Brian Cashman Wants ARod Back

“If it comes down to, would we want the player we signed to be playing that position without any problems? Absolutely, no question about that,” Cashman said on ESPN Radio’s “Ian O’Connor Show” Sunday. 

“I think if people think there’s some sort of benefit by losing that talent, I mean, you can’t replace it. It’s not like, all right, well, Alex is gone. If he winds up getting suspended and it’s upheld, how do you replace that? It’s not easy. 

“It’s not like, all right, we’ll take that money and go in this direction. I think … our fan base saw when we lost significant players at various positions, it was not easy to plug holes because the talent just doesn’t exist.”

Be careful, Cash. Your nose is growing.

There's just a bit of hyperbole going on here.

Would it be easy to replace Alex Rodriguez, should he be suspended? No. People forget that ARod is a good hitter. If Alex could stay on the field for 135 games, then we're talking about a guy that could hit 25 home runs. And those home runs would go along with a batting line somewhere around .275/.355/.445, numbers that would make him a top 5 third baseman in the American League.

But the hyperbole comes from the fact that Rodriguez has played a little over half the games the Yankees have played the last three seasons. Furthermore, ARod has made $88 million between 2011 and 2013, while only being worth $29.3 million (according to Fangraph's Dollar Value).

So while I agree with Brian Cashman that Alex is not going to be easy to replace, should the team have to for 2014 and beyond, you can't tell me that Cash isn't secretly hoping he's suspended. And you can't snicker at myself or other Yankee fans for hoping he's suspended either.