Comments on: Bracing For Eight Years Of Questions

By: Old Ranger

Old Ranger — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:28:46 +0000

Why is it people think A-Rod is still on Rods. In Texas (on Rods) he had a few of his worse years. Before and after he was much better as a player.
If he is better before and after; wouldn’t one think he is not taking now. He is older every year, like Mo he will lose a little as the years go by. Like Mo, it won’t be because of Rods…just old age.
Those of you that can’t seem to forgive A-Rod for being young and dumb, must have had a very boring life…not to have ever made a mistake in judgement, it must be nice to be so perfect. And don’t say this is different because of who he is and trust an all that stuff. If you put him (or anyone) on a pedestal, that is your problem not A-Rods.

By: Moshe Mandel

Moshe Mandel — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:36:41 +0000

Thanks for the kind words, and I totally agree. People, especially Yankees fans, jumping on A-Rod now for poor performance when he pushed himself to be back this season are being quite unfair. A player has three bad weeks, and the shouts to DFA him explode. Swisher was everybody’s Darling, had three baserunning mistakes and 1 bad play in the field in a two week span, and suddenly he is a 4th outfielder or trade bait. The reactionary nature has a lot to do with the immediacy and anonymity that the internet affords.

By: Dexception32

Dexception32 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:24:11 +0000

Lol, that question is the best defense of Arod I have ever seen written. You ask whether we the fans can handle the idea of eight years of questions, and then we casually dismiss the stresses Arod endures hourly as him being a simple headcase who wilts under pressure. I wish people would juxtapose Chase Utley and Mike Lowell’s responses regarding their hips against the instant expectations placed on Arod. The bottom line is I don’t think you can really draw any conclusions from this season, he is probably against better and more productive judgement pushing himself for a bunch of fans who frankly based on the ridiculous message boarding I’ve seen of late don’t deserve it. We may be more intelligent collectively as a result of our knowledge of idiosyncratic metrics, but thats empowered us to the point where we feel we are all knowing individually, where erroneous though often cited patently small sampled results cause us to shout to trade or bench, or DFA our best players. We are no longer fans, we are critics, who occasionally enjoy when our cynicism is proven wrong, but more often than not enjoy it more when our statistical analysis is proven right. It seems the only reasonable people around our those responsible for these wonderful blogs and for that I thank you.

By: Moshe Mandel

Moshe Mandel — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:17:48 +0000

I’m not requiring sympathy, I’m asking for good journalism. There is no reason to assume Alex just went off steroids. Either he went off in 2003, or he is still on some undetectable stuff. Why not treat a slump like a slump? They had no such questions when he started off with three hot weeks. Did he go off steroids 3 weeks ago?

By: DK

DK — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:55:37 +0000

It goes for all of them. And I agree that its not fair that some cheaters will get off completely and never have it known that they were users. But at the same time these people did get caught so just because everyone cant get in trouble who used doesnt mean that the ones who were confirmed as users shouldnt get off too. Manny has been able to do whatever he wants whenever he wants because of the whole love affair with the Red Sox from ESPN. If he never was a red sox than Gammons and company would have been all over him. Some where along the line it became “cool” to like Manny. Arod is always going to get the worst because of his comments salary and the fact that he plays for the “corporate yankees”. Not to mention people looked at him as the clean hope to counter all the bad Mcgwire, Sosa and Bonds did. People feel more betrayed by him than anyone else.

By: oldpep

oldpep — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:42:51 +0000

Does that apply to everyone who has taken them? If so, how do you know who has and who hasn’t? Arod’s name was one of 103. Until we know who the other 102 are, how can we hold him to one standard and everyone else to another.
Why are there 24/7 negative articles about Arod and only a smattering about Manny? Arod always runs everything out, works hard on his defense, and tries to be the best baseball player he can. Manny has quit on teams, and hustles only once in a while. Yet ESPN is covering him like he’s the second coming at the same time they’re writing articles like this about Arod.

By: DK

DK — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:22:11 +0000

I dont feel sorry for any of the players that have been confirmed to steroids or other illegal substances. If writers want to speculate decline is due to the lack of steroids instead of the natural aging process thats fine with me. That player has lost all right to get the benefit of the doubt. Is that thinking going to be right? Id say the majority of the time no it wont. It will actually be just a slump or the natural process of aging. But the second they took illegal drugs in my opinion they loose whatever right they had to get the benefit of the doubt. Again this is just my opinion but I have no sympathy for them whatsoever.