The New York Yankees have met with disgraced slugger Alex Rodriguez, and the embattled A-Rod has apologized to the organization for all of his distractions. The team released a statement about moving forward with him for 2015.
"Today we held a meeting at Yankee Stadium between Hal Steinbrenner, Randy Levine, Brian Cashman, Jean Afterman, Alex Rodriguez and Jim Sharp. Alex initiated the meeting and apologized to the organization for his actions over the past several years. There was an honest and frank discussion on all of the issues. As far as the Yankees are concerned, the next step is to play baseball in spring training."
With that, the matter of how A-Rod fits in with the current roster must be figured out. He was suspended for all of last year, and he ironically would have been a solid solution to the Yanks' third base problem. New York struggled for power all season, especially at the hot corner, and even though Rodriguez's bat has slowed, he would've been expected to outpace the likes of Yangervis Solarte and Kelly Johnson.
The Yankees addressed the situation by trading Solarte to San Diego in exchange for Chase Headley, who hit .262 with six home runs in 224 plate appearances. Headley's value came mostly via the glove-he was worth 21.6 runs defensively per Fangraphs, and he was re-signed by the Yankees this offseason for four years and $52 million.
With that much glove being derived from his hot corner defense, it's not likely A-Rod will see much time at third base. Don't tell him that, though. Just last month a source close to Rodriguez told Newsday "Alex's mind is that job's not Headley's, it's Alex's to lose.
"That's what he thinks. Alex is going into training camp thinking that he is the starting third baseman, that if there's a competition, Headley's got to win it from him. It doesn't matter about the money, what they signed Headley for. This guy [Rodriguez] can play."
Instead, for all his apologies, A-Rod's future appears to be as a designated hitter and a part-time DH at that. The Yankees added Garrett Jones this offseason, but he has a very difficult time hitting left-handed pitching. All 15 of his home runs, and 50 of his 53 RBI came against lefties, so Rodriguez will definitely be in the lineup against southpaws.
Despite his stature and incredible career numbers, a part-time job may suit Rodriguez. He hasn't reached 140 games played since 2007, nor has he hit more than 18 home runs since 2010.
[ESPN]
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