"I love being the highest-paid
player in the game. It's pretty cool. I like making that money," he
said. "You get crushed, but you know what? It's pretty cool I enjoy it."-Alex Rodriquez
OK, I'll give you that one.
But does greed outweigh performance? Does an obnoxious agent negate fifty plus home runs a season? Do we reserve admiration for a player's skills if we know we wouldn't want him marrying into our family? How do we separate the music from the noise?
When Scott Boras leaked that Alex Rodriquez was opting out of his Yankee contract, on the same day the RedSox won the World Series, you would have thought he rolled an orphan in front of a bus.
Bud Selig was "appalled at the lack of respect shown the game by the selfish and self-centered announcement of Scott Boras last evening." Writers and broadcasters shed rhetorical tears that poor little Dustin Pedroia had been robbed of his fifteen minutes of fame. Even Boras eventually got around to an apology.
Spare me.
Baseball only recently banned doing business during the World Series. For most of the last 100 years players were traded, managers fired and hired, and rumors flew as GM's used their week together to wheel and deal. Somehow we noticed Don Larson's no hitter. Somehow Carlton Fisk's homerun got reported. Somehow Reggie Jackson's three home runs were noticed.
Alex Rodriquez and Scott Boras took nothing away from what was a lackluster series. And here's a newsflash. It is 2007, and November at that, and most sportswriters are more interested in AP polls and the Patriots than baseball. The RedSox story was big news in Boston and a big yawn most everywhere else. Message to the Commissioner-any publicity is good publicity.
Major League Baseball has diluted it's premier event and prolonged the season beyond interest and reason. Bud Selig doesn't notice such things, but he does keep track of Scott Boras. Or more importantly, the money Boras gets for his clients.
The rest of us take note of ARod's greed, his fondness for strip clubs, his arrogance. But first and foremost we notice (or should), 10 straight 100 RBI seasons. A .306 lifetime average. A monster line for 2007 reading 54-156-.314. There is a story in those numbers. A story more historic, and more interesting, than whether ARod gets 30 million a year. Which he won't.
Babe Ruth made more money than the President of the United States. "I had a better year than he did", Ruth famously quipped. Mickey Mantle was a womanizer. Gil Hodges didn't hit in October. But we don't remember Ruth's salary today, don't care that Mantle enjoyed the nightlife, or put a bad World Series at the top of Hodges' biography. So why do we ride those same dead horses so hard when it comes to Alex Rodriquez?
What Boras is about to pull off is hardly news. He will set an outrageous price for teams to get into the bidding, imply that teams who haven't shown interest in ARod have made contact, leak bids that haven't been made, and maybe even throw in the old line about it being "not about the money" for a laugh. Toward the end there will be one mark that is getting strung along to run up the bids, and one bidding against itself and not knowing it. And Rodriquez will sign for $200 million or so over seven years with an option.
Why do we care? ARod is greedy. Who isn't? Boras is a manipulative liar? I'm shocked. Baseball owners have sawdust for brains? Already got that newsflash. Fans grumble then pay higher ticket costs? Somehow I figured that one out on my own.
I want to know where the best player in baseball is going. I want to know how he impacts his new team's lineup. I want to know how the Yankees replace an irreplaceable part of their lineup. If they really don't intend to bring him back, which is debatable. Somehow I think Rodriquez ends up back in the Bronx, because the Steinbashers may be the only team who can afford him.
The rest is noise.
For now I'll go back to cursing the Patriots and watching the NBA work itself into shape. I'll spend November figuring out why Ohio State is ranked #1 and Kansas #4. I'll enjoy the autumn air and watch the leaves change. But I won't worry about ARod.
Joe Torre to manage the Dodgers? It was a stretch for Mr. Middle America to take on New York. But Hollywood?
Say it ain't so, Joe.
Or better yet, say it ain't so Dodgers.
The same Joe Torre who flooded the engine at the start of the 2007 season with his lead footed management of the Yankees pitching staff driving the Dodgers Audi? The same Joe Torre whose winning percentage in the National League stands at 47% taking over an 82 win team that faded when it counted?
That will work.
To be fair, hiring Torre wouldn't be a ridiculous move. There is an upside. The players who disliked Grady Little, and there were more than a few, will like Torre. Everybody does, including the press. And there's alot of press in Southern California.
Alex Rodriquez also likes Joe Torre. Just saying, but maybe the best case for hiring Torre is a 2-1. Get a manager, sign a mega star. It's the right time for Torre to leave the Big Apple and past time for ARod to get a fresh start on a different coast.
Veteran players, and the long in tooth Dodgers have some of those, might get their acts together under the calming influence of Torre. Luis Gonzalez, Nomar Garciapara, Jeff Kent, Jason Schmidt, Randy Wolf, and Derek Lowe might find something left in the tank under his guidance.
But I'll go out on a limb and saw it off. Torre won't make a difference in Los Angeles. In March the press will spin everything in his favor. In April, if the Dodgers show signs of life, he'll be a genius. But unless Alex Rodriquez is wearing Dodger blue or the pitching staff is as good as the sum of its reputations, the bloom will be off the rose by July. In September it will be an alien autopsy without the fun guests.
Torre didn't light any fires under his Yankee veterans, and lost his job because of it. His approach won't change, but the talent is far inferior. When it comes time to push, when it comes time to worry about wins and losses instead of veteran egos, Torre won't answer the bell. He didn't in New York, and he won't in LA.
