Alex Rodriguez: Mr. April-through-September

[Wassit3]

I know the Yankees have already been eliminated from the playoffs...but I still want to vent on the subject of Alex Rodriguez.

And I do mean "vent," because this guy is maddening.

A-Rod has a knack for failing in the postseason. Sure, he's good before that, but tell me this:

What use is a 50-homer regular season come October?

A-Rod is a surefire Hall-of-Famer, and he may well surpass Barry Bonds on the all-time home run list—but will his career be like those of Bonds, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, and Dan Marino?

Will he win a ring? Or are home runs more important to the young fella?

Only time will tell.

As it stands, Rodriguez will have to make due with his MVP trophies...and of course those **** home runs.

Even Peyton Manning finally won a title in 2007. It's about time A-Rod found a seat on the championship bus—because it's getting ready to leave without him.

I don't make it up—I just tell it like it is!

http://www.bleacherreport.com/articles/2986-MLB-New_York_Yankees-Alex_Rodriguez_Mr_April-through-September-201007

[Reade]

Most of the great players never win a championship. Was it Marino's fault he never got one? How about Ryne Sandberg? Was it Ewing's fault? And How about MR Yankee, Don Mattingly? Was it Barry Sanders fault?


The only reason people pick on A-rod is because a idiot in Texas offered him $250 mil. It only proves to me that some of the biggest idiots come from Texas, just look in the White House! The bottom line people are jealous because of the money he's making, and if someone offered you $250 mil you wouldn't turn it down either.

[RickD]

I agree there are tons of fantastic players who nevee won a championship and considering a team is made up of 25 plyers in baseball and A-Rod only plays one position it's not like he has a lot of control. This also goes to show with the invention of the net any goober can write an article.

[Wassit3]

This also goes to show with the invention of the net any goober can write an article.

:D

[robinhoodnik]

The only reason people pick on A-rod is because a idiot in Texas offered him $250 mil. It only proves to me that some of the biggest idiots come from Texas, just look in the White House!

It's bled east too. Look at what Arkansas has produced. :rolleyes:

[Red Sox Fan 734]

Don Mattingly?
The curse of Don Mattingly, while he played for the Yankees they never won the WS. He retired and they won a few WS. He came back as a coach and the Yankees haven't won a WS since. Coincidence? I think not lol:p

[ohms_law]

The curse of Don Mattingly
uh oh!
;)

[Reade]

And now he's in the running for replacing torre.

[HoustonGM]

A-Rod has a knack for failing in the postseason. Sure, he's good before that, but tell me this:
No, you tell me this. How is .279/.361/.483 with 7 home runs in 147 at bats
"failing"?


What use is a 50-homer regular season come October?
What use is ANYTHING done in the regular season, come October? Nothing for the games being played, but without that 50 home run season, the Yankese likely wouldn't even have BEEN in October.


Will he win a ring? Or are home runs more important to the young fella?
Yeah, what a selfish a-hole. He'd rather hit a home run than win a ring. He's so selfish that he doesn't single-****ing-handedly win a ring for his team. And he's so selfish, that his BEST attribute is his ability to get the type of hit that is most valuable to HIS TEAM, the freaking home run. Oh, but that's right, when Alex rodriguez hits a home run, under the rules of baseball, that run does not count for his team, only for Alex Rodriguez's personal numbers...Right?...Right?...oh, wait, no.


Even Peyton Manning finally won a title in 2007. It's about time A-Rod found a seat on the championship bus—because it's getting ready to leave without him.
Yeah, c'mon A-Rod, what the heck kind of person are you if you can't see the future, and pick the team that's going to win the World Series to sign with? man up.


I don't make it up—I just tell it like it is!
No. You do make it up. And you tell it like a completely stupid person.




Sorry. This type of stupidity just REALLY bugs me. It's absolutely amazing how dumb people can be. Why isn't this guy writing about how Derek Jeter made 18 outs in 17 times at the plate?

[HoustonGM]

Most of the great players never win a championship. Was it Marino's fault he never got one? How about Ryne Sandberg? Was it Ewing's fault? And How about MR Yankee, Don Mattingly? Was it Barry Sanders fault?
Ernie Banks, Todd Helton, Ken Griffey..

