A-rod a-head of schedule
ByWith apologies for the groan-inducing headline, let’s get to the worst-kept secret in Yankee baseball. According to his doctor, Alex Rodriguez is responding well to treatment and should return ahead of schedule. “We don’t want to rush too much,” Dr. Mark Philippon told reporters this week, “but according to Alex, his coordination, his motions, his muscle memory is coming back really fast. He told me yesterday that he felt better than he felt earlier at Spring Training, when he got started. We’re five weeks out, and I think it’s on schedule – actually, slightly ahead of schedule.”
While Philippon noted that A-Rod‘s hip could face some inherent dangers, particularly on sliding plays, this season, he told Tyler Kepner that A-Rod may not even need the second surgery. While that’s certainly getting ahead of ourselves, A-Rod is likely to return earlier than May 15th. No word yet on the corresponding move from Selena Roberts’ publishers.
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The Mason Williams Watch
As long as we dont have to see Ransom hit again.
As long as we don’t have to see Ransom hit or field again.
Fixed.
BUT….if we need someone to jump up on a 55″ box, he’s our man.
I cant wait for arod to enter beat mode when he comes back
So A-Rod will be steal less bases this year, I can live with that.
I need him for my fantasy team.
Also, I can’t stand to watch Cody Ransom try and field at third base anymore.
I’m not sure A-Rod should forego the second surgery and take that chance, but what do I know
Its not a chance if he doesnt need it. He may still. Have to wait and see.
Dr. Mark Philippon… Optimist Prime…
It’s close, but I’m pretty sure Philippon’s got you beat on this one.
Only a little
Rebecca’s sexier, though.
I don’t know, man. Have you seen Philippon’s legs?
and his surgically enhanced child-bearing hips? very alluring.
http://www.impawards.com/1994/posters/junior.jpg
“No word yet on the corresponding move from Selena Roberts’ publishers.”
Whats all this Boli Rehab news. Pshhh I wanna hear about his escapades with hookers or how his injury is allowing Swishers to flourish.
His injury isn’t allowing Swisher to flourish. Nady’s on the other hand probably will for what that’s worth.
The idea of batting Teixeira-ARod-Posada-Swisher in the middle of the lineup is quite appealing right now.
How dare you turn my sarcasm into a real converstaion.Damn you Ben damn you.
The team has looked very good with Tex-Swisher-Posada at the top and once Boli returns it was be a great 1-5. The linuep wont suffer too much if Nady is injured. That just means Swisher has to play everyday.
So I hear alot of that he is ahead of schedule but late Arpil is expecting too much?
As was telling my friends last night, I could count eleven other Yankees who, being injured, would bother me much more:
Sabathia
Burnett
Joba
Andy
Mo (I know, he’s not human)
Bruney
Teixeira
Canó
Posada
Swisher
Molina (b/c of defense, not offense)
Wang? Jeter? Those guys hurt – would hurt us a lot more.
Normally, I agree. But if I was to use the past week as a barometer…
Talk about making decisions based on small sample sizes. That statement’s not much different than jumping off the proverbial bridge after the Yankees lose their sixth game of the season.
sample size:
2 games?
100% of this season?
last six games he pitched?
I think we all know our Wang has issues…
Not my wang. It was in midseason form when I checked last night…
Nady’s injury does impact the team’s depth though. They’ll either have to rely on John Rodriguez or Melky to pick up the slack. As skeptical as I am of Nady, that’s a big drop in produdtion.
Bruney? Really? They’d have to replace him with Robertson…which really doesn’t bother me that much.
or melancon
Sure, but not _right now_
The idea of batting Teixeira-ARod-Posada-Swisher in the middle of the lineup is quite appealing right now.
Is it as appealing as the idea of batting Teixeira-ARod-Posada-Swisher-Cano in the middle of the lineup?
Damn straight – Cano has been looking very good. It’s amazing how much better he goes when he’s selective.
I think we all knew it was not going to be the 15th but what I’d like to know is if it is going to be best case Boston series or probably more likely at home vs the Angels… answer me that Philipon.
Also, after A-Rod rushed his way back last season only to cost him more time on the DL… I suspect they are not going to just take his word that he is ready. Rather, I hope there is some kind of MRI that can show if he has actually healed. The “according to Alex” shit frightens me.
A-Rod will hit a HUGE bomb when he gets back!
An A-bomb? for A-rod?
as long as he makes sure to not look like he is having any fun while he is doing it, he’ll be accepted back as a “true yankee”.
Every ARod homer ever was bush league and disrespected the sanctity of the game.
He showed absolutely no level of decorum whatsoever.
ARod raped and murdered baseball history, and then raped baseball history’s corpse.
Sincerely,
Jayson Stark
Dustin Pedroia brought it back with the grittiest, scrappiest CPR ever.
Sincerely,
Peter Gammons
Many, Many A-Bombs For A-rod (including W.S.)
How many games will he play in AA or AAA??
you mean Kansas or Toronto?
I don’t know about anyone else, but I think Pena may stick with the team over Ransom when Rodriguez gets back. He’s been terrible.
Also, if Nady is out for a significant amount of time, it makes you glad the held onto Melky. He’s not ideal, but it’s better than scrambling for an outfielder right now.
