A-Rod; is he really worth all that?

I was away in ireland when my sox won the series again. i'm on the fence over whether i am happy to have been in ireland or whether i'm bereft for having missed the series. it is a very different feeling than when they won in 2004, when i was glued to the tv.

but i digress. the point of this post is to wonder wheter or not alex rodriguez really is worth those giant dollar signs being thrown about like warmup toss. $350 million dollars? for real? first of all the guy is no spring chicken in terms of baseball age. he's 32, sure he's just a baby- he's my age in fact; but for playing ball professionally, that's middle age at best. he's a bit of a malcontent- anyway you slice it, he's not the clubhouse guy that teams need. i don't ever remember him being called a team leader by the NY press- jeter, possada, pettite, sure- even clemens every so often. but never ever a-rod. He gets into dustups with the press- even manny is more eloquent when he's mad than a-rod is. if i were a major league GM, these would be concerns.

i suppose if i were said GM, i could overlook both those things if A-Rod had proven himself to be valuable in the postseason. i'm afraid he hasn't; and not just with the yankees- the mariners and rangers didn't win post season series very often with him on the roster. it's tough for a team to build themselves around a stud like a-rod. he's so costly that it leaves very little payroll cash available for other signings. so the signings have to be cheap. either on the downhill slide, or rookies and youngsters. both of these present problems- rookies can be unpredicatable. they could be great like pedroia and ellsbury, or they could struggle, and often times they don't hit well enough to be a matching threat to a-rod, essentially making his bat less of worry- pitchers can just walk him. old hats can be worrisome too; older, slower, can't hit as well as before, so it's hard to even make the playoffs, let alone be successful.

so i have to wonder- will teams be willing to take on such an ineffective postseason player at the risk of the rest of their roster? sure he's great- i can agree that he's a baseball talent; a rediculously impressive talent, but are teams willing to pay a guy to improve his own resume, yet not contribute to the ultimate goal of the team- win the trophy with many flags? sure baseball is a team sport played by individuals- but make no mistake- dave roberts stolen base off the bench in 2004, and coco crisp sitting out the end of the ALCS and the beginning of the World Series- those were individuals playing for the team. they helped the team win.

I just don't think A-rod has that kind of selflessness in him i just don;t think he has the integrity. if i were a general manager, i wouldn't pay a player who is an individual to be a part of my team. there is no I in team.