Leave it to A-Rod. After carrying the Yankees on his back for all of September and willing them into the playoffs, Alex Rodriguez — infamous for his postseason flops — couldn’t get New York past the Division Series. Another “failed” season and another early exit for the Yanks, capped by the inexplicable and premature dismissal of one of the best managers of the past two decades.
Still, undeterred, A-Rod managed to muscle his way into the Fall Classic in the same way he powered the Yankees all season — without the help of his teammates. The soon-to-be-former Yankees third baseman surreptitiously forced his way into the World Series Sunday night when it was announced he would opt out of his contract with New York and take bids, likely on the order of $35 million per year, from other teams.
A-Rod’s fate in New York, easily the most anticipated free agent news, was supposed to be decided after this year’s World Series. Instead, it was revealed during the sixth inning of Game 4 that Rodriguez was done with the Yankees and would seek employment elsewhere. Unsatisfied with the decidedly Rodriguez-less character of the World Series, A-Rod saw fit to force his way into the conversation in an effort to upstage the game’s biggest event. A-Rod’s agent, Scott Boras, may have been partly responsible for the timing of this revelation, but to think Rodriguez wasn’t ultimately in control of when and where his decision was revealed is just foolish.
It is inconceivable that a player — even Alex Rodriguez — could so egregiously offend the game that has given him his livelihood, not to mention more money than most any athlete who has ever played professional sports. It speaks to his arrogant, self-motivated character and the frequently underhanded behavior that marks his play on the field. It’s gratuitous, offensive and downright disrespectful to fans not only in Boston and Colorado, but throughout the baseball world. What could he possibly have been thinking?
Here’s my guess: As A-Rod watched the Boston Red Sox manhandle the Colorado Rockies en route to a sweep of the World Series, he caught a glimpse of what a baseball team actually looks like. Not a baseball circus or a baseball one-man show, but a real team — one that works together, takes care of its own and understands the importance of contribution from all of its members. Watching those three games, Rodriguez understood that he could never achieve that team atmosphere in New York — not with the trigger-happy Steinbrenner clan breathing down his neck and the insane pressure of performing in the playoffs. Ironically, it may have been the Red Sox’s uncanny team effort in the World Series that convinced their rival’s best player to depart New York.
That, my friends, is what we call a bonus.
Unfortunately for A-Rod, it may not matter where he plays. The biggest obstacle standing between Alex Rodriguez and a World Series title is, and always will be, Alex Rodriguez. Wherever he goes (Cubs, Cubs, Cubs, Cubs . . .) he will always be bigger than the fans, bigger than the team, bigger even than the game itself. Which is exactly why he cannot, he must not come to Boston. Even if the Red Sox were in dire need of a defensive third baseman and a big bat, to bring Rodriguez here would be a management blunder of Curse-renewing proportions. He upends the baseball ethos wherever he goes and destroys teams. On behalf of Red Sox fans in New England and throughout the country, I implore you, Theo, John, Tom and Larry: Do not, under any circumstances, give in to the sickness that is Alex Rodriguez. His bat and glove may shine on the field, but his persona and demeanor off it slowly suck the life out of a team over the course of a season, until there is nothing left but the glove-swatting, “Hah”-screaming, bush leaguer himself.
As it happens, we’ve got a World Series MVP in Mike Lowell who has proven that he can play at the major league level into his 30s. If ever there was an exception to the team’s “No-long-term-contracts-for-players-over-35” rule, Lowell is it. Sign him. Sign him now.
You may have noticed, my fellow New Englanders, we’ve got a pretty good thing going here with our sports right now. I don’t need to reiterate how fortunate we are that all of our teams are playing — or in the case of the Celtics, should soon be playing — at such high levels. Alex Rodriguez may be the one figure in all of sports who could single-handedly reverse the fortune of every sports team in our city.
In order to preserve the state of our Boston Sports Nation, we simply must not let him.