Every at-bat, it seems Alex Rodriguez gets closer to the monster year he's been promising New York. Including the home run he blasted in the 11-8 win over the Mets on Saturday, A-Rod's latest projections are quasi-historic: 60 HRs, more than 150 RBI.
That kind of run production is obviously irreplaceable, although the Yankees appear to be in no rush to deal with the coming vacuum. General manager Brian Cashman is too preoccupied with getting to the playoffs -- or, more precisely, saving his job -- to worry about A-Rod's free agency.
One way or another, however, Cashman will be busy this winter. Either he'll hunker down for a marathon negotiating war with agent Scott Boras, or begin the hopeless search for another third baseman. Or ... there's one alternative -- Florida's Miguel Cabrera -- but it remains to be seen whether Cashman has the guts to trade Phil Hughes and Robby Cano, both of whom would have to go in such a mega-swap.
Cabrera has the swing, the long-ball muscles, the youth and the star power to make it in New York. He's also relatively cheap, earning $7.4 million this year -- or about half of what the Yankees are paying A-Rod. Still, that figure represents about a quarter of the Marlins' payroll, and that could jump to 40 percent next year if he goes to arbitration. So the answer is yes, the Marlins are open to a trade and Cabrera himself has spoken about moving on.
Earlier this season, he told ESPN.com he wouldn't mind being dealt to the Cardinals so he could be teammates with Albert Pujols, whom he called, "my hero." When asked about the Bombers, the 24-year-old Cabrera said, "I wouldn't like to be on the Yankees. They have too many rules."
Somehow, we think Cabrera could deal with the Yankees' "rules" once he got a whiff of George Steinbrenner's checkbook. After all, there are a limited number of teams that could finance Cabrera's ceiling. In four-plus seasons, he's already hit 118 homers and is fourth in the National League with a .336 average. If there's any red flag, it's Cabrera's weight. Unlike the chiseled A-Rod, the Marlins' slugger is a soft 215 pounds and isn't nearly as fanatical about staying in shape as his Yankee counterpart.
Still, the Yankees would have every reason to pry Cabrera loose -- assuming A-Rod opts out. Friends are divided about the third baseman's thinking: One camp says the recent tabloid photos of his blonde female "friend" represented the tipping point in Rodriguez's career in New York -- "That was it, he's gone," said one insider -- although others who are just as close to A-Rod believe "he couldn't care less about the [Post and Daily News]."
"Alex knows it wouldn't mean a thing if he goes to the Angels and hits 50 home runs a year for the rest of his career," is what the friend said.
The Yankees are counting on A-Rod's addiction to the big-city energy. Furthermore, they believe a historic, 1978-like comeback would be so intoxicating, Rodriguez would forever table the idea of bolting for sleepy Southern California. But what if that strategy fails? Would the Yankees give up their best pitching prospect [Hughes] and then another inexpensive, young, talented player [Cano] just to equal what they already have?
"Doubtful," said one major league executive. "Those guys are part of [Cashman's] legacy. He'll never trade them."
The alternative plan is to forget about cloning A-Rod and attack two deficits at once: sign a second-tier third baseman like free agent-to-be Mike Lowell, and then begin an all-out courtship for Andruw Jones, who also will hit the market this winter. That presumes they'll be able to rid themselves of Jason Giambi and his $21 million salary next year, and that they'll be willing to swallow a portion of the last two years of Johnny Damon's contract in order to move him to another American League team.
It's a crowded buffet table, and none of the choices are especially appealing. So why aren't the Yankees making the obvious preemptive move? Why don't they just pay A-Rod right now?
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