Sunday, June 21, 2009

I think ARod's power, speed, and batting average will improve.

I think ARod' recent struggles are simply a short-term slump fueled by an injury. Though I also think it's fair to wonder if he will ever recover and if his previous success was due to steroids. Until he proves otherwise, he has lost the benefit of the doubt.

But when Peter Abraham jumps the gun and claims that ARod's contract may be the worst contract ever, he kind of misses the point. Because Abraham is looking at baseball statistics.


Willy Tavares is batting .227, 15 points higher than ARod, and nobody would be outraged if Willy Tavares was benched. Nobody is rushing to the TV to see Willy Tavares bat. Nobody is buying tickets at Spongetech Park just so they can boo Willy Tavares.


Nobody cares where Brian Bruney ate dinner last night. For the Yankees, this is free advertising, along with free "baseball talk":

"The rest hasn't seemed to do much good: In his pinch-hit cameo last night, he merely drew a walk"

"Merely drew a walk."

Nice baseball analysis, Angela Monefinise. You sound as ignorant as Mike Francesa.


Point being, Angela Monefinise helps explain why ARod is worth so much money.

Love him or hate him, you want to watch him play and you want to know who he's dating and you want to know what he ate for dinner. When he appears in Monument Park and you shake his hand, you act like you just shook hands with a God. Even when he's benched -- even when he's on the DL -- Peter Abraham and everybody else spend most of their time talking about him.

And you wonder why he gets paid so much?

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