The sports pages all week have been about A-Rod’s hitting woes and throwing errors. Today’s NYTimes reports that trade rumors are circularing. Dallas Morning News’ Tim Cowlishaw accuses A-Rod of “not measuring up to MVP standards”. Ben Cook falls just short of blaming A-Rod for the Yankees’ lack of World Series wins in recent years. I could go on. Sports writers and baseball fans around the country are all lamenting A-Rod’s slump.
But there’s an irony to all this. The fact that A-Rod is considered to be slumping is just another testament to how great a player he is. Let’s put things in perspective. A-Rod is hitting .279 with 21 homers and 71 RBI. He’s on pace to hit 35 homers and 120 RBI. If last season is any indication, those numbers would put him in the top-10 of both categories. For how many other players would that be called a “slump”?
As for the fielding errors, it’s frustrating to watch and I’m sure even more frustrating for his teammates on the field. But great fielders - and he is a great fielder - have a way of putting the breaks on bad skids like this. I’m not worried.