2012 Alex Rodriguez Performance Thread

[LIYanks]

To where? Its not like this team has a bunch of guys who are ready to step in there.

Unfortunately, we have too many players who are no where close to what their career numbers are.

It wouldn't take too much to replace Alex's production at the plate. Swisher should hit second and let Cano hit third. Put Granderson in the cleanup spot. At least he is hitting some homeruns.

Let's not keep Arod at third because of his past accomplishment.

[surge511]

Throwing this out there - Arod batting 2nd. He is a good situational hitter, has a good OBP (slumping lately but was in the .360's two weeks ago), and his power has clearly declined. The OBP would be good there, and he's fast enough to keep up on the bases.

He's not an optimal #2 hitter, but still one of our better OBP guys, and it would allow Granderson to be dropped to #4/5.

There are obvious flaws with this, like Girardi not wanting R-R-L-L at the top of the order, but I just cant stand watching a guy on pace to hit 50 home runs and strike out 180 times in the 2-hole.

[Don Mack]

I can see ARod batting second as I am so sick of him coming up with two outs and a chance to tie the game with runners on and he hits a feeble grounder for the third out. It's either that or swinging at two lousy pitches and then taking a pitch right down Broadway for strike 3.

The first thing I would do with him is tell him to stop lifting his left leg. He's got to keep his head from moving. Then I'd tell him to stop guessing and if the first pitch looked good, then bash it. He takes too many first pitches "for the team" and it's not helping.

Take a look at 3 of our better hitters: Jeter, Granderson and Cano. They all follow the pitch right into the catcher's mitt. ARod follows it in and takes Strike Three! Those are my 4 favorite players, but if I was the hitting coach, I'd be all over him. Stop guessing and swing at pitches that are over the plate instead of inside and in the dirt. Maybe he wants to join A. J. Burnett in Pittsburgh where there's no pressure to win and he'll be able to hit again.

As an aside, I think Dewayne Wise is one of our best players right now. Rifle for an arm, blazing speed, and the ability to whack some homers. I can't believe he's 34 years old.

[b_joseph]

Like who, besides A-Rod? Tex and Martin. Everybody else is close to their career numbers.

Jeter isnt close to his career numbers ( and has been quite awful at the plate for a while now )...Ibanez ( who wasnt expected to but still ) isnt close to his career numbers.
Even Swisher is now below his career pace, with a really low OBP for his standards to go with it.

I'm not against changes at all but I'm not totally sure that much of a difference will be made.

[mrmike98]

Any kind of offensive production from Tex (say a .370+ OBP) would have allowed Alex to be dropped. But that's not in the cards.

[YankeeFan1421]

Throwing this out there - Arod batting 2nd. He is a good situational hitter, has a good OBP (slumping lately but was in the .360's two weeks ago), and his power has clearly declined. The OBP would be good there, and he's fast enough to keep up on the bases.

He's not an optimal #2 hitter, but still one of our better OBP guys, and it would allow Granderson to be dropped to #4/5.

There are obvious flaws with this, like Girardi not wanting R-R-L-L at the top of the order, but I just cant stand watching a guy on pace to hit 50 home runs and strike out 180 times in the 2-hole.

It's not a terrible idea...I think the r-r-l-l thing is so overrated, even though Cano is struggling against lefties this year.

If Chavez and Arod continue to this form over the next three months, I think the really interesting possible story line this year is in the playoffs....if the Yanks are in a pivotal or deciding game and facing a tough right handed starter...would they consider sitting A-Rod for Chavez?

In the regular season, they can let this ride out and "rest" Arod against certain right-handers..but would it happen in October?

[Bauer]

I can see ARod batting second as I am so sick of him coming up with two outs and a chance to tie the game with runners on and he hits a feeble grounder for the third out. It's either that or swinging at two lousy pitches and then taking a pitch right down Broadway for strike 3.

The first thing I would do with him is tell him to stop lifting his left leg. He's got to keep his head from moving. Then I'd tell him to stop guessing and if the first pitch looked good, then bash it. He takes too many first pitches "for the team" and it's not helping.

Take a look at 3 of our better hitters: Jeter, Granderson and Cano. They all follow the pitch right into the catcher's mitt. ARod follows it in and takes Strike Three! Those are my 4 favorite players, but if I was the hitting coach, I'd be all over him. Stop guessing and swing at pitches that are over the plate instead of inside and in the dirt. Maybe he wants to join A. J. Burnett in Pittsburgh where there's no pressure to win and he'll be able to hit again.

As an aside, I think Dewayne Wise is one of our best players right now. Rifle for an arm, blazing speed, and the ability to whack some homers. I can't believe he's 34 years old.

To tell ya the truth, I'd tell ARod not to spend any more time with the hitting coach. It doesn't seem to have done him any damned good, and it may be causing him to have a bad case of mechanicsitis.

[NoodleRay]

To tell ya the truth, I'd tell ARod not to spend any more time with the hitting coach. It doesn't seem to have done him any damned good, and it may be causing him to have a bad case of mechanicsitis.

All I can say is that I agree!! I believe he needs to back off the plate a little, and stop jamming himself even more.. He needs to change the book on himself, because everyone knows his pros & cons.

Also keep in mind that the overall pitching has gotten much better, with pitchers across the board perfecting the straight change, and 95+... That's what we face almost nightly, add everything else in there an it's understandable...

[grizy]

we don't see 96 nightly and ARod actually caught up to that 97 way up and inside just fine.

Price was just wild enough (see how much catcher's mitt moved?) to get a foul tip out of it. If that pitch went anywhere near where it was supposed to, ARod would have hammered it.

