ARod is old and bad.

Hasn't been great in a very long time:

"This is fast turning into the Yankees’ worst nightmare. Not that Alex Rodriguez is finished but he’s hitting .100 now, after going 0-for-5 on Saturday, and no matter how many times a player has been through a slow start, the ugly numbers make them start squeezing the sawdust from the bat and press like crazy.

For A-Rod, in particular, he has a history of being at his worst when he wants it a little too much and tries too hard, as he did in so many postseasons for the Yankees before he got hot and carried them in October of 2009."

His postseasons have been worse post-2009 than pre-2009. Not that facts matter in the least to John Harper when discussing ARod ... or baseball ... or things on Planet Earth.


"Now he’s 40 and he knows a slow start makes questions about his age inevitable. The thing is, his numbers regarding line-drive percentage and hard-hit balls were good going into Saturday, which indicated he had some luck coming to him, but none of that matters once a slump gets in your head."

We know what to expect by now.

Trying to hit a HR every time up, striking out way too much, low batting average, low on-base%, little impact on the base paths, no fielding.


"Now he’s 40 and he knows a slow start makes questions about his age inevitable. The thing is, his numbers regarding line-drive percentage and hard-hit balls were good going into Saturday, which indicated he had some luck coming to him, but none of that matters once a slump gets in your head."

ARod's bat started slowing down a long time ago.

Don't throw him a fastball down the middle of the plate. If you do, he can still do damage.

But if you throw a pitch that appears to be a fastball ... and it isn't a fastball ... which, in baseball parlance, is known as a "pitch" ... he will start the bat early and try to hit a HR and miss the pitch.

Strike one, strike two, strike three, grimace, walk back to the dugout.

 
"Anyway, the point is it can’t be all about A-Rod.

Then again, if A-Rod is hitting bombs, even at 40, everyone up and down the lineup tends to relax a bit, and chances are in that case they wouldn’t be leaving entire villages on base every day."

Oh, jeez.



"However, you also can’t ignore the fact that A-Rod seemed to run out of gas late last season, and had a very quiet spring training as well.

Still, I think it’s a slump that’s largely mental now, not because it’s A-Rod but because that happens in April. It’s just that for him, especially — and the Yankees — that’s the worst-case scenario."

He's going to hit better than .100. Let's all agree on that. You could blindfold a pitcher and send him to the plate with a bat in his hand and he would hit better than .100.

But ARod is a DH who is batting third.

Look around MLB.

He may be the worst DH and the worst #3 hitter.

If the Yankees are relying on a serious resurgence ... .900 OPS or something similar over an extended period of time ... then the Yankees are doomed.

He is going to slowly be demoted down the lineup and I am guessing DiDi and Castro will be promoted. It's not much of a plan if Ellsbury and others don't contribute, but it's the only plan.