I Mourn For You, My Beloved 2012 Yankees

What happened to the Yankees in their miserable 4 and out loss in the 2012 ALCS? Four of their regulars stopped hitting (Cano, Swisher, Arod, and Granderson), a fifth broke his ankle (Jeter) and their manager crafted his lineup card from a Ouija board. It’s hard to win with a third of a lineup and no one sane in charge.

Add to that the scapegoating of Alex Rodriguez and this is as miserable a Yankee post-season as I’ve seen since ’04. Benching him while letting Cano and company skate with their 0-fer’s was a sin. Keeping him on the bench when it came time to pinch-hit was criminal. Criticizing him for allegedly flirting with a fan is ludicrous (at least a Yankee made an attempt at hitting something in the ALCS). Letting the press slice and dice the man because hating him is a convenient meme, is, in my opinion, a moral failing of my beloved Yankees. 

In the press Friday Rodriguez said his time in New York has featured great highs and terrible lows. It’s a disgusting shame that those lows he refers to are because he is was – and is- being cannibalized by his own team.

Why is he so hated? Because he made a ton of money for being really, really good? Cry me a river. 

Here are the stats [quoted from BaseballThinkFactory] from the original, ten year contract that sports bloggers fume about in their Mommy's basement. 

99/394/577, 150 OPS+, 424 HR, 1130 runs, 1236 RBI, 69 WAR

Egads, how awful!

Let's put it another way. During his time with the Yankees he has: 

Earned two MVPs, hit 302 homers, carried the Yanks on his back to a World Series title, notched a 141 OPS+ and yes, made $247 million over nine seasons.

Even after his original contract was renegotiated after 2007, he continued to perform up to and past monetary value. In the first season after the re-ink he led the league in slugging, put up a 150 OPS+ and amassed 6.5 WAR. In 2009, the regular season was only average - A-Rod average, mind you - but he hit 6 HR in the playoffs and was clutch time after time. 

What a crap player, eh?

But, but  . . . the heck with his numbers. The payroll his check consumed handcuffed the team around him (pre-Yankee) from making any moves, thereby hurting them in the long run. 

Uh-huh. Let's check the numbers during his time with the Rangers, shall we?

2001

ARod: 8 WAR, $22 million

Rest of team: 19 WAR, $90 million

2002

ARod: 9 WAR, $22 million

Rest of team: 20 WAR, $111 million

2003 

ARod: 8 WAR, $22 million

Rest of team = 11 WAR, $102 million

Who was the better value??????

Deep, calming breath Dan. Deep calming breath. 

Anyhow good luck to the Tigers: I hope Prince and company annihilate whatever NL team meets them in the Series.