The Yankees Season Is All About A-Rod
Going into this season, the idea of it being all about ARod sounded like the worst thing that could happen. The Yankees big fear, which was totally justified, was that Alex would come back after basically 2 years off and not be able to produce at a major league level while being a big off the field problem, and make him the focus of the season. More than halfway through the season, we’ve ended up at that exact destination, as the focus of the season, but have taken a very different route to get there.
After their biggest win of the year, where ARod hit 3 home runs, it’s abundantly clear that Alex is the sun in the Yankees Universe. This is easy to say when he puts the team on his back like last night, but it’s not just about this one game. Throughout the season, Rodriguez has been a leader on the field by consistently putting up professional at-bats and drawing walks. Many players in ARod’s position would be pressing and as a result not deliver, but Alex is letting the game come to him and if that means taking a walk while working pitchers, or going against a defensive shift, he is willing to do whatever to help the team win. Add in the 23 home runs, on the way to 30, that only one person predicted, and you can see his on field value.
Besides his on field accomplishments, Alex has been given every opportunity to screw this up off the field. He could have said the wrong thing when he wasn’t playing in the field, when the team didn’t just give him $6mil for home run milestones, when he got his 3000th hit, when he couldn’t get the ball right away, or just any time they stuck a microphone in his face, because traditionally that’s what Alex does. This year though, for the first time in a very long time, there are no off field distractions for the Yankees. All of the problems with this team are about performance and while in first place, it’s kind of like complaining that your diamond shoes are too tight. This teams playing well and having fun doing it, but whenever they show the dugout celebrating or joking around, there is one guy always in the picture. Even when they aren’t on the field, that same guy is right int the middle being a teammate and a leader.
I’m the biggest Derek Jeter fan in the world, but this year, between his leadership and the time he has spent with younger players, Alex Rodriguez is being more of a captain than we have seen in a while. At the rate he’s playing, it’s hard to argue that any player is more valuable to their team.
PS: He can’t be on the juice again, can he?