Of course the Yankees would have added a quality bat to replace A-Freud, and had tons of money remaining. Instead, we have nine more years of this circus to go – those declining years should be some fun. Calliope music, please.

What has this team won with him? All you Alex fans, have you really enjoyed his five seasons here? When it is more about him than the team?

Anyway, how many more games would feature a late-game deficit if the A-Rod weren’t on the team? Why does it matter whether his contribution comes in the first inning or the seventh?
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Without A-Rod, the Yankees score fewer runs and win fewer games. I don’t see what’s so hard to understand about this!

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Me neither, but this same conversation keeps happening anyway.

My stats came from here:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/inning_summary.cgi?team_id=NYY&year_game=2008

The 15-4 number is indeed incorrect, I made a dumb mistake and added up all of the extra inning records. Of course, all games tied after 9 innings are included in the later stats. 6-2 is correct, and is better than average as well. The other numbers are correct, and show that the Yankees are much better at keeping leads than other teams.

15-4?

According to my stats, the Yankees are 6-2 in extra inning games this season.

Where are you getting your stats? Are you sure that any of them are correct?

In addition, why not show the Yankees’ winning percentage when leading after a certain inning. I’ve also included league average:

4th: .870 (AVG: .774)
5th: .963 (AVG: .815)
6th: .948 (AVG: .851)
7th: .983 (AVG: .903)
8th: 1.000 (AVG: .956)

In addition, the Yankees are 15-4 in extra innings. Most of this is probably due to the Yankees’ top notch bullpen. But some credit has to go to an offense that extends leads, right?

The league average when trailing after 4 innings is .185, so the Yankees are about a game and a half below average. Following innings 5-8, the Yankees have an about average come-from-behind rate. Then, in the ninth inning, their one win out of 53 ninth inning deficits is below average by three wins.

Anyway, how many more games would feature a late-game deficit if the A-Rod weren’t on the team? Why does it matter whether his contribution comes in the first inning or the seventh? If the Yankees don’t sign A-Rod, they have to go with league average or worse, since the options a third just weren’t there. (A trade for Miguel Cabrera would have ended badly, as he’s proven he’s incapable of playing third anymore.)

Without A-Rod, the Yankees score fewer runs and win fewer games. I don’t see what’s so hard to understand about this!

But, how much of that 7 to 8 win gap is because of their clean-up hitter not cleaning up in the late innings?
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Good question. More, less or the same than Jeter, Melky & Cano having lousy seasons?