Where the heck are the articles about Ken Griffey? He's only made the postseason twice! What a selfish loser. Sure, he'll likely have 600 home runs by the time his career is over, but what's that matter?

(By the way, I just noticed that Ken Griffey hit 5 home runs in 5 games in the 1995 ALDS. Wow.)

[ohms_law]

Why isn't this guy writing about how Derek Jeter made 18 outs in 17 times at the plate?
because Jeter is Mr. NY! He farts flowers and poops gold!
DUH!
lol

[HoustonGM]

Oh, duh! How could I forget his magnificent gold excretion powers?!

:p

[ohms_law]

rotfl

[Swampdog]

Helton and Griffey? How about Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk (thats for Red Sox fans), just a few of the many, many of the greatest players in history that were never part of a championship team. Baseball (and football, basketball, etc.) is a TEAM sport. Players dont win championships...teams do. Tiger Woods.....Roger Federrer, they win championships. Alex Rodriguez does NOT win championships, nor does any player thats part of a team. This is one of the most ridiculous claims in sports... that any player is somehow.....incomplete....or lesser than he could have been... just because his teams never won a title. Amazing how silly the public can be. All I can say is ipso facto, once again. (Was that right?)

[ohms_law]

hear! hear!
:)

[HoustonGM]

Very well said.

[JayC]

What use is a 50-homer regular season come October?
Without that 50-homer regular season, his team wouldn't have even been playing in October.

[Wassit3]

Oh, duh! How could I forget his magnificent gold excretion powers?!

:p

didn't you know HGM ALL REAL Yankees have that power, how the heck do you think they have financed those 200 mill per year payrolls??seesh:rolleyes:
further more it is exactly WHY A-Rod isn't a real Yankee and a hindrance to his team, he can't **** gold therefore he actually costs the team money and is a drain on their resources. If A Rod would stop being so selfish and have a goldacolonoscopy so he could carry his own weight then the yankees could afford to go out and get enough quality players to buy er I mean earn that championship

[BM_MAN]

True good Regular Season Player but **** Post-Season Player

[HoustonGM]

True good Regular Season Player but **** Post-Season Player
No, this is not true. At all.

[FRENCHREDSOX]

No, this is not true. At all.

lol just look at his post season numbers since joining the Yankees,ROTFL :D

[HoustonGM]

lol just look at his post season numbers since joining the Yankees,ROTFL :D
108 plate appearances, 94 at bats, 14 walks, 23 hits, 4 homers, 9 RBI, 15 runs, 6 doubles

.245/.342/.436

Nothing spectacular, but not horrible.

I see two great series, two bad series, and one mediocre series.

And also, there's more to the postseason than the Yankees.

Alex Rodriguez is not a bad postseason player.

[FRENCHREDSOX]

108 plate appearances, 94 at bats, 14 walks, 23 hits, 4 homers, 9 RBI, 15 runs, 6 doubles

.245/.342/.436

Nothing spectacular, but not horrible.

I see two great series, two bad series, and one mediocre series.

And also, there's more to the postseason than the Yankees.

Alex Rodriguez is not a bad postseason player.

It is dependent on how you define a "bad post season player";After the LAST regular season (.314 /.422 /.645) those numbers look very poor,IMHO.Also when Cashman/George traded for him it was for his season & post season bat n play.Since,joining the Yankees,he has (& I think most Yankee fans would agree here) failed to deliver in October.


ear Round Tm Opp WLser G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG SB CS SH SF HBP
+------+-----+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---+--+---+---+---+

2004 ALDS NYY MIN W 4 19 3 8 3 0 1 3 2 1 .421 .476 .737 2 1 0 0 0
2004 ALCS NYY BOS L 7 31 8 8 2 0 2 5 4 6 .258 .378 .516 0 0 0 0 2
2005 ALDS NYY LAA L 5 15 2 2 1 0 0 0 6 5 .133 .381 .200 1 1
2006 ALDS NYY DET L 4 14 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 .071 .071 .071 0 0
2007 ALDS NYY CLE L 4 15 2 4 0 0 1 1 2 6 .267 .353 .467 0 0 0 0 0



So since Being a Yankee he is hitting BA .245 way down on the .315 & has 4 HRs in 94 ABs...(roughly 4%) whereas in 2007 he was hitting at 9.26%.

