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July 12, 2006
Reggie & A-Rod
I was 14-years-old when the Yankees signed Reggie Jackson. At the time, I thought that Reggie was over-rated. In my mind, he was a butcher in the outfield. He whiffed too much. And, outside of the year that he worked with Charlie Lau (1980), I thought he hurt as much as he helped at the plate.
But, you have to remember, this was a quarter-century ago and I knew very little about the right stats to use when judging a player. Today, looking at the stats, I see a different picture of Reggie Jackson. Here are his batting stats with the Yankees:
Clearly, Reggie was the most effective Yankees batter on the team, each season that he was in New York - sans his last year here. And, even in 1981, Reggie was still one of the better batters on the team.
And, Reggie still caught a ton of heat from both the fans and the media during his time in New York. He even caught it from the Yankees management as well.
In terms of having people on his case, Reggie, when in New York, had it many, many, more times worse than A-Rod is getting it now.
When you consider that A-Rod was probably the Yankees 3rd best batter in 2004 and maybe their 4th best batter (so far) this season, even though he was their best batter last season, it seems like Alex is getting a better deal in New York than Reggie got while in the Bronx.
Related to all this, last week, I saw this in the Daily News:
Torre also said that he's mentioned to Rodriguez several times that he may want to emulate another former Yankee in how he handles the criticism: Reggie Jackson.
"Reggie had more of a knack to have the booing and stuff drive him," Torre said. Asked if he thinks Rodriguez needs to develop that quality more, Torre nodded and said, "He's going to have to find it."
Good call there Joe.
Posted by Steve Lombardi at July 12, 2006 11:56 AM
Comments
"In terms of having people on his case, Reggie, when in New York, had it many, many, more times worse than A-Rod is getting it now."
So, what, you're trying to get ARod caught up? That's two out of three postings (and counting) today where you pile on our All-Star cleanup hitter.
Posted by: MJ ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.waswatching.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 12, 2006 12:34 PM
Hey, I'm just being topical. [grin]
But, FWIW, I don't expect to be posting on A-Rod any more today - unless something comes up in the news.
Posted by: Steve Lombardi at July 12, 2006 12:46 PM
A bit off topic but I noticed as part of the fallout of the Aubrey Huff to the Astros trade that Jason Lane was sent down to AAA. Maybe the 'stros have soured on him and would be willing to give him away cheap. I know he is not Abreu but he seems to have decent power. Anyone else have any opinions?
Posted by: eab2879 at July 12, 2006 01:04 PM
I was sort of hoping we'd land Huff on the cheap but then I remembered that it's the D-Rays and they don't trade with New York teams unless the NY teams give up their firstborn.
I don't know a whole lot on Lane but could he be worse than seeing Bernie out there every day?
Posted by: MJ at July 12, 2006 01:20 PM
Lane cannot hit at all - even Bernie would be better.
Posted by: Steve Lombardi at July 12, 2006 02:31 PM
D-Rays gave up Huff for practically nothing -- a shortstop who's too old for his league and a pitcher having only a decent year. The D-Rays continue to make really, really odd moves, getting back less-than-stellar minor leaguers despite having a ton of players other teams want. They have to be the worst time, trade-wise, in baseball (the one glaring exception being Kazmir).
Posted by: baileywalk at July 12, 2006 02:36 PM
What a weird move. But who cares, we have Aaron Guiel.
Posted by: JeremyM at July 12, 2006 03:55 PM
I wonder what, if anything, Cashman offered for Huff. I have to assume we also had two Single-A guys to send down to Tampa if that's all it would've taken. I guess the D-Rays just don't take people's calls if the Caller ID says "Bronx, NY".
Posted by: MJ at July 12, 2006 04:12 PM
Nevermind--it looks like Sierra is out there for the taking now. Good choice to pass on Huff.
Posted by: JeremyM at July 12, 2006 05:18 PM
I heard the tail end of a Bill Madden segment on the Michael Kay show (a substitute was hosting) and Madden seemed quite confident in saying that Gillick will eventually be forced to trade Abreu and Leiber to the Yankees for salary relief and that the Yankees would only have to send second tier minor league prospects to get them (the only name he mentioned was Steven White).
I would be pleased if that happened, but, still, I think that the Red Sox would get involved just to not make such acquisitions so easy for the Yankees.
Posted by: jonm at July 12, 2006 06:13 PM
jonm, if the Red Sox want to get involved in this, I think Cashman would take a line from our Big-Swinging-Dick President himself: bring it on.
You could make the case -- since the Sox are having even worse pitching problems than the Yankees -- that the Sox could use both Abreu and Lieber. The thing is, though, that the Sox don't even really have a Steven White to give up. They have big-time arms -- Papelbon, Lester, Hanson -- but they are not going anywhere. After that, the quality really drops off.
And even if the Sox DID somehow end up with Abreu, they have to take that contract, and their pockets aren't quite as deep as the Yankees', meaning any and all potential free agents next year (specifically Barry Zito, who I don't want and will demand fifteen million minimum) would be easier for the Yankees to scoop up.
Posted by: baileywalk at July 12, 2006 08:16 PM