A-Rod: The View from Boston

Kevin Cullen, who I first came to appreciate for his insightful coverage of the Northern Ireland violence and peace process over the last 15 years, chimes in with this analysis of how classless Alex Rodriguez is.

Winning with Class.

Some take-aways:

1. "Winning with class is more important than winning at all costs." A-Rod and his agent, Scott Boras, apparently were absent from class the day that lesson was taught.

2. "Statistically, A-Rod is the best baseball player in the world...But statistics don't win big games. Character does. And Mike Lowell has more character, if less money, than A-Rod ever will."

The stats argument also was highlighted in The New York Times' "Bats" blog last Thursday, under the attention-grabbing title of:

The Most Amazing Stat You'll Ever See.

One comment that should be highlighted: "The point is, you can spin stats against A-Rod, or you can spin stats that make him look better. The only question that matters is what someone is willing to believe."

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You've got to think that A-Rod has provided the Sox with ample evidence that while his stats are great, he has no class. So, how is that for tying in two different articles?!

The Onion article on A-Rod's odious October exploit

Always an accurate barometer of world events, The Onion comes through once again, with a sarcastic take on Alex Rodriguez showing up the World Series (which the Red Sox were about 6 outs away from sweeping) by having his agent, the equally odious Scott Boras, announce that A-Rod was opting out of the final 3 years of his contract with the Yankees to become a free agent.

A-Rod's bad timing.

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This article is sarcastic, but there is a lot of truth to it, too. It highlights some of the excruciating b.s. the Red Sox would have to deal with if he signed with the club, because it truly is all about A-Rod.

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The Boston clubhouse is routinely and roundly described as a positive, team-centered group. Gone, for now, are the bad old days of the "25 players, 25 cabs" teams of the 1940s and even the 1980s. A-Rod has allegedly put a spot of poison into the proverbial team-centered clubhouse drinks of the Mariners, Rangers, and now the Yankees.

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I refer to Curt Schilling, who, in talking about Roger Clemens signing with the Yankees instead of the Red Sox this past May, "We don't need him. It would've been nice to have him, but we don't need him."

Joe Torre bound for Los Angeles

Ending a 12-year managerial tenure with the Evil Empire, Joe Torre inked a 3-year, $13M deal yesterday to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers. This comes two weeks after he left the Bronx. He succeeds Grady Little as manager, with many observers questioning the mechanics of how Little was fired, if Torre was offered the job before Little "resigned," and when did L.A. go after Torre after their first choice, new New York manager Joe Girardi took a pass on the Dodgers.

L.A., which is allegedly losing traction in regional popularity to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, had to make a big move. This is big. It sure beats returning to the broadcast booth, where Torre has been before and where he was recently offered a chance to add his voice to Fox's World Series coverage.

There are also two speculative arguments going on around the game about Torre going to L.A. Here they are, briefly:

1. If Torre's Dodgers underperform during his tenure, will it cast a pall over his many accomplishments while with the Yankees? Some argue that, should Torre's team stumble early, late (like this past season), and/or often, it should cause people to re-evaluate the success he had in New York, with the supposition that anyone could have achieved such great results (3 World Series titles in 4 years, appearances in the Fall Classic in '96, '98-'01, and '03) if given the lineup of superstars and their mega-contracts that came calling to the Bronx, especially after 1998.

I don't agree with this argument. Given the rabid New York press and all of the super-egos who have trod through that clubhouse over the years, I would argue that few managers could have kept an even keel and managed teams to impressive overall results year after year. Torre did that, every year.

2. With Torre in L.A., and with the club needing a big name to compete against the Angels for attention, this provides an opening for Alex Rodriguez. CNNSI's Jon Heyman covers this debate pretty well, so here it is:

Where Will A-Rod go?

Frankly, I'm tired of all of the A-Rod talk. I admire his stats and his skills. I'm glad he'll one day break Barry B*nds' all-time home run record. But I have become increasingly skeptical and unimpressed with who A-Rod is as a person. There was the trash-talking of his former best friend, Derek Jeter, in 2001. There are the adultery scandals. The inconsistent statements he's made about New York. The melodrama in the club house and the attention-craving little girl he oftentimes appears to be.

My message is simple: A-Rod can go anywhere he wants, so long as it is not Boston. I may even cheer for him, as long as he's not wearing Yankee pinstripes.

Article on Johan Santana

Jayson Stark, one of my favorite baseball writers (even if his rep is slightly tarnished due to copious predictions he made in 2000-01 that the Phillies would be annual contenders over the next several [now last several] years), chimes in with a spot-on analysis of the Minnesota Twins' biggest decision of the moment: what to do with ace Johan Santana?

Johan Santana.

Santana is signed through next season, but his asking price will skyrocket beyond his '07 salary of $13M. He'll probably look for 7-8 years, taking him to 36 years old. And he'll most likely use Barry Zito and his gargantuan $126M, most-ever-for-a-pitcher deal with the Giants last winter as a measuring stick. Can the Twinkies afford that?

Their current dilemma with Santana, Torii Hunter, Joe Mauer, pitcher Joe Nathan, and Justin Morneau reminds me a bit of Seattle in the late 1990s. They had established stars in pitcher Randy Johnson, shortstop Alex Rodriguez, and All-Star center fielder Ken Griffey, Jr., at the time on a pretty good clip at passing Hank Aaron someday for the all-time home run record. Johnson bolted after the '98 season, Griffey after '99, and A-Rod took from $252M from the Rangers after the 2000 season.

My quick prediction:

The Twins, knowing the commodity of ace pitching, sign Santana for the stars. He's just too valuable. Hunter walks this year, while the Twins bank on their new ballpark in 2010 and sign Morneau and perhaps either of the Joes, like the Mets have done with David Wright and Jose Reyes.