I love that the man up and quit. He is a man with balls, and pipe dream of pipe dreams, I want him to replace Ned Yost on the Brewers. (After all, he is a man who had some of his best years as a ballplayer in Milwaukee. Look it up.)
But the fact of the matter is that the Yankees are likely going to rebuild. There are three big names that seem as good as gone now that Joe Torre isn’t coming back. And sure, perhaps the Yankees will get on the good foot and do the fiscally responsible thing and have Joba Chamberlain be the new closer in the Bronx. And there’s a free agent catcher combination that can replace 90% of the bat and glove of Jorge Posada.
However, and I am going to shock the world of sports by saying this, they need to go to Scott Boras, and tell him to name his price on ARod if he opts out. I’m serious. And I’m one of those guys who looks at the slavish praise ESPN lays upon ARod and says, that’s why we will try to avoid any mention of his name.
But the fact of the matter? They would not even come close to a player the offensive level of Rodriguez in the free agent pool. And at third base? Put it this way, Mike Lowell would become a very overpaid man of .280/20/80.
Let me break it down Sabremetrically for you…the four best third baseman free agents.
ARod= .306/.389/.578
Lowell= .280/.344/.468
Mike Lamb (seriously)= .281/.339/.427
Pedro Feliz (Yeah. Pedro Feliz is the fourth best)= .252/.288/.423
I know he isn’t the man you want in a playoff situation, but he is a man that can get you there. I don’t know why I’m saying Alex Rodriguez deserves 30 million dollars. He really doesn’t.
In fact, forget it. Forget my premise. Trade Phillip Hughes for Miguel Cabrera. Move Joba into the rotation, and sign Fransisco Cordero to be your closer.
You’ll be fine. See you making my eyes bleed on ESPN, Yankees!
