Should Alex Rodriguez Just Take His Torn Labrum Home?
Alex Rodriguez has had a really crummy year, and the season has not even started yet. The year started well enough. Alex Rodriguez got a new back up batter in slugger Mark Teixiera. The Yankees signed about 999 million dollars worth of players to take the heat off of Rodriguez and place it where it really should be….the Yankee front office. Then came the steroids, the injections, the book, and the torn labrum that is now threatening Alex Rodriguez’s season if not his very career. Things went from fantastic to horrible in record time.
That said, should Alex Rodriguez just pack up his needles….err.. toys and go home? It really might not be such a bad idea. Think about it for a moment.
As it stands right now, America and the Yankees are pissed. Yankee fans in particular. The Yankee fans are known to have a short memory, however, and a great start to 2009 would make them forget the steroids in a heartbeat. Now, with Alex having a serious injury, the chances of that happening is slim and none. Regardless of how great he might be with or without HGH, Rodriguez would have to be affected mightily by this injury.
Sure, others have played through the injury. Chase Utley most recently pulled it off and even helped the Phillies to the World Series Championship. The difference here is that Utley was not expected to be great like Arod. Utley did not have to play under the glare of the brightest spotlight in the world. Utley is not Alex Rodriguez. Arod is not going to be able to fly under the radar as Utley was afforded last season for much of the year.
If Alex Rodriguez went home and got the surgery, he could then come back when the injury is healed. This would also allow for the ever loving Yankee passage of time. The roids would get to be old news, and the great Arod could retake his throne as the man that will be the difference for the Yankees once again. Of course this is assuming that Alex does not have more skeletons in his closet that might pop out in 2010……Oh never mind.
Let Alex play hurt. Let the Yankees hate on him for a good long year. Let them self implode from the inside out. It will be good for baseball, and good for Alex. He deserves the punishment after all. Nobody deserves a torn labrum, mind you, but it is ironic is it not? A torn labrum right where the needle likely went in? Maybe the baseball Gods such as Ruth, Mantle, and Maris was sending Alex a sign.
