Very easy to verify, part 2.

"But then, when the primary culprit is the $27 million-per-year cleanup hitter, to whom the Yankees are committed for another nine years, Cashman ought to be very concerned."

ARod is the best player on the team, by far.

Missed 20 games, played another 10 or 20 while injured, and still practically leads the team in every important offensive category: runs scored , runs batted in, homeruns, doubles, and stolen bases.

Sixteen stolen bases in eighteen attempts.

He's going to go 40/20 without even straining and while missing a month.

If you think ARod is the primary reason the Yankees have a bad offense, then you are a fool, an idiot, a moron, an embarrassment to the evolution of human intellect.


"Alex Rodriguez is supposed to be the key cog of this Yankees team. But going into the weekend, the man the Yankees have decided to build their franchise around for the next decade had driven in only 24.8% of runners in scoring position (with a .246 average), and of his 28 homers, 19 had come with the bases empty and only six had put the Yankees ahead."

Only 24.8% of runners in scoring position had scored? I have nothing to compare that to, but we need a little more information.

Are we counting at-bats or plate appearances? Because, in case you hadn't noticed, the opponents pitch around ARod quite often. It partially explains the whopping .452 on-base percentage with RISP and two outs.

In fact, I'd say ARod's biggest offensive flaw is his unwillingness to take the walk. He chases pitches out of the strike zone too often.

So why would opposing pitchers pitch around ARod? Maybe it's because the guy who's "protecting" him in the lineup hasn't sniffed .300 since 2002.


In 123 at-bats with RISP, ARod has 47 RBIs, which is .38 RBIs/at-bat. That's a measurement which doesn't necessarily mean too much, but at least it's a point of reference.

Wright: .43.
Abreu: .37.
Hamilton: .62 (wow!).
Pujols: .61.
Braun: .46.

Sometimes, when runners are in scoring position, ARod's driving in himself. Sometimes, he's driving in the runner who is on first base. Those runs count, too, even if Madden chooses to ignore them. Those runs can win baseball games.

I don't know how Madden came up with his measurement of 24.8% and I don't know how it stacks up to Hamilton, Abreu, Pujols, Wright, Braun, etc.


ARod is performing poorly with RISP this season and has also been a poor situational hitter. But you can't just say "24.8" and expect that to mean anything unless you provide an explanation, a context, and comparative statistics.


"The reason they don't have any of these players in their system is because they continue to do a terrible job of scouting and developing. They spend millions more in Latin America than almost every other team and yet the only position players from there to make the big club over the last 10 years are Alfonso Soriano, Cano and Melky Cabrera. The draft? An even bigger disgrace. Jeter, in 1992, is the last player they drafted who became a regular."

Let's conveniently ignore Joba, Pettitte, Mariano, and Wang.