|
August 23 Let's say you're the General Manager of a Major League Baseball franchise. You're looking for a shortstop, and you have the pick of the following two players: Player A has career averages (based on every 162 game-season he's played) of .305 batting average...126 runs...192 hits...34 doubles...2 triples...43 home runs and 125 RBI. He's a two-time American League Most Valuable Player...an eight-time Silver Slugger award winner...and a two-time Gold Glove recipient. He has 454 homers and 1317 RBI in 1715 career games played. He just turned 31 years old. And he has never played on a World Series winner. Player B has appeared in 1643 games, with a career average of .316. In every 162 games he plays in, he averages 123 runs...207 hits...33 doubles...5 triples...18 home runs and 83 RBI. He's also a two-time Gold Glove winner, but he's never won an MVP...or a Silver Slugger award. He's 32 years old and has been a member of four World Series champs. Player A has a .977 fielding percentage in 1272 games at shortstop. Player B has played the middle in 1635 games, compiling a fielding percentage of .975. Looking at the numbers, you'd have to say it's pretty close. You probably couldn't go wrong with either player. Except in the two most important offensive categories – home runs and RBI – where Player A has a monumental edge. Player A averages 25 more home runs and 42 more RBI than Player B for every 162 games played. That's a season's worth of stats for some players. But it's the difference in arguably the two best shortstops in baseball. If it's me making the choice, I'm taking Player A without hesitation. It would be nice to have both, but who could afford to have the best player in the game and the second best shortstop in the game on the same team?  A-Rod (foreground) could use a little backing up from Jeter off the field as well as on it. Well, the New York Yankees can. And they do. Player A, of course, is Alex Rodriguez. Player B: Derek Jeter. But the only reason they're able to play both guys is because A-Rod – the better player and better shortstop – agreed to move to third base so he could help the Yankees win another World Series. And what has he gotten for his selflessness? Nothing but the scorn of Yankee fans and a lack of support from his teammates. Admittedly, A-Rod has not been a great defensive third baseman for the Bombers. His fielding percentage is just .957 with 47 errors in 435 games. And his offense has suffered as well this season, as he's hitting just .287 with 25 homers and 91 RBI. (I'm sure a lot of guys would love to suffer those kinds of numbers, as A-Rod will hit more than 30 homers and drive in more than 100 runs). And Yankee fans have booed him at every turn, giving him no breaks and showing no willingness to accept that he's playing out of position and that he came to New York and willingly moved to third. If I were Alex Rodriguez, I would never have done it. When he joined the Yankees in 2004, he was coming off an MVP season with the Texas Rangers and was generally regarded as the best all-around player in baseball. He had every right to demand that he be allowed to play short, since he simply a better player than Jeter. I know in New York it's sacrilegious to say that, but it's the truth. And Jeter should have been the one to make the move. And with A-Rod getting hammered this year, it should be Jeter stepping up on a regular basis reminding the fans that Rodriguez was the one who willingly changed positions for the good of the team, and that they should back off. But he hasn't, and really, neither have most of his teammates. Manager Joe Torre has supported A-Rod publicly, but some of his teammates should be chastised for letting him twist in the wind. Most Yankee fans are probably spitting mad after reading this, and even Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith disagrees with me. Said the Wizard: "I think (A-Rod) is the better player, but there's no way you can ask Jeter to make that move. He's a Yankees product, a fan favorite, the captain of the team, and there's those four World Series rings he's earned. (A-Rod) was the outsider, and the only move was for him to be the one to move to third. Even though he's a better shortstop than Jeter, and the fans are killing him? "Well, it's really not fair to boo him, because he did make a major sacrifice," said Smith, who helped the St. Louis Cardinals win the 1982 Series over Milwaukee. "But New York fans are demanding, and Jeter is their guy. So, it's not surprising to to see Alex take the brunt of it. But like I said, they made the right move in leaving Jeter at short and having A-Rod be the one to go to third. Well, who am I to argue with the Wizard? However, I will end with this: If Derek Jeter is really the all-giving consummate team player, wouldn't he have offered to move to third for the good of the team? And if he really is the great leader he's portrayed to be, wouldn't he be a little more vocal in his support for the man who, simply, is a better player than he is, and, despite having every right to demand shortstop, made it easy for him to keep his position? Joe McDonnell is an award-winning radio talk show host and investigative reporter. You can reach him at
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
|
Newswire 
