A-Rod Could Learn From Manny

The similarities between these two superstars are incredible. Both are the most criticized players on their respective teams, both have reputations for being spotty in the field and both are paid rather handsomely. Most importantly though is the overbearing microscopes that both play under. They’re watched closely for various reasons. Both play for two of the most involved and rabid sports followings in American sports. The two players also share gigantic salaries. Bonuses aside, Ramirez is due a staggering $22 million in 2007 while A-Rod is trumps even that with a salary around $27 million due to him next year. Last year A-Rod hit .290/.392/.523 while hitting 35 home runs, driving in 121 and striking out 130 times in 154 games. Manny hit .321/.439/.619 while hitting 35 home runs, driving in 102 and striking out 102 times in 130 games. Manny made 2 errors last year while A-Rod made 12 times as many.
There’s a good chance that Rodriguez will never be able to follow Manny’s footsteps while on the field. Rodriguez has began to suffer from mental mistakes in the field while Ramirez improved drastically in the field last year. Over their careers, it’s Rodriguez who’s been the better hitter in the postseason. Rodriguez has hit .280/.375/.485 while driving in 16 and striking out 32 times in 35 postseason games. Ramirez has hit .257/.353/.492 while driving in 48 and striking out 72 times in 81 games. Over the past few years however, they seam to have almost switched places. The last two years that Ramirez has been in the postseason he’s hit .350/.423/.500 in 2004 while earing a World Series MVP in 2004 and in 2005 he hit .300/.417/.900. Rodriguez on the other hand has hit .133/.435/.200 in 2005 and .071/.133/.071 in 2006. In both postseason appearances he’s failed to drive in a run and has struck out at least every third at bat. There is one very important thing that Rodriguez could do off the field however.
Like Manny Ramirez does, A-Rod should simply stop talking to the media. Every time he opens his mouth it’s bound to make headlines. In his most recent book signing scandal he didn’t even say anything controversial. What he said sounded to me like he wasn’t even thinking about leaving and hopes to win a championship which means he’s probably stay with the Yankees. After all, they do make the playoffs every year, where would he have a better chance? The New York papers however somehow turns his comments into something controversial, claiming he may be thinking about leaving New York. A-Rod must know by now that no matter what he says, reporters will jump on it to sell papers. Considering that, he hasn’t exactly been careful with his comments. Last year he claimed (incorrectly) multiple times that he had fixed his fielding issues and attributed his criticism to his race, the team he plays for and his “good looks.” Funny, I can think of at least one other Yankees player with those same “problems” and he seems to be adored by Yankees fans. It would be hard to make the argument that Rodriguez isn’t an exceptional player. If he could only keep his mouth shut, perhaps he’ll be treated like one.
On a different note, I was contacted today by a Red Sox fan who had created a rather bizarre Yankees related site called Cursed Empire. In his own words he’s supposedly going to be writing about “the Yankees trend of misfortune and heartbreak as it continues to grow.” He’s also published what he calls “The Cursed Manifesto” in which he explains how the Yankees appear to be cursed. Here’s a quick excerpt.
“The team that had won the last 3 World Series of the 20th century has already had almost legendary amounts of misfortune in the new century. While the Red Sox had lost in the World Series four times in 86 years, the Yankees have already lost the World Series twice in only 6 years. Both times the Yankees lost in heartbreaking fashion after holding leads in the series. In 2004 the Yankees became the only team in the history of the game to be up 3-0 in a 7 game series and still lose it. The Yankees held leads late in both game 4 and game 5 of the series before losing both in extra innings. In game 7 the Yankees lost in embarrassing fashion on their own diamond. New York fans were forced to watch as their most bitter rivals celebrated in their home.”
He assured me it’s all done with a bit of humor. I found it to be entertaining so some of you might want to check it out.