A-Rod Surgery the Right Decision

Sniff.  Sniff.  I smell... stupidity:

The Yankees are acting as if

Alex Rodriguez

is

Babe Ruth

or

Mickey Mantle

, the kind of player they can't win without, despite the sorry fact that so far, he has only been the kind of player they can't win with. By announcing that A-Rod will undergo a scaled-down surgical hip repair this morning, then be rushed back into the lineup ASAP, the message they are sending out is an SOS. As in, Save Our Season. How misguided is that? In the interest of long-term safety, they could have chosen to shut down their $275-million third baseman for four months, allow him to take as much time as he needs to recover, and try to muddle through with the other $190 million or so worth of ballplayers still on their active roster. snip Or they could have done what Yankees teams have always done in times of crisis: spend considerable money and talent to acquire a suitable replacement. But the Yankees didn't do any of those things. Instead, in announcing A-Rod's fast-track recovery plan, they made an unmistakable announcement of their own: We can't win without this guy. Forgetting, conveniently, that in five seasons, they have yet to win a thing with him. snip It sends out a bad message in terms of their confidence in the other players on their $200-million-plus payroll, some of whom actually have taken them where they want to go, and it indicates a misguided faith in the one player who most famously has not. And it makes you wonder how an organization with such a long and proud history of success could have so completely forgotten how it achieved it.

That's Wallace Matthews of Newsday providing today's entertainment. Where to start.  Oh hell, let's go line by line:

The Yankees are acting as if

Alex Rodriguez

is

Babe Ruth

or

Mickey Mantle

, the kind of player they can't win without, despite the sorry fact that so far, he has only been the kind of player they can't win with.

He may not be better than Ruth, but when all is said and done, he'll probably have been better than Mantle.  A-Rod's arrival in New York just happened to coincide with the destruction of the Yankees rotation and bullpen.  To pin their lack of post season success on one player, especially when looking at their pitching acquisitions from 2004 - 2008, is absurd. But A-Rod is a scapegoat.  He makes money, he has won two MVPs deservedly, but he is a loser.

By announcing that A-Rod will undergo a scaled-down surgical hip repair this morning, then be rushed back into the lineup ASAP, the message they are sending out is an SOS. As in, Save Our Season. How misguided is that?

Let's see.  The Yankees had three choices here.  Play through it and maybe cause permanent damage to their $275 million investment, lose one of the best hitters in baseball for four plus months, or lose him for maybe forty games. If the forty games is a legit option with no long term ill effects, how do you

not

do it?  What are you telling the rest of the  team if you

don'

t make any attempt to keep A-Rod in the lineup?  Are you sending the message that you can't win without A-Rod, or that your chances of winning are better

with

A-Rod?  I find a three-four combination of Teixeira and A-Rod a bit more effective than Teixeira-Matsui, but that's just me.

In the interest of long-term safety, they could have chosen to shut down their $275-million third baseman for four months, allow him to take as much time as he needs to recover, and try to muddle through with the other $190 million or so worth of ballplayers still on their active roster. snip Or they could have done what Yankees teams have always done in times of crisis: spend considerable money and talent to acquire a suitable replacement. But the Yankees didn't do any of those things. Instead, in announcing A-Rod's fast-track recovery plan, they made an unmistakable announcement of their own: We can't win without this guy. Forgetting, conveniently, that in five seasons, they have yet to win a thing with him.

Paul O'Neill was a Yankee for three years before winning a championship.  Bernie Williams had five years of service.  Don Mattingly played fourteen years with no title.  Ted Williams played nineteen seasons for the Red Sox and no championship, the bum. In the meantime, Wallace advocates losing talent and more money to find someone who won't match A-Rod's production after first saying they should "try to muddle through with the other $190 million or so worth of ballplayers still on their active roster." So, despite his contradictions,  Matthews' rationale is this: keep one of the best hitters in the game off the roster for as long as you can and waste young talent and money on a player that won't come close to replacing his production.  By doing that, you're telling your team that you want to win. He sums up this wonderful strategy with this:

It sends out a bad message in terms of their confidence in the other players on their $200-million-plus payroll, some of whom actually have taken them where they want to go, and it indicates a misguided faith in the one player who most famously has not.

Right.  And you're displaying that confidence in the rest of your roster by wasting talent and money to inadequately replace a key component.  We believe in our roster.  That's why we're over-paying for a scrub who probably won't help that much. Way to think this through, Mr. Matthews.