THE Yankees need Alex Rodriguez to be their Herschel Walker.
They need to convince their most alluring product to accept a trade and then turn Rodriguez into the kind of haul that transformed the Cowboys from also-rans to champions after dumping Walker on the Vikings.
Let’s erase the silly notion of the Yankees as buyers. Buying is for contenders. These Yankees are not contenders. They lost another game and series yesterday, falling 11-5 to Oakland and dropping four games under .500. Stop talking about who the Yankees should be. Deal with who they are: a team that midway through the season is not excelling at any phase.
Their professionalism is under attack from core lieutenants Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada. To even begin to fix this roster, you must obtain a first baseman, backup catcher, two set-up men, one starter and a better overall attitude. To add more veterans at the cost of top prospects now when the playoffs are a pipe dream would be the height of executive negligence.
So should the Yanks be sellers and, if so, should they sell A-Rod amid his best year?
“That is something I would not speak to,” GM Brian Cashman said. “I’m not thinking in those terms.”
He should be. A scout who has watched the Yankees said one reason so many veteran position players lack urgency is that “there is no one in the minors threatening to take their job.” The Yanks have stockpiled pitching prospects, but their positional supply is deficient. Their offense has flat-lined and all they can summon is Andy Phillips, Kevin Thompson and Chris Basak.
They must deepen the pool of high-end, major league-ready positional talent. Without adding that the Yanks could be facing many October-less seasons.
Wouldn’t it behoove the Yanks to make Rodriguez available in a trade market craving power to see if someone makes that Herschel Walker-type overwhelming offer that can’t be refused? The Angels and Dodgers, for example, both need power, both are blessed with young talent and both would imagine themselves as champions if Rodriguez were batting cleanup.
Would Rodriguez waive his no-trade clause? “No. Absolutely not, 100 percent,” he said yesterday. But when trade talks with the Red Sox collapsed shortly after New Year’s Day 2004, Rodriguez accepted the Rangers captaincy and said he was staying. A week later he was a Yankee.
Look, this is not about running Rodriguez out of town. This is not a reaction to his private life suddenly becoming very public. This is about the twin realities that the Yanks are not very good and Rodriguez is likely gone after the year. If Rodriguez did not have an opt-out clause, this would not even be a topic. If he were signed for the next four years without stipulation I would be advocating building around him, not dealing him. But the history of Scott Boras clients is to maximize leverage and seek the hugest deal, and that means free agency this offseason. Yankees officials believe Rodriguez will opt-out, which means Rodriguez could be gone for nothing but two draft picks.
I doubt Rodriguez/Boras would agree to a trade, not when Rodriguez is probably increasing his value by proving indisputably he can thrive in New York by excelling despite miserable team play and the exposure of scurrilous details from his personal life.
But the Yanks need to have the conversation with Boras/A-Rod, ask first if he would dismiss the opt-out to stay long-term and – if not – appeal to Rodriguez to accept a trade. Tell him that a trade does not preclude the Yanks from having their Rodriguez and the prospects, too, by also pursuing him as a free agent. Make a case that he would be better served with a contender than around the September rubble that could be the Yankees. Say if you really meant all those things about loving the Yankees, then love this time is saying goodbye.
The Yanks can use the first 19 games after the break – all against sub-.500 teams, all before the July 31 deadline – to give themselves more time to decide their status. But if they are this disappointing, rudder-less team that believes Rodriguez is leaving anyway after this season, then it is time to sell, first Rodriguez on the idea of a trade and then Rodriguez to the highest bidder.