Arod apologist no more.
I don’t know know where to begin so I just will. What the hell was ARod thinking? I defended him against Red Sox Nation for FOUR YEARS living two blocks from Fenway Park. I consistently proclaimed him as the best player in baseball, and the Yankee’s MVP throughout his post season slumps. I reveled in every HR, and clutch hit; every spectacular barehanded grab and fire to first, every time he proved the critics wrong; I had maintained his greatness, and thought, this year, taking us to the post season he has made himself a Yankee forever. Well the joke is on me and every other Yankee fan who played the role of Arod-apologist. It ends here.
As I sit in my Boston condo, 500 yards from Fenway’s homeplate, minutes after the last incredible baseball team rolled over for the Red Sox, just to piss me off, I’m thinking this has been the worst October. Torre is out, the future of several free agent Yankees on the line, ARod and Snot BorAss pick tonight of all nights to announce his abandonment of the Yankees. Thanks, pick your idiom ‘insult to injury’, ’salt in my wounds’, ‘kick in the nuts’, whatever…Arod delivered in the clutch, once more this season, and he wasn’t even playing. Was he jealous that the limelight was on the Rockies and Red Sox that he had to steal 20 minutes of Sports Center? Peter Gammons said it best, “[Arod] has never played in a World Series, and perhaps there is a reason why.” He just flushed whatever was left of his baseball karma down the drain.
I also thought Scott Boras was supposed to be a businessman. How short sighted can he be if he thinks the Cubs or Angels will pay more than the Yankees, given that the Yankees still have the Texas subsidy? Did he forget that next season will be the Yankees final year in Yankee stadium, and that Arod would likely start as 3rd basemen in the last All-Star game in The House that Ruth Built? Or that he could possibly lead the Yankees to a World Series in that stadium in its final days? Or that he could hit the last HR ever at the old Yankee Stadium, and probably the first HR in new Yankee stadium? I’m not a baseball agent, but c’mon.
Finally, Arod could have taken the instability of the Yankees, as an opportunity to become a leader of the team, something the Yankees will need many of in the absence of Joe Torre. What incredible effrontery Arod showed referring to Rivera, Posada, and Pettite as “His closer”, “His catcher”, and “his pitcher”, when he does’nt even have the balls to commit to “His” team in a time of mild uncertainty. Arod had a chance to stand up and say “I believe in the Yankees and my teammates”, but he tossed that aside. Part of me hopes Cashman recants and agrees to negotiate with Arod in the free agent frenzy because he really is a great player, but part of me hopes Arod can’t even command the salary guaranteed by the contract he tossed aside, and after the stunt he pulled tonight, it may turn out that way.
October 29th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
so sorry the Yankees have let you down this year, Ben.
much love
MOM
October 29th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Hey Ben,
Great post. I totally agree about ARod. He’s an idiot and is turning his back on a great organization. I actually wanted to like him too — I felt that Yankee fans were railing on him way too hard. So when he started playing well, even as a Sox fan I appreciated it.
A couple thoughts:
Though the decision to leave is ultimately ARod’s, my hunch is that the call to make the announcement during Game 4 was probably Boras’s. Is there a more despicable character in MLB today?
I agree that I can’t see how ARod could get an equivalent offer elsewhere. ~ $30M a year till age 40! What is he thinking? My fear is that the Red Sox will try to acquire him (as a SS, not 3B) — Henry’s always loved him — and then I’ll have to root for him even though once again he’s exposed himself as a greedy bastard with very little concept of “team” or “chemistry”. I think the entire country will crack a smile when (hopefully) he has to sign a lesser contract as the marquee player for a less competitive team, and thus languish out of the real spotlight as he sets records and doesn’t make it to the postseason. God, I hope that happens.
Finally, you make a great point about “his” players leaving. It kind of made sense to wait as other contracts were negotiated, but seriously, if he wanted to be a leader and a dominant player, here was his chance to stay on with the Yanks, not as a newcomer, but instead as an experienced returner (and thus with less to prove and fewer distractions). It just makes it all the more clear that he’s in it primarily for the money.
October 30th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Great work!
December 11th, 2007 at 3:26 am
Wow! Nice site! Enjoyed the visit!
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
lygdzrkxv ynquhl lpqmcoj vbdrtgha vgzol yuiwrhme cwfkiogl
November 28th, 2008 at 11:30 am
pfrdl njhitgr fhalgik
January 9th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
sfpq fsanp ufjznp
January 11th, 2009 at 12:29 am
lozacj
January 26th, 2009 at 9:32 am
xtfiuj pkbvya mujlf
February 4th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
pimtk jidshy
March 21st, 2009 at 7:52 am
I don’t usually comment on blog posts… but this was a good post.. keep up the good work
March 31st, 2009 at 8:36 am
I wanted to comment and thank the author, good stuff
May 26th, 2010 at 4:13 am
my girlfriend gas an eating disorder called bulimia, she always throws up what she eats.:’~
July 19th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
i have a friend who has eating disorder, she was rehabilitated when she almost died..,’