Trade A-Rod?

You've Got To Be Kidding Me
There's been this weird swell of press articles about a possible trade where the Yankees trade away Alex Rodriguez. It's started from comments made by former Mets GM Steve Phillips.

Brooks Robinson, Baltimore Oriole great in the 1970s, had this to say.

“I was watching TV last night and I really had to laugh at the guy who said he might be traded,” Robinson said. “There’s no way in the world that A-Rod is going to go anywhere. If they don’t have A-Rod, they don’t win.”

“A-Rod is just going through a little crisis right now, which might be a week long,” Robinson said. “Most of his errors are throwing errors and that can be corrected very easily, but everyone has those streaks. You have streaks as a third baseman or a shortstop where every ball you get is not a big hop, it’s an in-between hop, it’s a tough play.”

Thank goodness there's a sane voice out there.
For the record, Brian Cashman has stated that A-Rod is not going anywhere. There's also this interesting take on the topic.

For the better part of a month, Steve Phillips has urged Brian Cashman to trade Alex Rodriguez. Of all the commentary concerning the fragile Yankees third baseman, and his funk, Phillips, the former Mets GM, has provided the most provocative.
This is why ESPN suits are paying Phillips. With powerhouse national vehicles like ESPN Radio, ESPN "SportsCenter," and ESPN "Baseball Tonight," at his disposal, Phillips' "trade A-Rod" message has received maximum exposure without even reaching its crescendo.

Judging by the way he's flogged this line, Phillips has several more choruses to sing. This is his greatest hit album. Stevie One Note is a man on a mission. No, make that a crusade.

Is it personal?

Or is Phillips offering legitimate bias-free analysis?

The longer he continues to push for an A-Rod trade, the more recognition Phillips gets as a TV personality. This will help to further distance him from his halcyon days of Mo Vaughn and Roger Cedeno.

On Sunday's edition of "Baseball Tonight," Phillips was at it again. It only takes a blink of an eye, and the letter "A" rolling out of someone's mouth, to set him off.

"Ultimately, they are going to have to trade him and they can trade him if the time is right," Phillips said. "It's become the thing to do in New York to boo Alex Rodriguez. . . . When that happens in New York, it doesn't stop. Now we see it impacting his performance. I don't see how he gets out of this rut. The Yankees have to move him and cut their losses now because it can get to the point where they can't move him."

Phillips was so persuasive, his colleague Harold Reynolds agreed A-Rod should be moved. John Kruk dissented. Reynolds and Kruk argued. This was wonderful TV inspired by Phillips.

Still, there is a bigger issue here. Former athletes, coaches and even general managers go into broadcasting with different agendas. For guys like Bill Parcells, Pat Riley and now Lou Piniella, the goal is to avoid controversy. They purposely pull punches because they want to return to coaching or managing. They don't want to criticize players or coaches they eventually will have to deal with.

Let's be Frank; better still, let's be Mets owner Fred Wilpon for a moment.
Mr. Phillips, it's because you make recommendations like this that you are now a commentator and no longer a GM, while Brian Cashman astutely traded and obtained Alex Rodrigues as the Yankees GM; and better still, he's got the common sense to hold onto him, unlike the stupid move you are advising.

It's really time the media just shut up about every slump A-Rod lands in. Shut up and let him play. I'm a commited A-Rod-As-Yankee fan; I'm in his corner.

The Other Trade Rumour
Scott Proctor for Wilson Betemit.
I'd do it in a heartbeat. Please Mr. Cashman, if it's true, pull the trigger on this one.

Fantasy Baseball Comment
My league, The Jack Kerouac Memorial League is a keeper league with 8 players kept at the end of this season. 3rd year keepers get a draft penalty asigned to them. For my team, Jeter is my 3rd year player and A-Rod is a 3rd year player for team 'My Time To Shine'.

He actually proposed a trade, which was a great offer, but I thought about it otherwise. Really, you don't trade franchise players, even in Fantasy baseball. I'm willing to take my draft penalty for Jeter, and I'd be willing to do the same for A-Rod.

There are some astute guys in our league, some, like Peter B, who wins just on the back of objective number crunching. Steve Phillips would lose in my league every year.