Former Yankees Star Calls This Season a Bust

Former Yankees Star Calls This Season a Bust

Credit: Keith Allison, A-Rod3, CC BY-SA 2.0

Former New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez has given his verdict on their chances this season, and he thinks they’re holding a losing hand.

A-Rod is a controversial figure who is often in the news for things outside of baseball, but he is also known for calling it as he sees it. In his opinion, Aaron Boone’s side is best off folding this season and concentrating on the next.

“The way the (Tampa Bay) Rays and the (Boston) Red Sox are going, I think, unless there’s radical change – and I don’t see one coming – I think the party’s over, at least this year, for the Yankees,” he told NJ.com. He did go on to explain why, justifying his bold claim.

“As a right-handed hitter,” he continued, “I loved having a left-handed guy right behind me like (Ken) Griffey (Jr.), or (Mark) Texieira, or (Hideki) Matsui. What we want as a lineup, we want lefty-righty-lefty-righty. That way, that opposing manager always has a tough decision.

“Right now, the way that team is architected, there are eight righties against a righty (pitcher). They’re last in doubles, they’re last in triples, they’re second in double plays. They have made a ton of outs — almost 40 outs on the bases.”

That news won’t be welcomed by Yankees fans, who might prefer that their 2009 World Series winner concentrated on his own life, rather than casting aspersions on their team. After all, he’s been in the news for many of the wrong reasons of late, not least because of his acrimonious split from former partner Jennifer Lopez. He is reported by Cosmopolitan.com as having taken back a red Porsche he gifted his former fiancée, which led to a significant social media backlash.

The 2009 World Series winner and 14 times All-Star won’t be losing any sleep over it though, he is used to making controversial statements and unpopular plays throughout his career. The larger-than-life character has always been all-in on life, both on the field and off it. As an MLB star, he was famously busted in 2014, but that didn’t seem to affect his habit of attracting controversy. After retiring, he’s bought into NBA side Milwaukee Timberwolves, attempted to buy the Mets and had something of a penchant for poker, too.

A-Rod is a character in the recent film Molly’s Game, which is thought to be one factor behind driving a new online poker boom. Poker.org suggests that through 2020 and 2021 a second poker boom was building, something sure to tempt A-Rod around the tables, given his past. There have been suggestions he’s taken part in high stakes games in the past, both legal and, controversially, illegal as well. In Molly’s Game, he is described as a watcher, not a participant. Perhaps if he watched the Yankees and didn’t actively participate in calling them at every opportunity, he might regain some of his former popularity right here in New York.

Whatever he says, A-Rod is still a philanthropist and a hero for some in NYC, and he certainly knows his baseball. He might want to look again at his delivery though, because another former Yankee, Brandon McCarthy, recently called him on his analysis. “ARod doesn’t speak like a person who’s ever had a normal conversation,” he tweeted in mid-August. “Tonally, inflection, the points he’s making, and how he makes them…all of it pushes you away as opposed to drawing you in.”

Whether the Yankees prove him wrong, or whether he made the right call remains to be seen, but whatever happens A-Rod always be there with more of his all-in, headline-grabbing comments.

— Written by Ethan Webb