Alex Rodriguez has had a lengthy and sometimes tumultuous career. After returning from a yearlong suspension last season, A-Rod came back with a vengeance. For a guy who had just turned 40 years old and has two replacement hips, posting a 129 OPS+ to go along with 33 home runs across 151 games was nothing short of miraculous.
That 2015 renaissance seems like a lifetime ago. Rodriguez has struggled mightily during the first few months of the 2016 season. A-Rod has struggled so much that the New York Yankees have started to bench him against right-handed pitchers.
The harsh reality is that this move is long overdue.
A-Rod Deserves to be on the Bench
While he put up outstanding numbers last year, Rodriguez started to fade in the second half. In fact over the course of his last 95 games, A-Rod is hitting .204 with only 49 RBIs. Compound that with the ghastly .200/.236/.348 slash line Rodriguez has against righties this season, and you can see it was an easy decision to make.
With the season looking more and more like a lost cause in the Bronx, it’s time for Joe Giradi and Brian Cashman to stick to their guns and play some of their younger players.
Keeping Rodriguez on the bench allows the team to play Carlos Beltran as the designated hitter. Additionally, either Rob Refsnyder or Aaron Hicks can fill in as the right fielder. New York will never know what it has in their youngsters if they are constantly being kept behind under-performing veterans. At the very least, this will improve the Yankees defensively given Beltran’s liabilities in the outfield.
Taking Rodriguez out of the lineup against righties is an easily defensible move, given his lack of production. However, he does have decent numbers against lefties. Since the Yankees are still trying to contend (re: pretend) for a playoff spot, they’ll continue to keep trotting him out there against lefties. This is also a mistake.
Let the Kids Play
This team isn’t going anywhere this season, and it needs to give as many at-bats to its young players as possible. Rodriguez may run into a few pitches here and there against some lefties, but what does that really get you in the long run? The best move would be putting Rodriguez on the bench and seeing what the kids can do.
Yes, this a very radical idea given how much money the Yankees have invested in A-Rod, but it’s the team’s own fault. The Yankees are on the hook for Rodriguez’s salary until his contract mercifully comes to an after the 2017 season. A year and a half of keeping Rodriguez on the bench is not the solution people want to hear, but it really is addition by subtraction.
By all accounts, Rodriguez is beloved by his teammates, and always takes the young players under his wing. He’s done it with Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera in the past and it’s easy to imagine him doing the same for Refsynder, Hicks, Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge.
Regardless of what you think of Rodriguez, the man is passionate about baseball. While the benching must be a hard pill to swallow, it’s part of the game. The Yankees have taken the first step in moving on from the infamous third baseman, but the time is coming for them to rip the Band-Aid off for good.
Main Photo
