The Bronx is Boiling: Yankees’ Voldemort is Back!

Well, folks, one heck of a postseason is under way for Major League Baseball. The pesky upstart Royals look unstoppable and the pampered, overrated Nationals look exactly like they should. That 18-inning game though was crazy. It took me back to my youth, watching the Mets and Astros needing 16-innings to decide the National League pennant back in ’86.

Unfortunately, the Yankees weren’t part of any of the excitement. No, instead people wanted to focus on Derek Jeter’s new website and what possible moves Brian Cashman may or may not make. If you have followed me closely this season, you know the one thing I can’t stand is the speculation game, especially when three of the big guns the Yankees are looking at are still playing baseball and our boys aren’t. You also know there is something else that peeves me. The Bronx is boiling and I need to blow some steam.

LIKE VOLDEMORT, HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED HAS RETURNED

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The day after the World Series ends, Alex Rodriguez will be officially reinstated into baseball. The New York Yankees wasted little time in acknowledging the fact that A-Rod is here and for the foreseeable future, he is here to stay. Yankees fans apparently have not come to grips with that.

Let me set the record straight. I loathe A-Rod. I never liked him before he was a Yankee and I couldn’t come to terms with him as a Yankee. Part of it stemmed from the fact that I was a huge Alfonso Soriano fan and he was what cost us to get A-Rod. Part of it was that he was a money chasing diva from day one that every time he left a team, they got better.

A-Rod was a lot like Roger Clemens for me. I couldn’t accept the fact that we traded a Yankee that bled pinstripes in David Wells for a guy from the Red Sox. But that’s precisely what made me want them both to excel, kind of a show me what you got attitude. Clemens did, A-Rod… not so much.

What I am trying to say is that no matter if you detest A-Rod like myself or you are one of his fans that apologizes for him, we are both in the same boat. We will both be watching him in pinstripes this upcoming season. And you will have to hope he does his very best, or else we won’t.

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Some of you fans are saying that the best thing to do would be to sit A-Rod the whole season and really teach him a lesson. Are you out of your mind? What does this accomplish? The Yankees are still on the books for the gazillion dollars they still owe him. Benching A-Rod and letting him earn his money is exactly what the money-driven bozo wants. No, you have to play A-Rod and we have to want the most out of him. You know why? It’s simple. Our offense was pitiful.

All A-Rod has to do next season is bat higher than .284 and he will bring a better batting average to the Yankees line-up than any other regular player did in 2014. He has a career .299 average, so even with the year off, this isn’t impossible. All he needs to do is hit more than 23 home runs next year and he will bring more pop to the roster than this lifeless lineup had last year. The last time A-Rod played more than three quarters of a season, he blasted 30 home runs.

Here’s the bottom line. Steroids don’t make a baseball player a baseball player. They just make said player more video game-like, or more superhuman if you would. Without PEDs, A-Rod most likely is still a 500 home run kind of guy. The Yankees seem intent on keeping him around until they figure out a buy out or simply cut him and eat the money. So, we as fans, have to hope for the best from him.

Again, don’t get me wrong. I wish A-Rod had been banned for life so this problem would have just gone away. I never wanted him in pinstripes and I still don’t. But at the end of the day he is in pinstripes. A-Rod is a lot like Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman. I want all three to go, but while they are here, I want them to succeed. I want them to give me the biggest middle finger in the world, win that 28th championship, and stand there in unison and say “We told ya so.”

You can hate all you want, but as long as they are in pinstripes, I feel like we have to hope for the best. Does that mean you have to root for A-Rod? Absolutely not. But I think it makes a whole lot more sense to hope he bats .280 with 25 home runs in our five hole, than to hope he hits .200 with nine home runs over the course of a season for your own enjoyment. 2015 is going to be a long season. Hopefully, A-Rod finds some of that old power and helps make the season go even longer.