The Chase for 700 is Enough Reason to Play A-Rod

The calls for the New York Yankees to release Alex Rodriguez are growing louder since the team sold at the trade deadline, but with the slugger chasing history, they owe him two more months.

Although he may not be everyone’s favorite player, Alex Rodriguez has been undeniably phenomenal for the New York Yankees. During his 12 years in pinstripes, Rodriguez has hit .284/.378/.523 in 5568 plate appearances. He has accumulated 54.4 wins above replacement in that time according to Baseball-Reference’s metric. That’s a borderline Hall of Fame career, even if he hadn’t added another 63.5 bWAR for Texas and Seattle.

A-Rod ranks in Yankees all-time top ten for home runs (6th), slugging percentage (5th), OPS (7th), runs (10th), stolen bases (9th). He’s also in the top 20 for games played, at-bats, hits, on base percentage, and most other major offensive categories.

Many fans may not like the guy, but the value he’s provided to the Yankees over the last decade-plus is undeniable. Yes, everyone knows about the steroids, but at this point that needs to be put aside. We had our fun being outraged about it, but the truth is baseball fans will never know who did what (or who is still doing what). What matters is what happened on the field.

What happened on the field is that Alex Rodriguez has been the Yankees best player more often than not in the past twelve years since they acquired him. He’s their longest tenured player and, like it or not, the current face of the franchise.

Beloved Captain Derek Jeter batted second and was propped up as a shortstop for the entire 2014 season. He was hurting a team in the playoff hunt on both sides of the ball every night, yet Joe Girardi never considered dropping him in the lineup, let along benching him.

Obviously A-Rod is not the New York icon the homegrown Jeter was, and to suggest that he should be is blasphemy of the worst kind for Yankees fans. Still, with Rodriguez right on the cusp of making history, don’t the Yankees owe him the next two months to reach that milestone?

Only three players in the history of baseball have reached the 700 home run plateau, Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth. Alex Rodriguez is just four home runs shy of joining them.

As much as he’s struggled this year, Alex has hit nine home runs in 62 games. The Yankees have 56 games remaining as of Thursday. Even a diminished A-Rod should have no problem joining the 700 club given something approaching regular at-bats.

After selling at the deadline, New York has given up on the 2016 season. It’s all about building for next year at this point. It makes all the sense in the world to give as much time as possible to top prospects like Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge, but that time doesn’t have to come just at the expense of Rodriguez.

Yes, Alex Rodriguez is clogging up the roster because of his inability to hit righthanded pitching or play a position. It makes complete sense to buy him out after the season, but there is no reason to cut him now and add further controversy to an already tarnished career.

Next: Is Gary Sanchez Ready for the Show?

A-Rod has done an excellent job reviving his image over the past two years. He’s been a team player, said all the right things, and been an enthusiastic mentor to the next generation of Yankees. The least New York can do is allow him the chance to take his place among the best power hitters in history and let him end his career with dignity.