit when it counts. Let’s say for instance that the 2005 postseason effort that he hit .133 in was simply a bad series. Sure it isn’t clutch, but I am sure there have been days that you have gone into work on just an off day. Did it completely tarnish the value of your past work? Of course it did not. And assuming you didn’t royally screw over your company, your boss probably understood that it happens. No one player can be blamed for the loss an entire series, and if so its rare. A-Rod certainly didn’t help, but despite performing well in the 2004 postseason (3 homeruns, 5 doubles, 8 RBI’s and a batting average over .300) and following that with the mentioned 2005 MVP effort, all that went out the window once he bombed in the 2005 postseason. A-Rod says the criticisms and the boo’s do not bother him and before he has mentioned he even thrives off of them. But it’s clear that A-Rod is a sensitive guy and no one likes to feel like an entire stadium full of people hates you. This is made entirely clear if you happened to see the highlights from Saturday’s game of the Yankees versus the Orioles. The game is 7-6 in favor of the Orioles, bottom of the ninth at Yankee Stadium, and I think so many at the stadium knew that it would come down to Rodriguez, somehow, and many were probably fearing the worst. Bottom of the ninth, two out situations and Alex Rodriguez, does it sound familiar? If so, it happened just a couple of nights before that, only that time with less than favorable results. This time however, after the Robinson Cano single to center, the Derek Jeter walk and Bobby Abreu being hit by a pitch, Rodriguez hit the pitch from the hard throwing Orioles closer Chris Ray to dead center and gone. I think he smacked the word clutch to the moon. It was a blast at a time the Yankees need it. Sure it wasn’t October and World Series aspirations were not on the table, but Rodriguez saved the Yankees from getting off to an even more miserable start and from last place. This is only the 3rd time in Yankees history that a game ended with a Yankees win with a grand slam, and for a team with the kind of history they have simply in years, that’s pretty amazing to think about. You can’t get much more clutch than having the game’s outcome rest on your swing, with two outs, being behind in the count and having the bases loaded so the runners can only either advance towards home or literally back to home. As Rodriguez ran the bases, he looked like a kid, slap happy grin and the type of expression on his face where he looked like he didn’t even know if it really happened. The big crowd in New York went nuts, demanded a curtain call, and even if it’s just for a few minutes, Rodriguez seems to be once again universally loved in the big apple. If a smile could talk, Rodriguez would say that his performance and the reaction to it were what he was smiling about at the press conference announcing his trade from the Rangers to the Yankees.

Rodriguez could be that player that the fans hope to see in October, but they have to give him a fair chance to do so. He is starting his season out with an incredible pace. For his first five games, he has gone deep four times, or more than he ever has in his first five games. In 21 AB’s, he has 8 hits and 7 of those have been of the extra base variety (3 doubles and 4 homers.) It’s a tear to put it simply. So my advice to Yankee fans is to just back off. He is still a guy in the prime of his career, with a skill set that nearly any rational player would kill for, and he can do it, he can help lead the Yankees to the promise land. The keyword there being help, you can’t put it all on Rodriguez’s shoulders. Bad series will happen in the playoffs, but remember this is a guy who has had success in the playoffs (even as a Yankee) and can hit like that again for when it “counts.” It takes someone with nerves of steel to overcome the odds, no matter what talent they have, to know a stadium full of people is waiting for you to fail. Why don’t you improve Rodriguez’s odds by cheering for a really good guy through thick and thin? With talent like that, it’s going to shine through more often than not. Let us not forget that the men that take the field for 162 games are human, they have feelings and some more than others depend on the support of the faithful, so give it Rodriguez and see if he can’t reverse his fortunes come October. Anyone, regardless of profession or amount of wealth, will perform better when they have support and I don't believe it is any different here.

And let’s be completely honest about it, unless the Yankees make some substantial trades, or Roger Clemens and top prospect Phillip Hughes comes to rescue the talent depleted Yankee rotation, it’s going to take a lot more than the mighty bat of Alex to determine playoff success or not. Give Rodriguez the chance though to help anchor the offense and enjoy what makes being a Yankee superstar so great. And please New York media, do not persecute Rodriguez for not reaching his projected 129 homerun pace through 161 games, it’s just not feasible.

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Mr. Rodriguez, Welcome To Your 15 Minutes of Not Being Totally Despised By New York