CaliforniaCajun
10-03-2006, 09:17 AM
Playoffs could be A-Rod's Yankee swan song
Anaheim could be perfect haven for beleaguered New York superstar
OPINION
By Michael Ventre
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 9:58 a.m. CT Oct 3, 2006
To paraphrase an old crooner: If A-Rod can make it there, he can make it anywhere.
Unfortunately, A-Rod can’t make it there.
Anaheim, however, is a different matter altogether. He can definitely make it there.
The reason Alex Rodriguez will never make it “there,” as in New York City, is because that well has already been poisoned. Even though he wears pinstripes, A-Rod is held in much the same regard among Yankee fans as Bill Buckner is among Red Sox fans. While A-Rod hasn’t committed a historically colossal gaffe to earn a place in Yankee infamy, he has been cited for enough misdemeanors to keep the ever-demanding faithful on high tactical alert.
More important, Yankee Nation has no tolerance for self-doubt. Fans feel he doesn’t belong at third base, he belongs on display at a psychiatric symposium in Vienna. Even during stretches when he’s hot at the plate and errorless at the hot corner, he’s always one slip-up away from a rubber room. If the Yankees win the World Series this year, A-Rod will probably question whether he really deserves to be happy. While Joe Torre takes a congratulatory call from President Bush, A-Rod will be on the phone with Dr. Phil.
The amateur shrink in me feels that in cases like this one, a change of scenery is in order. I believe the amateur shrinks in and around the Yankees agree wholeheartedly, which is why the 2006 playoffs may be A-Rod’s farewell to The City That Never Sleeps And Never Stops Reminding You How Much Money You Make.
Earlier this month, Angels owner Arte Moreno tried to deflect criticism over the club’s fetish for minor leaguers and aversion to high-salaried stars by promising to make a major acquisition in the offseason. Of course, with the Angels, anyone higher than Double A is considered a major acquisition, so the citizens in and around Anaheim aren’t preparing the kind of reception that Shaq got in Miami.
But considering the Angels’ 2006 flopperoo, and the fact that general manager Bill Stoneman has been known to curl into a fetal position each summer until the trade deadline passes, anyone who can add punch in the lineup and at the turnstiles will be welcomed.
When Moreno made his pronouncement, speculation focused on the usual suspects: Manny Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Miguel Tejada. It took a little longer before the Alex Rodriguez rumors began to percolate.
Now they are raging, because it makes some sense.
From the Yankees’ side, they’d get rid of a huge distraction. Although A-Rod is having a fine season by most standards — he was batting .284 with 34 home runs and 117 RBI entering Tuesday’s games — turmoil is constant. The recent Sports Illustrated article -- in which Jason Giambi suggested A-Rod wasn’t pulling his weight and urged Torre to stop babying him, and in which one teammate said he might need glasses and another accused him of being afraid of the baseball — brought the soap opera to a crescendo and may have added momentum to the “Oust A-Rod” movement.
Although many players have come and gone through the Bronx Zoo and the franchise has remained solvent despite it all, this is different. It all comes down to money. No one in baseball has ever made the kind of money A-Rod makes. As a result, no one has ever had the kind of expectations placed upon A-Rod. When you put a player like that in an environment like the Yankees, it’s like dropping Mentos into a bottle of Coke.
The Texas Rangers are already paying a hefty chunk of A-Rod’s salary, so the Angels would only be on the hook for the portion the Yankees are paying now, around $15 million per year. If Moreno promised a major acquisition, he should be able to handle that, especially since he’s already shelling out about $14 million apiece to Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colon.
The issue of where A-Rod would play should work itself out. Orlando Cabrera is probably settled in at shortstop, but young Maicer Izturis easily could be ousted at third to make way for Rodriguez.
And the Yankees would not part with A-Rod simply to help Moreno save face with fans. They’d want a load in return, and that might include one or two of the Angels’ arms like Scot Shields and/or Ervin Santana plus maybe a position player and/or a prospect or two. But the Angels have enough talent on their roster and in their farm system to withstand a Yankees’ pillaging and still come out with a competitive club.
Besides another stick, what the Angels need most of all is veteran leadership. They’d get that in A-Rod. In New York, he’s a magnet for controversy, dissension and jealousy. In Anaheim, he’d be looked up to and respected, because he’d be needed and appreciated there. It would be the closest he could get to the relative comfort he used to have during his early days in Seattle, while still having the assets necessary to compete for a World Series ring.
A-Rod is not a brittle, insecure basket case. A-Rod in the Bronx, however, is. With a fresh start in a place like Anaheim, he would have to deal with smaller media hordes and fewer backstabbing teammates. The closest he would have to a rival in the Angels’ clubhouse is Guerrero, but Vlad can’t speak English, and even if he could he wouldn’t say more than two words of it.
If Arte Moreno really wants to make a major acquisition, he should call the team that has made major acquisitions a way of life. Maybe they have one to spare.
