Not so fast.
“I want to win,” Rodriguez said recently. “I came to Yellow Springs because I thought I could win a Landis here. So I want to see us moving forward, and I’m not sure the team is really doing that right now. I’ll take a few days of down time now, and talk with my wife and kids and make a decision that’s best for me.”
Rodriguez has been one of the league’s more effective leadoff hitters, for the past several seasons, posting OBP north of .400 most of the time. Defensively he’s been suspect, but his -6 ZR in 83 games hasn’t been so horrific that it kept that WAR from being a strong positive. At 33, Rodriguez has only so many more years to go—and that $12.5M he’s owed does represent a $1M pay cut. The question is whether this season’s market will be able to match or beat his current number, or whether he’d be willing to take a discount to win.
If he were to leave, that would be a major hit to the Nine, whose offense with him setting the table was one of the strongest in the league. On the other hand, despite that productive set of bats, the team still only managed to win 80 games—and the team was reportedly looking to see if other teams were interested in J-Rod’s services at the trade deadline without takers. Some inside the organization think that the club could find value in assigning the Sheriff’s salary to a pitcher, and the fact is that the club does have some younger players coming to their own—though the time-table may not be quite fast enough to step in next year (the club found out exactly how hard it is to rely on early-stage prospects this season).
It’s a difficult decision on both sides, so perhaps it serves as a statement for why they call it the hot stove league. Or not. Your mileage may vary.
