Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
The appeal for New York Yankees’ third baseman, Alex Rodriguez, against his 211-game suspension became official today, and the arbitrator will most likely not make a decision on the hearing until the offseason. This indicates that A-Rod will be able to play for the remainder of the season, so the Yankees could have a full-time player at third, which has had as many players take the field at the hot corner as there are positions available on the diamond.
The production from Yankees third basemen has been a merry-go-round of woeful performances. Now that A-Rod should be a fixture there, if he stays healthy, the question is, will he make a difference? In the two games he’s played, one starting at third and one DH-ing, he is 2-6, both hits being singles.
The small sample size is what it is, but it’s his outs that have said the most to me. He’s hit two balls on the nose, and one was a fly-out to the warning track and the other was a line drive to center, both resulting in outs. In the past, they would both be for extra-base hits. Now, off the juice and with his advanced age, I can’t see him putting up any power numbers that would affect a team that has struggled hitting for extra bases all season.
It was comical last year how the Yankees would score the majority of their runs on the long ball, and it was a known fact that they would have to play small ball this year to make a dent on the scoreboard. But now, looking at the desolate box score after Yankees’ games, it would be nice to see some of those homers like last year. But Rodriguez will not be the solution for these problems and the Yankees struggles will ultimately continue.
