Bomber Bites With Jumping Joe–Alex Rodriguez Needs to Hit in 2015

Much to the chagrin of Yankee fans everywhere, Alex Rodriguez will still be a Yankee in 2015.  He will be on the 25 man roster when the club breaks camp.  He will be in the lineup on Opening Day and many more times thereafter.  The majority of those games will come in the DH slot and occasionally manning the hot corner.  He will play exactly zero games at shortstop.  He is likely to be penciled into the lineup about 120-135 times this season barring a serious injury. What he does in those 120-135 games will go a long way to determining how he is remembered in pinstripes.

Alex Rodriguez’s time in the Bronx have seen some of the highest highs and lowest lows any player could imagine.  A-Rod won a World Series Championship in 2009.  He represented the Yankees seven times at the All Star game.  He won two MVP awards and three Silver Sluggers.  He hit his 500^th and 600^th home runs for the Bombers.  However, he also had a messy opt out of his contract during the World Series in 2007.  He admitted to doing steroids after being named on the 2003 PED list.  He has been hurt by injuries, including a nagging degenerative hip condition in recent years.  And, of course, he missed all of last season due to a suspension for his connection to Biogenesis and use of PEDs.

Mandatory Credit: Chad R. MacDonald.

When April rolls around Rodriguez will be booed.  He will be booed on the road and at home.  He will be the most reviled man in sports, if he is not yet already.  Where this season circulated around honoring and respecting and reflecting on Derek Jeter, 2015 will be about dishonoring and heckling a player who disrespected the game.  Unless, of course, he hits.

Yankee fans want to win above all else.  This is not surprising since the mission statement of the organization has been “World Series or Bust” for decades.  So if A-Rod is somehow able to be a productive player as he turns 40 next year.  Suddenly the boos will quiet and then turn to cheers, at least at home.

Rodriguez would not the first tarnished star to be given a pass from the home crown despite his transgressions.  Barry Bonds is cheered in San Francisco despite being convicted of perjury regarding his use of steroids.  David Ortiz tested positive for PEDs in 2003 and is one of the most beloved players in the history of Boston.  Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry are among the most beloved Mets of all time despite their history of drug use which set the Mets organization back a decade. There are second and third chances in baseball.  You just have to hit.

No one, not even Rodriguez himself, expects him to come back and hit 30 bombs and drive in 100 runs next years.  But as a complementary player with his skill set, hitting around 20 home runs and driving in about 75 runs shouldn’t be a stretch.  If he can do that, and avoid any prolonged slumps, Yankee fans will begrudgingly tone down their jeers for A-Rod.  If he can exceed those numbers, he will be cheered.  If he falls below that threshold, he will be cascaded with boos, insults, and other creative jargon from the fans.  It’s as simple as that.