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Steve, are you saying that midway through 2009, the Yanks will deal A-Rod for a couple of middling middle relievers and a mediocre but fast CF? Say it ain't so!

ARod's not going anywhere -- accept it. Accept him, while you're at it.

I wish ARod had been a Yankee 20 years ago, before all of us had so much time on our hands that we'd fill reams and reams of bandwidth talking about him. I only wish I was a baseball GM and that I could trade for ARod. If the Yanks want to dump him elsewhere, that's fine, but they won't be better off for having made the deal.

It's pretty sad how the people with the bullhorns can praise a player for clutch defense on Sunday and decide within 30 hours how terrible he always has been.

Maybe if Rodriguez goes on the DL we can revel in Nick Green, Miguel Cairo, and if we're lucky, maybe try to get Enrique Wilson back.

There's a lot of miserable "fans" out there.

The saddest part of all this is that last year, in the midst of an MVP season and one of the best seasons by any RHB in Yankee history, ARod was still eating shit. This isn't about clutch or pressure or being a New York guy, this is flat-out a hatchet job being done by the media and a lot of people that just don't like him. If ARod v2006 is so lousy, can you imagine what a real lousy player is like? I wish for one moment people would forget what his contract was. Who cares what he gets paid. As far as we're concerned, he's getting $16M from Big Stein (Texas pays the rest). Who said that X amount of dollars has to equate Y amount of performance? Where is the sabermetric formula that shows us what we should expect from someone earning $_____. LEAVE THE FUCKING GUY ALONE! Enough is enough.

OK, I'll try and do this without getting pissy.

I like A-Rod. I've stated that before here - many times. I have his picture on the wall at home - it's been there for something like 6 years.

Last year, no one fought harder for him, in terms of presenting a case, to be named league MVP, than me. Do a search on this blog if you don't believe it.

This season, I would love to continue to champion him. I want to show the world the numbers that prove he is the best player in the league. I want to make the case that everyone who says that he's doing poorly, for him, this year are wrong.

Know what? I can't do it. When I look at the facts, yes, the facts, I see a guy who is the best 3B in the AL, with the bat, because the rest of the AL stinks at 3B this year at the plate. I see a guy who does not hit when the Yankees are losing but the game is close. I see a guy who makes an error at least once a week. I see a guy who is under-performing, according to his standards over the last 7 years.

But, I'm supposed to overlook all these facts and say "Oh, who cares, he's A-Rod, he's the greatest ever"? If I did that, I would be Michael Kay.

Trust me, when A-Rod plays well, I will praise him until the letters fall off my keyboard. But, I cannot look past the facts of this season.

Is A-Rod better than Joe Crede this season? Sure. Is he better than Scott Rolen? No. Better than Morgan Ensberg? Maybe not.

When I see that A-Rod is better than Ensberg and the same as Rolen, then I will be excited for him.

Lastly, think of Johnny Damon. Yankees fans, and the media, at this moment, love Johnny Damon more than A-Rod. Why do you think that is? Are they just stupid? Or, is there something there this year that says Damon deserves praise and A-Rod does not? Honestly, what's the answer? Think about it.

It's about performance. And, that's the reason why I write what I do about A-Rod this season. It's not personal. Again, A-Rod, I'd love to love ya baby. Just give me a reason this year.

Should it be just because of last year? OK, then Aaron Small should be loved now too.

But, Steve, as MJ points out, he was getting shit last year. You supported him but a lot of others didn't, and why is that? His contract, the way he's protrayed by the media, all these non-performance issues factor in. I also think he's having a sub-par year, which might be deserving of boos, but, honestly, do you think he deserves to be the pariah that he's become. Are the tabloids' treatment of him in line with his performance. How many MVP's have media and fans asking for their head on a platter the following season?

Steve,
Is A-Rod having a down season? For him, yes. But as you point out, every third baseman is having a down year. I'll still take a .626 OWP from my 3d sacker. Unless you can get me Mike Schmidt in his prime (who also got booed).

I'm not going to say that you should be a blind cheerleader, I just don't think it's fair for people to praise him one day, then dump on him the next. I'll accept an off year from him, everyone has one of those. I'm much more worried about the Yanks getting a real fifth starter and making a decent trade for a corner outfielder.

You're wrong. It's not about performance. If it was about performance then a player wouldn't get booed in games which he's had hits or fielded well and then later makes an out.

If it was about performance then every player who made an error in a game would get booed during the game.

If it was about performance then Johnny Damon would have been booed during his 4-27 string last month.

Pissy? It sure sounds pissy to me.

Did you boo him Sunday when you were at the game? Did you cheer him?

//I'm supposed to overlook all these facts and say "Oh, who cares, he's A-Rod, he's the greatest ever"?//

No Steve, you're supposed to look at the facts and say "Well I guess A-Rod's having a down year so far, but at least the Yankees are 2nd in the major leagues in runs scored! Just imagine what will happen if he picks it up in the second half!" If you think the fans are justified in their reaction to A-Rod, you're looney. Frankly, the fans are dumb asses for booing A-Rod so relentlessly.

A-Rod is having a down year, end of story. A down year for A-Rod still results in an advantage over every other team in the AL at his position. He's not hurting the team, he's helping it. Why keep harping on it?

Trading A-Rod would be the stupidest most un SABR move the Yankees could make. If they do it they are idiots.

FWIW, I did cheer A-Rod on Sunday. And, I will always cheer him when he does well. I will also praise him here, as I have done in the past, when he does well. That's only fair. To get on someone for their performance, or lack thereof, and then not also give praise when they do well is wrong (in my book).

To the point made about "Yeah, he's not A-Rod, but, I'll take it anyway because he's still better than most," I offer this question:

It's the year 2006. You have a contract with Bill Gates to deliver an OS for your firm. He shows up and says "I'm a little off this year. All I can give you is DOS. But, keep in mind, I gave you Windows XP last year!"

Are you then going to sit there and say "Hey, while I wanted and expected XP, DOS is still better than having a PC without an OS. My firm is doing well. We're making money. I can live with DOS, make the best of it, and hope that maybe I can get XP next year again"?

Of course not. You're going to be disappointed. And, then, if you went out and publicly said "Bill Gates did not deliver for me in 2006" - should you be slammed for that?

Are you not telling the truth?

Steve - Great points. But I would get Linux before DOS, but I'd partition my hard drive to have both.

Wow...that's a stretch even for you, Steve. ARod of 2005=Windows XP, ARod of 2006=DOS. Damn...you couldn't even call him Win NT, 98, or 95. No...you go on the way back machine and make ARod f'ing DOS.

If ARod were a programming language he'd be FORTRAN in your book. If ARod were a video game console he'd be the Atari 2600. If ARod were a puzzle he'd be a Rubix cube instead of Tetris.

Steve,

Comparing ARod to Henderson is a poor rhetorical strategy. I still have a pang of agita when I think about the Henderson trade and I hold a special contempt for Bob Quinn for making that deal. The fact of the matter is that Henderson would have been fine if the Yankees had kept him.

Also, trading Henderson in 89 or trading ARod in 2007 is a losing proposition. You can't get commensurate value for such a player. It would be like trying to trade Mickey Mantle in 1959.

Given their injuries, the Yankees are doing the job now. They're keeping pace and putting themselves in position to compete until the injured players come back or until they can make a deal. We should appreciate that and lay off ARod's merely OK season (for him).

I wonder how much of A-Rods below-average perfomance is due to the fact that Sheff and Matsui are not batting behind him due to injuries.