Alex Rodriguez was largely responsible for the Yankees being in the postseason this year, but his second-half swoon played a big role in New York dropping from a seven-game lead in the American League East to clinging to a home game in the AL Wild Card Round. Rodriguez came up small in the Yankees’ shutout loss to the Astros that eliminated them from the postseason, and it’s fair to wonder if he will be back.
A-Rod led the Yankees with 33 home runs this year, and he was second on the team in on-base percentage by a hair behind Mark Teixeira, who appeared in 40 fewer games. His season slash line of .250/356/.486 doesn’t read like that of a player who is finished, but his gruesome second-half splits are telling. Rodriguez, 40, seemed to wear down despite playing minimally in the field.
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In the first half of the year A-Rod slashed .278/.382/.515 with 18 home runs, and followed that up with a .216/.324/.448 line. He hit 15 home runs in the second half, but his strikeout rate jumped and he walked less. Rodriguez’s struggles were crystallized in his sixth inning at-bat that sounded the death knell for the Bronx Bombers.
With two on and two out, Rodriguez faced Dallas Keuchel, got a fastball that was uncharacteristically up in the zone, and flied out meekly to center field. "I got a pretty good pitch to hit, put a decent swing on it and hit it right to Gomez,'' Rodriguez said. "I’m just looking for a pitch right in that box, and it was in that box and I stayed inside of it, but ... and right at 'em.''
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A-Rod said he needed time to reflect on his campaign, but he did not sound like someone ready to leave the game.
"Who knows?'' he said. "I’m going to go home, get some rest, spend time with my daughters, kinda think about what happened this year. I think this DH thing has been a good thing for me.''
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