Michael Ventre writes regularly for MSNBC.com and is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15021322/ :atthepc
Anaheim could be perfect haven for beleaguered New York superstar
OPINION
By Michael Ventre
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 9:58 a.m. CT Oct 3, 2006
To paraphrase an old crooner: If A-Rod can make it there, he can make it anywhere.
Unfortunately, A-Rod can’t make it there.
Anaheim, however, is a different matter altogether. He can definitely make it there.
The reason Alex Rodriguez will never make it “there,” as in New York City, is because that well has already been poisoned. Even though he wears pinstripes, A-Rod is held in much the same regard among Yankee fans as Bill Buckner is among Red Sox fans. While A-Rod hasn’t committed a historically colossal gaffe to earn a place in Yankee infamy, he has been cited for enough misdemeanors to keep the ever-demanding faithful on high tactical alert.
More important, Yankee Nation has no tolerance for self-doubt. Fans feel he doesn’t belong at third base, he belongs on display at a psychiatric symposium in Vienna. Even during stretches when he’s hot at the plate and errorless at the hot corner, he’s always one slip-up away from a rubber room. If the Yankees win the World Series this year, A-Rod will probably question whether he really deserves to be happy. While Joe Torre takes a congratulatory call from President Bush, A-Rod will be on the phone with Dr. Phil.
The amateur shrink in me feels that in cases like this one, a change of scenery is in order. I believe the amateur shrinks in and around the Yankees agree wholeheartedly, which is why the 2006 playoffs may be A-Rod’s farewell to The City That Never Sleeps And Never Stops Reminding You How Much Money You Make.
Earlier this month, Angels owner Arte Moreno tried to deflect criticism over the club’s fetish for minor leaguers and aversion to high-salaried stars by promising to make a major acquisition in the offseason. Of course, with the Angels, anyone higher than Double A is considered a major acquisition, so the citizens in and around Anaheim aren’t preparing the kind of reception that Shaq got in Miami.
But considering the Angels’ 2006 flopperoo, and the fact that general manager Bill Stoneman has been known to curl into a fetal position each summer until the trade deadline passes, anyone who can add punch in the lineup and at the turnstiles will be welcomed.
When Moreno made his pronouncement, speculation focused on the usual suspects: Manny Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Miguel Tejada. It took a little longer before the Alex Rodriguez rumors began to percolate.
Now they are raging, because it makes some sense.
From the Yankees’ side, they’d get rid of a huge distraction. Although A-Rod is having a fine season by most standards — he was batting .284 with 34 home runs and 117 RBI entering Tuesday’s games — turmoil is constant. The recent Sports Illustrated article -- in which Jason Giambi suggested A-Rod wasn’t pulling his weight and urged Torre to stop babying him, and in which one teammate said he might need glasses and another accused him of being afraid of the baseball — brought the soap opera to a crescendo and may have added momentum to the “Oust A-Rod” movement.
Although many players have come and gone through the Bronx Zoo and the franchise has remained solvent despite it all, this is different. It all comes down to money. No one in baseball has ever made the kind of money A-Rod makes. As a result, no one has ever had the kind of expectations placed upon A-Rod. When you put a player like that in an environment like the Yankees, it’s like dropping Mentos into a bottle of Coke.
The Texas Rangers are already paying a hefty chunk of A-Rod’s salary, so the Angels would only be on the hook for the portion the Yankees are paying now, around $15 million per year. If Moreno promised a major acquisition, he should be able to handle that, especially since he’s already shelling out about $14 million apiece to Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colon.
The issue of where A-Rod would play should work itself out. Orlando Cabrera is probably settled in at shortstop, but young Maicer Izturis easily could be ousted at third to make way for Rodriguez.
And the Yankees would not part with A-Rod simply to help Moreno save face with fans. They’d want a load in return, and that might include one or two of the Angels’ arms like Scot Shields and/or Ervin Santana plus maybe a position player and/or a prospect or two. But the Angels have enough talent on their roster and in their farm system to withstand a Yankees’ pillaging and still come out with a competitive club.
Besides another stick, what the Angels need most of all is veteran leadership. They’d get that in A-Rod. In New York, he’s a magnet for controversy, dissension and jealousy. In Anaheim, he’d be looked up to and respected, because he’d be needed and appreciated there. It would be the closest he could get to the relative comfort he used to have during his early days in Seattle, while still having the assets necessary to compete for a World Series ring.
A-Rod is not a brittle, insecure basket case. A-Rod in the Bronx, however, is. With a fresh start in a place like Anaheim, he would have to deal with smaller media hordes and fewer backstabbing teammates. The closest he would have to a rival in the Angels’ clubhouse is Guerrero, but Vlad can’t speak English, and even if he could he wouldn’t say more than two words of it.
If Arte Moreno really wants to make a major acquisition, he should call the team that has made major acquisitions a way of life. Maybe they have one to spare.
Michael Ventre writes regularly for MSNBC.com and is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15021322/ :atthepc