Before you start reading this, let me warn you: you've read this column before. Probably multiple times.
I won't pretend to be the first writer to bash Alex Rodriguez, but I hope to impress upon you just how fervent and sincere my dislike for A-Rod is. I'll say it as simply as possible: I hate Alex Rodriguez. On my personal list of people most likely to be the Antichrist, he falls somewhere in between Ann Coulter and Carrot Top.
Why? It's quite simple, really. The man has no redeeming qualities. A rational person might look at his stat line and wonder how I can say that. A lifetime batting average of.306, 518 home runs, .967 career OPS - the numbers should speak for themselves. But to this date, Alex has yet to win anything but individual accolades. He has yet to put a team on his back in a playoff series. He has yet to be considered a respected leader for any of the teams that he has played for.
A-Rod fans would respond by telling me that I'm just jealous of their boy's good looks, undeniable skill and $252 million (ahem ... 300-plus) contract. And to some degree, that's true.
Since he signed a contract the size of the GDP of a third world country, Rodriguez has encountered significantly more hatred than he did during his days as a boy-wonder shortstop in Seattle. That comes with the territory. And it's true, A-Rod is the most talented player in the game, and yes, I'm a little jealous of him for it. As far as his looks are concerned ... well, as long as he keeps cheating on his wife with strippers who look like they've been around a few years too long, I'll try not to get too envious.
So if my hatred isn't spawned by jealousy, where does it come from? Here's my best guess: I hate the way A-Rod feels the need to make himself a bigger story than any of the teams he's played for, oftentimes bigger than even the game itself. I was dumbfounded at the way that he decided to opt out of his contract. Without so much as a word to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman (pretty much the only person in New York who consistently defended him), A-Rod instructed Boras to inform the Yankees that he was opting out of his contract via text message. Classy.
Alex just makes me hate watching baseball, a game I love. It's remarkable to me that I can have no respect for a player who's so talented, but A-Rod is a remarkably objectionable human being.
What bothers me even more is that there's a baseball team out there who is going to sign A-Rod to a deal somewhere in the vicinity of 10 years, $300 million, and proclaim him the savior of the franchise, or the final piece of the puzzle that will finally bring the team to the promised land.
In the words of Diet Pepsi Max, "Wake up, people!"
Committing that much money to one player, let alone one who has never proven himself able to win anything other than individual accolades, is not the way to build a successful franchise. By signing A-Rod, you will be signing a player who will become more important than your team for the next 10 years. You'll be playing for him, not the other way around.
So I'll end this column with a plea to Red Sox GM Theo Epstein: Please don't sign A-Rod, even if it's on the Red Sox' terms. I'm starting to get used to this "winning championships on a regular basis" thing. I don't want A-Rod to ruin it.
Will Herberich is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at William.Herberich@tufts.edu.
