In the beginning of the year, when A-Rod was hearing it from the boobirds of Yankee Stadium, I was sticking up for the guy. I told friends, family, people on the internet, and fellow fans to give the guy a break and that he would be getting back on track relatively soon. A-Rod would get back to his old ways of playing great offensively, and playing a damn good third base for the Yankees. Rodriguez has been hearing it all year for his actions and inactions, whether its A-Rods tanning in Central Park, or his strikeouts late in games. Either way, this guy was the MVP of the league last year, and he would turn things around eventually, right? Well, wrong. Although Alexs average has been increasing as of late, and his power stroke seems to be back, it has reached a point where Alex Rodriguez has become a liability in the field for the Yankees. Just today, A-Rod made his 20th error of the season, which is the most among all Major League third basemen. On Thursday against the White Sox, with two on and nobody out, Alex fielded an easy grounder for what looked to be an easy double play, but he threw the ball in rightfield, which cost the Yankees two runs, and ultimately a loss. In the Friday game against the Angels, with the Yankees down 3-1 and runners on 1st and 2nd, a ball was hit right at Alex which took a nasty hop, but was definitely catchable. A run scored, and one more would follow, putting the Yankees in a 5-1 hole that they would never climb out of. And then once again today, Alex misplayed a shot by Orlando Cabrera, which was ruled an error, and resulted in an Anaheim run. With everything considered for this year, and his abysmal play at third base, I think its time that A-Rod received some time at designated hitter. Jason Giambi is less of a liability to the team playing first base, than Alex Rodriguez is playing third base for us. We should give Craig Wilson a shot at third base, put Giambi at first, and put A-Rod at DH, just to see how things would work out for us. I truly believe A-Rod is one of the best if not the best player in all of baseball, and is more than capable of winning a gold glove at third base, but how many errors does he have to make playing that position before Torre realizes that hes hurting the team by playing him? |
