A-Rod Distracted?
August 26, 2008, 3:01 pm
From Jon Heyman (SI):
Yankees people believe their oddly mediocre offense is what’s killing them, even moreso than the injuries to Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain, the disappointing seasons and subsequent injuries of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy and seeming lack of bullpen depth. Yankees higherups point to offensive underperformance from just about everyone, the notable exceptions all being outfielders: Xavier Nady, Johnny Damon and perhaps Bobby Abreu.
The Yankees are going to come up many, many runs short of the baseball-best 968 they posted in 2007, and it’s not all due to the long absences of Jorge Posada and the just-returned Hideki Matsui. The individual disappointments from the perspective of club decision makers include Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano (”terrible on offense and defense” this year, according to one AL executive), and doesn’t nearly stop there. It even extends to Alex Rodriguez, whose numbers don’t look all that disappointing. A-Rod actually possesses the AL’s second best OPS at .992 (to Milton Bradley’s 1.029) but has come up limp in the clutch.
He may be partially a victim of high standards, his otherworldy 2007 season and his second gargantuan contract, this one for $275 guaranteed plus $30 million in makeable incentives. But A-Rod is batting only .244 with runners in scoring position, so that stat line of .309, 28 homers and 78 RBIs isn’t quite what it seems.
Club higherups are concerned enough about A-Rod that they are even wondering aloud whether his off-field distractions are affecting his play. But while he hasn’t been his best, to be sure, this team has far bigger worries than A-Rod, like missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993.
In this situation, what can you do? It’s easy to say, let’s be professional and leave your personal problems at the door. A lot of guys play and play well despite a death in the family, a sick family member, a divorce, an affair, and so on and so forth, so it’s not like A-Rod is the only guy playing with serious off-field issues. However, A-Rod is the only guy that makes as much money as he does and therefore, he’s hounded by the press, so it’s easy to see why the distractions could haunt him more than it would another player.
If A-Rod’s family issues have been hurting his ability to hit in the clutch, then we’ll simply have to wait until next year for a rebound. That type of thing doesn’t resolve itself overnight.
If I had a dollar for every bit of meaningless psychobabble written about A-Rod, I’d make more than him.
A-Rod’s off field issues bother him with a man on 2nd but not on 1st? If his off field issues were bothering him they would affect his overall numbers and those look pretty good this year considering he missed about 20 games.
A-Rod has actually been hitting well below his career numbers with men on base (not just men in scoring position). He’s hitting .348 with no men on base (his highest situational AVG), which says something about the pressure he feels with men on (at least, that’s how I interpret it). Of course, the off-field issues may have nothing to do with it. Maybe his numbers reflect the fact that Jason Giambi is hitting behind him and hasn’t done much of anything with RISP. Or, maybe Joe Girardi’s managerial style is hampering his play. There could be a variety of factors to take into account.