[HoustonGM]

It is dependent on how you define a "bad post season player";
A player who has poor numbers over a statistically significant length of time. 147 at bats is not statistically significant. Calling Alex Rodriguez a poor postseason player based on 147 at bats is akin to calling J.J. Hardy a great May player because of his 114 at bats this May.


After the LAST regular season those numbers look very poor,IMHO.
It's 147 at bats. In small sample sizes, there is great statistical variance.

Did you know that THIS VERY MAY in 102 at bats, Alex Rodriguez hit .235/.361/.422, nearly identical to how he has performed in 94 at bats in October with the Yankees?

Is Alex Rodriguez a poor May player? No. He had a streak of 102 at bats that weren't as good as his overall numbers. Every single player in the history of baseball has stretches of at bats that don't match his overall levels.


Also when Cashman/George traded for him it was for his season & post season bat n play.
It was because he's one of, if not the best, hitter in the game. Postseason or otherwise


Since,joining the Yankees,he has (& I think most Yankee fans would agree here) failed to deliver in October.
Really? So I guess that .320/.393/.600 line with 3 homers and 8 RBI that he had in the 2004 postseason didn't happen in October? He's played in 5 postseason series for the Yankees. One he was a monster in, one he did really well in, one that he did good in, one that he sucked in, and one that he sucked but still got on base.

That means two bad series out of 5.

Did you know that Derek Jeter has had 5 really bad series? Did you know that in the series in which he was christened with the "Mr. November" nickname, he hit .148/.179/.259? And that followed an ALCS in which he hit .118/.200/.118?

All the "Alex Rodriguez is a choker" stuff is just pure nonsense.


So since Being a Yankee he is hitting BA .245 way down on the .315 & has 4 HRs in 94 ABs...(roughly 4%) whereas in 2007 he was hitting at 9.26%.
Yes. I just posted his numbers as a Yankee in the post right above yours. I am not saying that they're as good as his regular season numbers. They're not. Having 90 at bats in which his numbers are not as good as his numbers in the previous 600 at bats does not mean that he is a bad postseason player, or a choker. It means he's a baseball player, subject to the normal statistical variances that every single baseball player goes through.

[Coach Owens]

Is Mike Schmidt a bad postseason player? Career .235 BA in 264 ABs.

[HoustonGM]

Is Mike Schmidt a bad postseason player? Career .235 BA in 264 ABs.
Did he perform badly in the postseason? Yes. Does this mean that there was some problem that he had where he was unable to perform in the postseason? Not necessarily.

Regardless, Alex Rodriguez does not even have bad postseason numbers.

[Coach Owens]

I think his "struggles" are because of the pressure he's getting. It reminds me of Rudy York, a first baseman for the Tigers back in the 1940s. York, who had an outstanding season the year before (1939), for some reson unexplained, got booed unmercifully by the fans. It absolutly shattered his confidence, and going into the All Star Break, his BA was below .200. Finally, the Sporting News and a local Detroit newspaper came to his rescue, begging the fans to stop booing him. They did and miraculously, his went on a hitting tear and finished the year with a .316 BA, 33 homers and 134 RBI. Maybe Yankee fans shouldn't of booed A-Rod so much.

[RickD]

OK I am a diehard Yanks fan who was excited by A-Rod's arrival. I think A-Rod is a fantastic and phenomenal player....I think he has not been that great in the Playoffs. He has sucked at times. However this year Jeter and Posada both were horrible.

[Coach Owens]

Did you grow up or go to college in New York?

[RickD]

No PA actually but started following the Yanks in 1978 when the first 2 cards I pulled from a baseball pack were Guidry and Lyle....I was 8, liked the cards and then found out the team was really good!

[Coach Owens]

But why not cheer for the M's? You live in BC, don't you?

[boomboom]

?

(By the way, I just noticed that Ken Griffey hit 5 home runs in 5 games in the 1995 ALDS. Wow.)