[89FoxBody]

He had a good game today. Stole 3rd twice basically, along with the hustle double.

[Blazer]

ARod is Ichiro spelled backwards.

[JL25and3]

ARod is Ichiro spelled backwards.

Wouldn't that have to be !ARod?

[SatchelPaigeYankee]

It's not a terrible idea...I think the r-r-l-l thing is so overrated, even though Cano is struggling against lefties this year.

is A-Rod still rockin reverse splits like he has over the past several years?

[snapple]

Wouldn't that have to be !ARod?

I think it's iARod! or something.

[NoodleRay]

we don't see 96 nightly and ARod actually caught up to that 97 way up and inside just fine.

Price was just wild enough (see how much catcher's mitt moved?) to get a foul tip out of it. If that pitch went anywhere near where it was supposed to, ARod would have hammered it.

First of all I said 95+!! Every team we face has 95+ pitchers, some have several. Then to top that off there are some teams that have pitchers that throw 100+, and there are several teams that have them.. Sorry not every night every other is that better?? We're the only team that have none, OK?

[AuroraBomberalis]

To tell ya the truth, I'd tell ARod not to spend any more time with the hitting coach. It doesn't seem to have done him any damned good, and it may be causing him to have a bad case of mechanicsitis.

Well, I'm with you here. I don't think any of our hitters should spend any more time with Kevin "Mechanics" Long. Seems like half of them are so muddled up with mechanics that the mental approach to hitting is Long-gone from the Yankees game.

[ieddyi]

we don't see 96 nightly and ARod actually caught up to that 97 way up and inside just fine.

Price was just wild enough (see how much catcher's mitt moved?) to get a foul tip out of it. If that pitch went anywhere near where it was supposed to, ARod would have hammered it.

The pitches he's "hammered" so far this year are few and far between

Unless he takes the same route as a "rejuvenated" Ortiz, I don't see a return to his previous power output. He and Long and Girardi have been talking about that time he'll get locked in and go on a tear, but it looks like pure fantasy. He's been on the ball and making good contact, it's just not going anywhere

[grizy]

First of all I said 95+!! Every team we face has 95+ pitchers, some have several. Then to top that off there are some teams that have pitchers that throw 100+, and there are several teams that have them.. Sorry not every night every other is that better?? We're the only team that have none, OK?

This is just gross exaggeration. There are maybe 30 pitchers in all of baseball that sits at 95+, almost all of them are relievers. There are maybe 5 starters that can consistently throw 95+ (even Verlander's avg fastball velocity is below 95).

[NoodleRay]

This is just gross exaggeration. There are maybe 30 pitchers in all of baseball that sits at 95+, almost all of them are relievers. There are maybe 5 starters that can consistently throw 95+ (even Verlander's avg fastball velocity is below 95).

You know what Griz, you should spend less time trying to prove me wrong.. I never once mentioned the word consistently or that they average 95+, you added that to my post. What I'm trying to say is that it's the mix of mid 90's with good breaking stuff, an as I stated before the straight change to me is the difference maker.

All I'm trying to say is that in my opinion the pitching has been better, it just seems to me like almost every starter we face has very effective breaking stuff, an a good fastball. Hey lets face it if your trying to say that I exaggerate, your right! Still it's not by that much, the overall quality of the pitchers that we face on a daily basis just keeps getting better, there doesn't seem to be any stiffs not even the 3, 4, or 5 starters.

That's really all that I'm trying to say, I'm not being exact Griz sorry about that...

[teknetic]

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/stor...taints-numbers

"Al's a very good friend," Jackson said of the New York Yankees third baseman in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated. "But I think there are real questions about his numbers. As much as I like him, what he admitted about his usage does cloud some of his records."

"If any of those guys get in, no Hall of Famer will attend," Jackson told SI.

Guess Reggie won't be hanging around anymore.

[unfamous loser]

if he wants to be critical about A-Rod being a cheater or whatever, fine, but the soft pass he (and many others, for that matter) tries to give out to Pettitte at the same makes little sense to me.

[Mr Coffee]

if he wants to be critical about A-Rod being a cheater or whatever, fine, but the soft pass he (and many others, for that matter) tries to give out to Pettitte at the same makes little sense to me.

I understand that HGH or whatever Pettitte took was not allowed, but I can't help thinking that taking something to come back from an injury should be allowed. Especially if it works-- shouldn't someone be permitted to take whatever to fix their own body? Isn't there a difference between healing and performance enhancing?

[ieddyi]

It all comes down to a value judgement on our part. The definitive facts just aren't there- one way or the other

It's up to the HOF voters ( and us in our discussions ) to determine each players credibility

Andy admitted HGH use to help recovery from an injury. HGH hasn't been show to have performance enhancing qualities AFAIK. My BS detectors tell me that that is credible

Ortiz having a late 30's resurgence seem sketchy to me

And so it will go on. Sabremetrics has no place in this arena- it's just a judgement call

[Eldee5]

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/stor...taints-numbers

Guess Reggie won't be hanging around anymore.

I see that Reggie still wants to be "the straw that stirs the drink".
I'm not defending A-Rod, but boy Reggie really should have not gotten into this discussion about someone he considers "a very good friend."
Then again, A-Rod probably shouldn't have said what he said about Jeter whom he considered a good friend all those years ago. (Paraphrasing here, but the stuff about Jeter's not the one you worry about beating you in that lineup.)
A-Rod and Reggie really do deserve each other, don't they?

[awy]

oh lawd