Yankees are not ready to release A-rod, but they’re not ready to play him either. It’s time to make a decision.
For the good of everyone, the New York Yankees must make a decision on Alex Rodriguez, then announce it and move on.
They can cut him or keep him. They just need to decide. Right now.
They can release him today, eat his $27 million and let him find out if anyone else wants a 41-year-old DH with a .609 OPS, or they can let him ride the pine the rest of the year and let him give it another crack next spring to see if he has anything left.
What they should stop doing is trying to figure out what they think. Because they already have announced that A-Rod is not going to play much, if at all, the rest of the way, then the baseball operations people must tell Hal Steinbrenner if they think Rodriguez has anything left. If they don’t, thank him for his work and let him and the franchise move on.
If they think Rodriguez might be able to regain some magic next year, then announce he will be on the team the rest of the season and they will give it another go then. In this scenario, they probably should start him Thursday against Bartolo Colon, whom he has absolutely owned in his career, to the tune of a 1.429 OPS.
A-Rod is currently taking up a roster spot, but the Yankees know they aren’t going anywhere this season and it’s not as if Rodriguez is messing with anyone’s playing time. With only 24 games until the rosters expand in September, making Rodriguez’s slot meaningless, the Yankees could just wait, if they so desire.
In theory, they could drop the hammer in the offseason, but it also makes sense to simply put everyone out of their million-dollar misery now; especially manager Joe Girardi, who knows he is the one who has to face the questions, day after day after day.
“It is above my pay grade, isn’t it?” Girardi said of the decision. “We have made it work. We have not fallen short on players, at this point, so, as of right now, we are staying status quo.”
It is such a big decision, it is hard to believe the Yankees will really be impacted by some sort of roster juggling that an injury could cause over the next month.
“First and foremost, you just have to flat-out admit, it is not easy to eat, meaning release that kind of money,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said on The Michael Kay Show. “It is not something you come to a quick decision on. You see players, and I don’t want to name them because they are still playing, around the game who are on big contracts that have been well below average players for many years, not just a year.
“Alex hit 33 home runs last year. This is a bigger media market and more attention and there is definitely a tempest about what should be done. All I can tell you is slow down a little bit and here is the counter-arguments: There is a very large financial commitment through next year on a player of Alex’s caliber, who was as productive as last year.”
What will he do next year? That is the question Cashman and his assistants must present to Steinbrenner. If they think there is a chance he could be helpful, announce you are keeping him. If they don’t, say goodbye.
There is no more data that needs to be collected; especially because A-Rod isn’t going to play.
