Goodbye, Alex

Leave it to Alex Rodriguez and his agent, Scott Boras, to act like total asswipes and announce that A-Rod is opting out of his deal with New York ten days sooner than was necessary – and during the fourth game of the World Series, when the baseball spotlight rightly belonged to the Boston Red Sox.

But that’s A-Rod’s style and Boras’s MO. Boras later apologized to Major League Baseball, the Red Sox and Rockies, but he already had what he wanted in the first place: attention for his client and himself.

Reader comments on the New York Times on-line tilted heavily against A-Rod and in favor of the Yankees letting him walk. From the beginning, Yankee fans had a love-hate relationship with A-Rod: we loved his talent, his statistics, his swagger, and we hoped he was the piece of the puzzle that would bring another World Series title to the Bronx; we hated the way he swooned in the postseason.

What we discovered about A-Rod during his seasons with New York is the same thing fans in Seattle and Texas discovered: A-Rod is a great player, but he’s not a winner.

There’s a big difference.

A-Rod’s not a winner because he cares more about what happens to A-Rod than to the team he’s playing for. Yes, his regular season statistics are stunning, and there’s little doubt that A-Rod will one day be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but I’d be willing to bet that when he strolls through the doors of the Hall it will be without a championship ring.

Derek Jeter is a winner. Mike Lowell is a winner. David Ortiz is a winner. A-Rod doesn’t really comprehend what those guys bring to the field and the clubhouse every day.

The numbers don’t lie. TheYankees played in five playoff series during the A-Rod era – and lost four of them. In twenty postseason games with New York, A-Rod went 15 for 75, with only three home runs and six runs batted in. His average was just .200 and he struck out twenty-one times.

Contrast these dismal numbers with Boston’s Manny Ramirez, who in fourteen postseason games this October drove in sixteen runs. That’s clutch production.

Where will A-Rod land? The better question might be, what team can both afford to pay him what he believes he’s worth and put up with the sideshow he brings with him?

I know it’s a long shot, but I’m hoping A-Rod signs a blockbuster deal with the Red Sox. The way things are going, adding A-Rod to their line-up may be the only way to knock Boston from the winner’s circle.