Yea I hope they stick with him just for his incredible D.. but on the other hand it would really stunt his growth so doubt they’d do that.
He doesn’t have incredible D. He has a great arm, and average defense in center, slightly plus in the corners. That’s it. You want to see incredible outfield D, look at Beltran and the entire Mariners starting OF.
I think he was talking about pena’s defense, but I agree with you on melky. he’s no better than a fourth outfielder, which is exactly what we now may need.
Pena.
Oh, yes, that makes sense. Sorry!
Especially if they want to free up a 40 man spot, you know they aren’t going to DFA Pena, but they may be willing to DFA Ransom.
Do we need to free up a 40 man spot for A-rod? I’m pretty sure we don’t and while Pena can be optioned to the minors, Ransom can’t. With that said, I couldn’t care less if Ransom got DFAed
looks like the rays are going without their best player as well
The St. Pete Times reported today that Rays 3B Evan Longoria will miss two games to attend to a family matter in California.
Thats good news for the Yanks(well not the family matters thing) Longoria probably has the hottest bat in baseball not belonging to Nick Swisher. It gives the team a better chance to win today.
Nice. Manny Aybar will now go 3-4 (with Swisher’s sprawling circus catch the only thing to prevent a cycle) and I’ll have you to blame.
Once alex comes back, this team will be boli-riffic!!!
Alex’s favorite movie this year was “Slundog Millionaire” because it’s from Boli-Wood.
Meh, okay, sure.
I mean, I’m not dying with laughter, but I smirked.
Boli-Boli Oxen Free
Prob not gonna steal any bases this year, huh?
Just as good news comes in about A-Rod, Pete Abe is reporting that Nady will need surgery (though this isn’t confirmed).
Being a Yankee OFer these days is not a good thing.
Fuck.
Bad news on Nady. PeteAbe just reported that the word is he will need surgery on his elbow. His season could be over.
Trick question:
Does this turn of events make last year’s trade a bad idea?
Ugh. No. Nobody could have seen this coming. Let’s not even go there.
You don’t evaluate trades based on the outcomes but on the circumstances at the time of the deal. That’s easy RAB 101.
Applesauce.
Well, type A is now out of the question, but I think it was already a bad trade when the Yankees failed to make the playoffs (I was for it at the time).
You don’t get to do that. It was either a good idea at the time or a bad idea at the time. You can look back and say it either turned out well or turned out poorly, but you can’t use hindsight to go judge decisions made at the time.
Well… Yeah, of course he gets to do that. Look, I’ve participated in this discussion in the past and I’m definitely in the “judge the transaction using the information available at the time it’s made, not a year later after something unforeseen happens” camp. But you’re taking too much of a black-or-white look at this issue. There’s a difference between judging whether the right decision was made and whether the deal wound up being successful.
Keep in mind, there’s a HUGE difference between (1) whether a transaction was a good or bad move, or whether someone was in favor or against such transaction at the time it was made, and (2) whether someone can look back at a transaction and decide whether that transaction was successful or not.
According to MattG’s criteria, I have no problem with him looking back and saying it was an unsuccessful transaction. He’s saying that he was for the trade when it was made and he was for it because he thought the Yankees were making a move to get into the postseason. Thus, when the Yankees failed to make the postseason, he felt the trade was unsuccessful (for his purposes).
You said: “It was either a good idea at the time or a bad idea at the time.”
He said: “I was for it at the time.”
I’m not sure what else you want to hear, he answered your question right there.
I had a couple of redundant sentences in there (last sentence of first paragraph is same as second paragraph). My bad.
No, its more complicated than that.
Good idea at the time. It increased the chances of making the playoffs, and it signaled the team’s commitment to winning, which has positive effects on the team, the fans, and more. It is something you have to try to do every time the franchise is in that situation.
But post-analysis is different. It is okay to say, in general, that’s the sort of thing a team should do, but was it precisely the right thing to do? Should the Yankees have tried to trade for lesser players having big seasons, like a Jay Witasik, while protecting their top prospects? Or conversely, should the Yankees have offered more for a bigger impact player, like a David Justice? Or should they have sought out a strict salary dump, like a Cecil Fielder? And most importantly, knowing what course is the best one, should they have avoided other deals that weren’t precisely the right type?
We know that deadline deals usually don’t have much impact on the final standings, yet we all want our teams to do something. As a fan, I am glad the Yankees did something, and I was okay with the price tag. But the part of me that is not a fan knew at the time that two months of these players alone would not significantly impact the playoff picture.
Now we resign X for a cheap cheap 3 yeAr deal
I like where your head is at.
Now we resign X for a cheap cheap 3 yeAr deal
Meh, I’ll still pass, thanks.
Then you want Damon/Austin/Swisher/who? for the 3 OF spots and DH?
he already told you…
he said he wants Meh(lky) for the job.
No, the idea for the trade itself was definitely not a bad one, because at the time we acquired two needs and were in the midst of a playoff push. Sure, the end results of the trade might not have worked out in our favor, but I don’t believe the thinking behind the trade was poor at all.
Bingo.
You’re right, that is a trick question.
The fact that the plane crashed on the border is irrelevant, you DON’T bury the survivors because they’re not dead.
Good one, whozat.