That was one of the best series ever....I mean ever. I don't think they lost a game that year...lol

One of the most special moments in Baseball. The Rockies are putting up a challenge to that.

On May 26 1995, Griffey broke his wrist, when he came back, we were 13 games back of the Angels in August...He only hit .260ish that year....but when he came back, THe Mariners didn't lose.

[boomboom]

But why not cheer for the M's? You live in BC, don't you?

Do you live in a closet?

[RickD]

But why not cheer for the M's? You live in BC, don't you?

Well because I am loyal and don't change loyalties like that. I have enjoyed the Yanks for 29 years and have only lived in BC for 3!

[JayC]

I haven't looked at or for these numbers, but it seems to me that a player's post season performance can only be judged by comparing it to that of other players in the post season, not to his own regular season numbers.

Regular season stats, I'd assume, are generally better than post season stats. For one thing, they get padded by facing by facing mediocre (or worse) pitching and defense provided by teams that don't make the playoffs. I wouldn't expect a player's stats to be better in the post season than the regular season over the long haul; if they are it'd indicate the player isn't performing at his best during the regular season.

So what I'd like to see is how A-Rod's post season stats as a Yankee compare with those of all players in the post season during the same period.

[ohms_law]

That's a good idea, but the fundamental problem comes down to sample size. There simply aren't enough plate appearances to really be able to draw meaningful conclusions from, for any player.

[RickD]

I haven't looked at or for these numbers, but it seems to me that a player's post season performance can only be judged by comparing it to that of other players in the post season, not to his own regular season numbers.

Regular season stats, I'd assume, are generally better than post season stats. For one thing, they get padded by facing by facing mediocre (or worse) pitching and defense provided by teams that don't make the playoffs. I wouldn't expect a player's stats to be better in the post season than the regular season over the long haul; if they are it'd indicate the player isn't performing at his best during the regular season.

So what I'd like to see is how A-Rod's post season stats as a Yankee compare with those of all players in the post season during the same period.

Good idea but probably too complicated.

[RickD]

That's a good idea, but the fundamental problem comes down to sample size. There simply aren't enough plate appearances to really be able to draw meaningful conclusions from, for any player.

True! So instead I get to lament the way Jeter and Posada fell apart and Joba as well!

[HoustonGM]

I think his "struggles" are because of the pressure he's getting.
He struggled for like 40 at bats. Every, and I repeat, every player has had stretches of 40 at bats where they've sucked.


But why not cheer for the M's? You live in BC, don't you?
This goes back to the other thread. I don't quite understand why you think that people have to cheer for teams that they live by.

[robinhoodnik]

This goes back to the other thread. I don't quite understand why you think that people have to cheer for teams that they live by.

Because to some people it's surprising to find a fan of a non-local team living in an area. Perhaps he's curious as to the reason?

[Coach Owens]

Well, there's at least three people on here living in areas that would cheer for the Mariners that don't. (Rongar, Ohms and Rick)

[ohms_law]

Thats because the Mariners suck
:p

lol
Seriously though, I may live here, but I'm not from here. Besides, Portland is only in the Mariners market in the Mariner's ownership's dreams.

[Coach Owens]

Really? My family has a cabin down in Cannon Beach which is farther down the coast than Portland and we get FSN Northwest.

[ohms_law]

So do I. That doesn't mean that I can be a Mariners fan. When they black out games that I would have to drive more than 2 hours too (or take an hour long flight), that doesn't exactly make it easy to be a fan.

Besides, why should I stop being a fan of the team that I grew up with?

[Coach Owens]

The Angels, right? Maybe because they suck? ;)

[ohms_law]

lol

Hey, we made the playoffs at least.
:p

[RickD]

I just can't change on my teams like that. I have favorites in football as well that make no geographic sense.

[robinhoodnik]

I still have a mild interest in the Pirates because of the teams they had in the seventies when I was a kid. Boston's always been #1, but Pittsburgh was a great sports town back then. I also like the Braves. The whole Boston connection mainly, but I can get them on TBS. Then there's the Cubs (and now the White Sox too) on WGN.

[ohms_law]

Yea, that's pretty much the way I feel as well.