Olney turns around on A-Rod
ByRemember in June when A-Rod was slumping pretty hardcore? Buster Olney wrote a blog post on him, noting how slow and old he looks. Oh, and how a lack of PEDs might hurt him going forward. Of course, he foisted all of the criticism on baseball writers’ best friends: anonymous scouts. Yet all on his own, Olney wrote: “The question is this: Is Rodriguez, a month from his 34th birthday, much less of a player because he presumably no longer takes performance-enhancing drugs?” In a recent SportsNation chat, Michael from Maryland asked Olney about A-Rod. Says Buster: “Give him credit — he’s worked through all the physical and emotional stuff, and is back to being among the most dangerous hitters in the game.” So I guess the answer to Olney’s original question is no. As Ben noted in conclusion, Olney should know better. At least he’s not trying to make an excuse for his poor foresight.
Thanks to Tampa Yankee for sending this in.
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Another gem from that chat:
Bomber (Bronx, NY)
Would you deal Hugh’s and prospects in order to secure someone for the 5 spot on the rotation ?
Buster Olney (1:40 PM)
Bomber: They’re not going to do that. They’ll pick up a Jon Garland/Doug Davis type of guy, if anybody.
Who the hell would trade Hughes AND prospects for a #5 starter? Would Scott Layden even do that if he were running the Yanks?
Did Buster choose this question to propagate the myth that Yankee fans are complete morons? Am I reading far too much into this? Why am I only writing more questions?
/needs a nap
Not to mention I’m still trying to figure out what possession Hugh would have to include in the trade along with those prospects. Hugh’s what?
You are reading a bit too much with the ‘making all Yankee fans look like idiots’ stuff.
Chats are typically fast-paced and the host looks for something easy to respond to. They pick the low lying fruit, its too hectic to get into a detailed, nuanced discussion.
Wow, that Cody Ransom is a smart guy, huh?
We should promote him straight to GM! Gone with Cashman!
I like the way you think, Cowboy!
Cody Ransom would probably be a better GM than a baseball player.
/damns with faint praise
Cody Ransom would probably be a ballwasher at a Gay bathhouse than a baseball player.
/Mr. Accuracy strikes again
I figured as much. Thanks.
The hilarious thing about this is that the Yankees couldn’t deal Hughes for a 5th starter if they wanted to — all players on the 40 man traded after July 31st have to pass through waivers, and there’s zero chance of Hughes doing so.
Well, since KC has the worst record in the AL, they’d claim him. Then the Yanks could trade Hughes for Brian Bannister!
I’d be more impressed if Olney said he was a bit premature with the sky is falling arod “observations”.
I love how nobody think anything of the Yankees/Their Players/Their Prospects… it just makes victory that much sweeter. Not many writers eve predicted we’d be in the playoffs just because of 1 surprising year from Tampa Bay.
Well, to be fair, they have a solid core that would supposedly beat us because they were more athletic and the Sox had TEH DEPTH and TEH GRIT! But then again an offense like ours and our pitching in the beginning of the season had the potential to be the best with CC, AJ, Wang, Joba, Pettitte, Hughes, Kennedy, Aceves, and Mitre/Igawa. However, the injured and ineffective Wang hurt us a lot.
But yea I agree, our team should not have been overlooked (and they couldn’t predict the Wang disaster).
However, the injured and ineffective Wang hurt us a lot.
pat, you would know about that problem. Wouldn’t you?
Your mother said she wouldn’t tell anybody!
Hey! Let’s leave the mothers out of this.
Because
I
Just
Got
Out
Of
Yours?
So A-Rod is through——-Full length column with many quotes.
Quasi-Retraction of column—–one liner buried in chat.
Nature of the biz, Mo. That’s why most Yankee news is negative, because the truth is they’re in 1st place and as good as anyone in Baseball. So the STORY becomes that lil’ buried under the surface thing that people should worry about.
Yeah, I know. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Mo, check out my reply on Volquez. Fausto Carmona is another good illustration of why you stick to innings limits.
my favorite part of the original article
“He looks like a record playing at a slower speed,” said one talent evaluator who saw Rodriguez over the past two weeks.
Said another, “He looks old. He’s a first baseman. How many years does he have left on the contract?”
This is Year 2 of the 10-year deal, the talent evaluator was told. He whistled. “I don’t know what they’re going to do with him,” he said.
what a clown like Olneyis what he does is use the unnamed scout angle..
he basically said or actually infered Arod was toast and a fraud. Arod is not my favorite and he has issues but anyone that thinks he is like the other players who roids took to new levels ie; brady anderson, sosa, brett boone are delusional. arod is premium athlete of the highest standard.
look at how Lowell is doing with his similar injury to Arod…
Arod sacrificed the 2nd part of the surgery to the offseason to help the team, he should be commended for that dedication and sacrifice….
add ortiz to the brady anderson, brett boone , eric gagne, and sammy sosa crowd.
olney and the other baseball hacks always use the unnamed scout or official to dig the knife in and after the fact they do not apologize or say they were wrong…
i don’t care what off the field issues a-rod has had in his tenure with the yankees. the numbers he’s put up in his 6 years here have been stupid good.
Word. Unfortunately they often get overlooked for whats going on in his personal life.
No, no, no. I don’t care about his .968 OPS he has put up while here. I care that he goes out with Kate Hudson.
Kate Hudson is relevant to my interests.
…not mine
I can’t remember if it was Olney or Stark who had quoted a scout saying, “A-Rod looks so slow. He can’t move!” As if the man didn’t just have major hip surgery a few months prior to his return.
You didn’t hear? When you stop taking steroids you can’t move.
His contract is still absurd.
nice article, I really liked it, please read mine too at http://the-personal-finance-articles.blogspot.com