Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Time to Drop A Rod Back Down in Lineup?


When the 2015 season started nobody knew what to expect from this Yankees offense and especially from Alex Rodriguez. We know the stories about missing the entire 2014 due to a steroid suspension and most of the 2013 season with a hip injury and various lower body injuries but Alex came out of the gates on fire despite all the negative attention around him. At one point Rodriguez was flirting with .300 and was in full attack mode on Willie Mays and the all-time home run list in Major League Baseball. That was then, this is now and it may be time to drop Rodriguez back down in the lineup.

This is not going to be a “pile on A Rod” type post because nobody expected or expects Rodriguez to hit anywhere near .300 this season in a large sample size and they would be foolish to think so. It may be time to drop Rodriguez in the lineup because it may be the best thing for the team. With Chris Young hitting well this season and Carlos Beltran finally starting to come around the need for Rodriguez’s home run power is no longer a must have in the third and fourth spots in the Yankees lineup. Also with the black hole that is Stephen Drew, Didi Gregorius, Gregorio Petit and others at the bottom of the lineup they may get a push having Rodriguez’s power at the bottom of the lineup splitting up all the lefties.

I could sit here and bore you with a plethora of stats showing his batting average in this spot of the lineup against the average in that spot of the lineup and I could also show you how that directly correlates with the Yankees record, but why? The team has played 27 games this season and for all we know Rodriguez could go 0-for-the rest of the season, so why bother? It doesn’t take a binder to tell you that his average is going to be low, his strikeouts are going to be high and as long as there is another, and a better, alternative in the middle of the lineup then Alex shouldn’t be there.

What do I know, I’m not a binder.


2 comments:

  1. You beat me to it Daniel, there is a need for A-Rod in the #3 spot, but not this A-Rod at this time, this season. He will get things going again, that is a given (my opinion) but right now push 'em back.

    I have no idea which is the better glove at 2nd base, Refsy or Pirela, but they have both been working out at 2nd, 3rd and the OF.

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    1. Pirela right now although it's hard to project Refsnyder since he spent so much time strictly in the outfield. Pirela jumped around everywhere.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)