AROD fan here. I think that we should keep AROD… Damn I wish we could trade Giambi.

We should keep him because I have a gut feeling that his shortcomings are behind him. I see AROD having a MONSTER season next year. NO MATTER WHERE HE IS AT. Can you imagine how tuff the Angels lineup would be with Vlad and AROD. It would be sick, since you know for a FACT that he will definitely return to his monster hitting ways the minute he leaves NY.

I can’t answer that. I don’t know what a true Yankee is.
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I’m stil trying to figure that out meself.

I can’t answer that. I don’t know what a true Yankee is.

I actually find the Mantle-Rodriguez comparison somewhat apt.

Although I’m not old enough to remember Mickey as a player, I’ve read that he was widely booed and always adjudged to be falling short of expectations since he was, as he put it, supposed to be “Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe Dimaggio all rolled into one.” So nothing he ever did was enough until the early 60s, when he suddenly became beloved of the fans.

As with Mickey, the expectations for A-Rod seem ridiculous. I recall one fan claiming that A-Rod would be a “true Yankee” (whatever that is) when he hit a HR in the bottom of the 9th of the 7th game of the World Series with the Yankees trailing and 2 outs to win the World Series. That’s something that has never been done and now A-Rod’s supposed to do that to become a true Yankee?

Probably because Mantle was loved by his teammates. (wink)

Well, Obviously A-Rod has a lot more going for him than the 35 HRs and 121 RBIs. Joe Carter would have killed to have an OBA of .392. I didn’t want to cite his whole statistical line but will do so next time for the sticklers on the board.

I’m not one of those who worries much about when something is done, just so that it’s done. For example, the data cited by Mr. Lombardi didn’t include situations in which the team trailed by three runs and Alex hit a 3-run homer to tie the game (not that that has necessarily happened, but it’s the kind of significant event that would be left out of the “trailing by one or two runs” data).

Alex has averaged 40 HRs and roughly 120 RBI a year since he joined the Yankees and had a postseason OPS of .913 as a Yankee coming into the most recent series with the Tigers. Although I’m not happy with his performance against the Tigers (along with most of the rest of the team), I find little to complain about with him and am continually amazed by those who advocate trading him.

The Yankees didn’t trade Mantle when he went 5-40 in the postseason in the early 60s, so why would you trade Alex for doing basically the same thing?

//IMO, I think it started when he grounded into that DP last year in Anaheim.//

I think it started a little before that, with the MVP arguments at the end of the season last year. The pro-Papi people were using clutchiness as a reason to give him the award, while pointing out A-Rod’s lack thereof. So when post-season comes around, everyone is fixated on the clutch stuff. Hence the “MVP, but…” headlines.

tfmarkviii – if it’s just about HR and RBI, then Joe Carter was a great player, right?

J/K.

The fixation on A-Rod’s “clutch hitting” (a chimera) seems to have more to do with certain Yankee fans’ frustration over not making the World Series during his tenure than anything else.
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A lot of it is fueled by the media. It has been like this all season. IMO, I think it started when he grounded into that DP last year in Anaheim.

One theory is that Sheffield and Matsui took some of the pressure off A-Rod in 2004 and 2005 – and once they went down in 2006, and the heavy lifting on the Yankees was left to A-Rod and Giambi, Alex caved.
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Could just be a statistical fluke.

I don’t see where Sheffield or Matsui enter the picture; I don’t remember them “protecting” ARod in the batting order. Besides, they were together in ‘05, and his BA dropped 112 pts.