The simple question about Joe Torre, manager, is this. How did he get so smart with the Yankees and look so ordinary with the Mets, Braves, and Cardinals? Is Joe Torre Ralph Houk or Ralph Cramden?
The managing part shouldn't be a problem. Managing is managing, and the transition back from the AL will be over talked in the press. Torre was a catcher in the NL, and managed 1800 games in the Senior Circuit, so it shouldn't take long for him to become accustomed to the occasional bunt and the double switch.
If Torre brings Don Mattingly over as bench coach it will be a non-factor, a bad deal for both. Mattingly is ready to manage and gains little. He also doesn't have the knowledge of National League hitters and pitchers. On a very average team, that knowledge is important.
Bottom line, Joe Torre may get three more wins with Grady Little's team in 2007. That puts the magic number at 85, far short of the playoffs. Sign ARod and the ceiling goes up.
But Joe Torre to the World Series managing the Dodgers? Don't bet on it.
Alex Rodriquez told Bob Costas on "Costas on Radio" back in September he was thinking about quitting after the 2010 season when his $252 million contract expired. Today (December 16) the New York Times noticed, in a frenzied lack of activity eerily reminiscent of Times columnist Maureen Dowd's much publicized (by herself) love life.
"I thought the phone would be ringing off the hook" said Costas, somehow still not fully comprehending what the lack of phone calls meant about his listening audience which at last count consisted of his agent, a few members of his immediate family, and a parrot that died last week when it's lungs burst while screaming to anyone who would listen to change the channel.
That's also how I feel about Rodriquez' musings. How long would he be gone before anyone noticed and who would rush to stop him? Let's suppose for a moment that Rodriquez quit baseball tomorrow. You are the New York Yankees front office. Do you stop him?
I see it playing out about like this. Some mid-level manager (played by Jason Alexander, playing George Costanza) gets told by Steinbrenner to talk to Rodriquez. Absorbed by thoughts of a really good sandwich he packed for lunch he meets with Rodriquez and agent Scott Boras.
(Rodriquez) "It's just not fun anymore, I've decided to pack it in."
(Costanza) "Is there a difference between Gulden's ####y deli mustard and Hellmann's? Because from what I'm seeing here they're both brown, they're both ####y, and they taste like what I get at the diner. The Hellmann's is really good but I could go either way.. Well, not me personally, although I once dated this woman who looked like Jerry. But, I'm not, well you know. Not that there's anything wrong with that."
(Boras) "I think we should be having this conversation with Steinbrenner."
(Costanza) "No, no. I'm pretty sure he'd agree with me. (Begins signing quietly) 'Bring out the Hellman's and bring out the best."
(Rodriquez) "Of course, maybe I'll stick around until the end of my contract."
(Costanza) "Whatever. Say, do you answer all your fan mail yourself, or do you have someone handle that? You see I've got this box of envelopes left over from my wedding invitations. I'm into that like $29.50 and I'm not going to be using them anytime soon, so I'm thinking, we can work a deal here, right, Scotty boy? If you don't have the cash on you and just wanted to give me a check. I would need to see some id though..."
(Boras) "Or Wilhelm, we could talk to Wilhelm."
(Costanza) "No, no. I'm no attorney. I could have been an architect, though. But I think when your pal Gonzalez
(Rodriquez) "Rodriquez, Alex Rodriquez, I'm going to break the all-time home run record."
(Costanza) "Sure you are. Now, as I was saying, when you said you were quitting that my friend was an offer, which ipso facto I accepted and yada, yada, yada. Be sure to get your parking validated on the way out. No charge. (Rising) Gentlemen, as they say in Texas it's been a real pleasure doin' business with you sons of b.....es."
(Rodriquez) "But I want to play here, I'm all about the winning."
(Costanza) (Pulling Rodriquez to one side) "Listen, I don't want to embarrass you in front of your friend, but I watched the World Series. Three numbers for you. Oh, seven, one. Go ahead and retire. You'll thank me later."
(Boras) "You know Alex, I've really got to run, I've got a dinner in Boston with Matsuzaka and Scott Schoenweiss' deal won't do itself. Tell you what, give Janice a call and we'll do lunch. Soon, real soon..."
(Rodriquez) "Wait, Scott. Scott, you said I was a national treasure!"
(Steinbrenner walks in wearing a Yankees #13 jersey with heavy grease stains and no pants)
(Steinbrenner) "George, where are my pants? Can't find a decent dry cleaner. 8 million people you think one of them would press pants. You got any more of that ####y mustard?"
(Rodriquez) "Is that my jersey?"
(Steinbrenner) "Yeah, some people think that number's unlucky. Not me. Pretty lucky for me. I understand you're quitting. Been great working with you. What does that Casey Kasem guy always say, 'Keep reaching for the stars kid, reach for the stars?' I don't listen to radio much anymore. Had the radio on the other day, first time in a year, some young punk named Costas was on. All of the sudden my parrot just lays over and dies. Darndest thing I ever saw. Just a bunch of screaming, then 'thunk' and feathers everywhere. Paid $6 million for that bird. Some people said I was crazy, but Big George knows, you've gotta spend money to make money. George, are those pants here yet?"
(Rodriquez) "I'll let myself out. Thanks. For everything."
(Costanza) "Dont' forget about the envelopes. We can work something out."
