Snake’s Take: The A-Rod Possibility

Lets face it, if you don’t know that Alex Rodriguez is a Free Agent by this point, you’ve been living under a rock. The question really is where is A-Rod going to land? Who truly knows, but the rumor is that the LA Dodgers is quite a possibility. There is also no doubt that A-Rod is one of, if not the, best player in the league, especially at the SS position. If he were to come to LA he would be a definite upgrade to the 3B position since Adrian Beltre’s last season with LA. Beltre’s defense was superb and his bat was as well for that season in 2004 where he hit .334 AVG 48 HR and 121 RBI. Everyone to show up in Dodger Blue and happen to call themselves a Third Basemen has been sub-par. On top of that the Dodgers have hired Joe Torre and A-Rod has a lot of respect for Torre and likewise. A-Rod seems like a no-brainier right? Well possibly not.

It has been reported that the great A-Rod wants a great amount of money. According to Kevin Kernan of the NY Post A-Rod’s agent, Scott Boras, wants A-Rod to get 350 Million dollars. Up until I saw this report I was in favor of A-Rod becoming a Dodger. But unless Torre can get A-Rod to lower his money value it may not be worth it. It could put the Dodgers in a major problem down the road. Sure the addition could possibly bring a World Series trip or possibly a ring but at what cost? If the Dodgers can’t get certain players healthy (Schmidt) or not able to get quality replacements for certain players (Loaiza) because of A-Rod won’t he just barley make up for there faults? Now I am one of those people who don’t believe in A-Rod being un-productive in the Post Season (I think it was just the pressure in New York) so if he makes up for the likes of an unproductive starting lineup I think he could get us past the NLDS but is this whole thing worth the risk? Some teams in history have got rid of their big name, and big money, players for a lot of above average players and maybe only one superstar and they won a total of 116 games. But the Dodgers can’t do that, with certain decent to pretty good players being un-happy and possibly leaving then I don’t see us being in any other position that to pay A-Rod 350 Million dollars. We’ll need his bat, even if we don’t lose any of our big bats, but I bet we will.

There is one other possibility too. What if A-Rod coming to the Dodgers could pay for itself? That is what Nat Boyle writes and cites at MLB Trade Rumors.com. Now if the Marlins can afford him, and help pay for himself, then the Dodgers could easily afford him. In the end, the Dodgers need a big bat more than the Yanks need an ace pitcher. With A-Rod the Dodgers should be able to win the NL West and win a few games in the playoffs. He would also help out some of our more average pitchers and we could win a lot more games. If we get A-Rod we should keep some players that even I don’t like, just to keep their bats. Doing this with our young players we truly could do something.

In the end what is my belief? If the econmists are correct that A-Rod could pay for himself, we pay him what he wants. If he can’t, we go after the likes of Mike Lowell or Mike Lamb. Heck there are a few Second Basemen who, if they could get over their egos, could come in and play a very good Third Base in the likes of Tadahito Iguchi and Kaz Matsui. They can produce both offensively and defensively and I could see them doing so at the corner. Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti and Owner Frank McCourt need to do their economics homework and if they can totally afford him they have no choice but to not only keep this team together but pay A-Rod and maybe sign a few others and just see where the Dodgers land.