Is Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez worth the AL All-Star spot?
Is Alex Rodriguez worth a spot on the AL All-Star team?
As we speak, New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez is nine hits shy of the 3,000 mark, is hitting .270 in 56 games played this season with 11 home runs and 29 RBI. He’s racked up 53 hits, approaching nearly twice the amount of hits he accumulated in just 44 games played the last time he suited up in the pinstripes … two years ago.
With Rodriguez is less than 10 hits shy of the famed 3,000 mark, it’s only right that given the season he’s had so far and considering the fact that without him, we not only wouldn’t be talking about the New York Yankees in the first year of the post-Jeter era, but the Yankees wouldn’t be atop the American League East, that he should make the 2015 AL All-Star team this summer.
As of Monday, June 8th, A-Rod is currently third in votes for designated hitter behind both Kendrys Morales and Nelson Cruz, each of which have surpassed the three-million mark in votes received.
Rodriguez only had 788,538 votes.
While some may find it fair that A-Rod is probably nowhere close to making the AL All-Star team, it would actually be wrong to not include baseball’s top comeback story in the midsummer classic in Cincinnati.
Let’s not get too carried away with how well he’s actually played in the first two-plus months of the season though.
Yes, Rodriguez’s story from rock-bottom to now is the furthest thing from the inspirational one like Josh Hamilton’s back in 2008, and yes, A-Rod lied about cheating, apologized and did it again, fought with those who were paying him the millions and millions of dollars to play baseball and has pretty much been the “yang” to Derek Jeter’s “ying,” but to continue to punish him for crimes that he committed and did time for in the form of the year-long suspension is simply childish and played out.
It’s also worth noting that the voting numbers represent votes from the fans.
A-Rod has more homers than Morales, however is trailing both in batting average and RBIs. But this vote in particular shouldn’t be solely about the numbers. The fact that a soon-to-be 40-year-old is producing the way he is with two surgically repaired hips and coming off of a year-long suspension where he was away from the game is something that considers recognition.
Among qualifying DH’s in the American League, Rodriguez’s .270 batting average ranks third, is also third in hits, second in walks and home runs and leads in OPS (.878). He’s currently carrying a 145 OPS+. Since 1901, only three players finished their age-39 seasons with a higher OPS+: Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Barry Bonds.
Then you toss in the records that he’s been breaking so far this season – moving past Willie Mays on the all-time home runs list and moving past Gehrig and Bonds on the all-time RBI list just weeks later and now closing in on 3,000 hits.
He wasn’t supposed to be relevant this season at all. Going into spring training with the previously mentioned hip surgeries and the long time-off at 39, many had A-Rod spending whatever was left of his career as a part-time DH, playing two or three days a week tops, maybe third base occasionally. Yet, he’s shown up and been a positive impact since Opening Day and the Yankees are shockingly leading the AL East with his help. In short, he’s done what everyone was said he probably wouldn’t do: play.
While most of baseball, obviously, hasn’t forgiven A-Rod, Yankee fans already have. On Opening Day, Yankee fans in the bleachers held up a sign that said #FORG1VE as A-Rod returned to the Bronx. He walked and singled in his first two at bats on the day. Yet, that has been the atmosphere around New York City. There are those who are still bitter at A-Rod for what he did, however, most know that this team may not be in the position they’re currently in if not for A-Rod.
If the numbers won’t impress you, which is understandable, then consider this: the media value of A-Rod at the All-Star Game. Like him or not, people will tune in to watch him go to the plate whether it be in the fifth inning or (dare I say it) the ninth inning with a chance to win the game for the AL. The media will eat his entire All-Star break up, reporting everything he’s doing, drawing attention, in some way, to the break itself. Nearly two dozen reporters stand around in the Yankee clubhouse for under an hour to talk to him and he is who baseball fans, whether they love or hate him, want to hear from.
From a ratings standpoint, it’s almost a no-brainer that A-Rod would shine some light on a game that the country may just sleep through in mid-July.
He could have retired and the Yankees could have easily just paid him off to get rid of the headache. Where they would’ve been had they done that will be something that could always be debated. However, since coming off of his year-long suspension A-Rod has done the one thing everyone doubted he would do: produce at the plate.
How he’s done it is definitely a fair question, given his doping history and if he can continue to produce the way he has remains to be seen. But he deserves credit for playing the way he has and being a positive impact with the Yanks so far this season.
A-Rod’s 2015 comeback from injuries and suspensions will be told as the years go on. Without the All-Star appearance, the 2015 chapter of Alex Rodriguez’s long career would just have a bitter hole in that novel.
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