It was over six months ago when I first suggested that the New York Yankees permanently assign Alex Rodriguez to the designated hitter role. There were a couple of roadblocks preventing that transition from happening. Among them was the presence of Jesus Montero and the lack of confidence in his ability to do anything worthwhile with the glove. Now that Jesus Montero is in Seattle, the New York Yankees can get creative with the DH spot. As I discussed back in July, Alex Rodriguez is breaking down before our eyes. A surgically repaired hip and knee have caused him major problems over the past few seasons. It is time for the New York Yankees to preserve the little bit of All-Star caliber offensive production that Alex Rodriguez might have by addressing his declining health.
While I don’t think Rodriguez HAS to move off of third base permanently right away, I would be a much happier Yankees fan if he spent the vast majority (~80%) of his games at DH this season. I said it before and I’ll say it again: the Yankees are paying him waaayyy too much money to have him missing significant chunks of time every year. Also, I don’t give two sh*ts that he would be paid to play “one half” of a game. I think he can still be a problem for opposing pitching staffs, but the Yankees desperately need him to approach the 600 plate appearance mark again.
In order to move A-Rod to the DH role full-time, the Yankees obviously would need a player to replace him at the hot corner. This is where things get interesting and where I’m just going to start throwing out a few names for the sake of discussion. What are the chances that someone like Pedro Alvarez or Gordon Beckham become available? As excited I would be about Alvarez, I don’t really see the Pittsburgh Pirates giving up on their former top prospect this easily. I would be more optimistic about Beckham who, correct me if I’m wrong, could be blocked by Brent Morel at 2B and Dayan Viciedo at 3B in 2012. Those are really just the first two guys that come to my head and not necessarily the two players that I’m hell bent on the Yankees pursuing. Martin Prado is another guy who would seem to present a decent option at 3B as well.
I don’t quite have my stay-at-home GM hat on right now so I’m not going to make a case for any player in particular today. The only point that I feel like emphasizing is that it is time for Alex Rodriguez to transition to a full-time DH role and it is time for the New York Yankees to make the appropriate move(s) between now and the start of the season.
Cortesia de RantSports.com
