Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Alex Rodriguez: The Greatest Shortstop Who Ever Lived




Today, Alex Rodriguez announced that he'll be retiring after the 2017 season. And a small minority of us, who don't buy the Bud Selig smear campaign known as "MAGIC PILLS AND NEEDLES," are left to enjoy the last of one of the all-time greats, who will never be truly appreciated by the general  public.

A-Rod is the greatest shortstop of all-time. You can argue Jeter but you'll be wrong. You can argue Ripken and be wrong.

And that's not discounting the greatness of Ripken and Jeter. Jeter's a top 5 offensive shortstop, and Ripken's in the top 3 of all-around shortstops, but none of them can hold a candle to the legend of Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez.

Alex Rodriguez could track any ball that ran through the 6 or 5.5 hole, and then he'd still have the time to stop on a dime and deliver a strike to his first baseman. He had power to all fields and even had tremendous baserunning ability that allowed him to join the 40-40 club as a 22-year-old. And he did all those things, playing the hardest position on the diamond.

He was the best all-around player in the game, and it wasn't even close. That was until the 2004 season when the Texas Rangers traded him to the New York Yankees. George Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman, and co. made the wrong decision to keep Derek Jeter at shortstop and move the greatest shortstop of all-time to third base, which would prove to cut down the value of the game's best player and cost the Yankees many wins and probably championships. It was this move that allowed the Boston Red Sox to break the Curse of the Bambino and create "Red Sox Nation."

One of these days, I'm going to write an alternate history on this event and try to dive into what would've happened if A-Rod was placed at shortstop and Derek Jeter would've moved to left field or third. That's for another day, though.

Many of you reading this are probably baffled that any one man could be better than Derek Jeter with the way the mainstream media (ESPN and that ilk) have built up Derek Jeter to an impossible standard. Well, the truth is, Derek Jeter was AT-BEST, a league average, defensive shortstop, who had below average range and an average arm to boot. Some of the defensive metrics used during the late 90s and early 2000s weren't as sophisticated as the ones we do today, but let's compare shortstop Derek Jeter vs shortstop Alex Rodriguez.

Here are the Alex Rodriguez's defensive numbers as a shortstop.

Year Tm Lg Age Pos ▾ G GS CG Inn Rtot RF/9 lgRF9 Awards
2003 TEX AL 27 SS 158 158 136 1369.2 8 4.54 4.54 AS,MVP-1,GG,SS
2002 TEX AL 26 SS 162 160 139 1390.2 1 4.73 4.56 AS,MVP-2,GG,SS
2001 TEX AL 25 SS 161 161 143 1395.1 -9 4.72 4.49 AS,MVP-6,SS
2000 SEA AL 24 SS 148 148 134 1285.0 16 4.77 4.71 AS,MVP-3,SS
1999 SEA AL 23 SS 129 129 113 1114.2 -5 4.80 4.73 MVP-15,SS
1998 SEA AL 22 SS 160 160 151 1389.1 8 4.62 4.71 AS,MVP-9,SS
1997 SEA AL 21 SS 140 140 133 1233.2 -5 4.40 4.55 AS
1996 SEA AL 20 SS 146 145 137 1267.2 8 4.56 4.66 AS,MVP-2,SS
12 Seasons SS 1272 1256 1133 10938.0 18 4.62 4.62
11 Seasons 3B 1193 1181 1020 10235.2 -42 2.48 2.69
15 Seasons DH 241 239
1 Season 1B 2 1 1 9.2 15.83 9.12
21 Seasons TOT 2467 2438 2154 21183.1 -24 3.60 3.69
Generated 3/23/2016.

Here are Derek Jeter's statistics up to his age 27 season.


Year Tm Lg Age Pos ▾ G GS CG Inn Rtot RF/9 lgRF9 Awards
2001 NYY AL 27 SS 150 150 133 1312.1 -17 3.81 4.49 AS,MVP-10
2000 NYY AL 26 SS 148 148 136 1278.2 -23 4.12 4.71 AS,MVP-10
1999 NYY AL 25 SS 158 158 154 1395.2 -11 4.00 4.73 AS,MVP-6
1998 NYY AL 24 SS 148 148 140 1304.2 2 4.25 4.71 AS,MVP-3
1997 NYY AL 23 SS 159 159 151 1417.0 -3 4.45 4.55 MVP-24
1996 NYY AL 22 SS 157 156 149 1370.2 -14 4.52 4.66 RoY-1
20 Seasons SS 2674 2660 2412 23225.2 -182 4.04 4.51
10 Seasons DH 73 73
20 Seasons TOT 2674 2660 2412 23225.2 -182 4.04 4.51
Generated 3/23/2016.

All of this may look like Russian to many of you, so I'll break it down. The main categories that you should be looking at are the three categories that read, "Rtot," "RF/9," and "lgRF9." These are a lot simpler than they appear. Rtot measures the amount of runs the player gave up or saved during that season. If an Rtot is above 0, that means the player is above average, if it's below 0, that player is below average. RF/9 measures a number of balls a player can get to, known as the range factor, quite simply this column measures the range of a player based on the sum of assists and putouts the player was able to secure. The "lgRF9," indicates the league average Range Factor in that particular season. The higher the number for range factor, the better the player's range is.

And as you can see, Alex Rodriguez not only beats Jeter quite easily but Jeter never even sniffed a league average range, not even in the prime of his career.

If many of you out there reading this are allergic to numbers or something, let me ask you something. When you saw Derek Jeter make that "jump throw," that was so overplayed by the media, did you ever think, maybe he was making the play look more difficult than it really was? The truth is, Derek Jeter was only making that play because he simply didn't have the range to be a good shortstop. While Jeter was making jump throws, Alex Rodriguez was getting to those balls relatively easily and making the out minus the theatrics that Jeter needed to add. For what it's worth, Ozzie Smith, arguably the greatest defensive shortstop of all-time, finished with a career Range Factor of 5.22.

Just for the sake of experiment, let's look at Cal Ripken Jr.'s numbers through his age 27 season.


Year Tm Lg Age Pos ▾ G GS CG Inn Rtot RF/9 lgRF9 Awards
1988 BAL AL 27 SS 161 161 159 1409.0 -6 4.88 4.69 AS
1987 BAL AL 26 SS 162 162 160 1430.2 0 4.53 4.59 AS
1986 BAL AL 25 SS 162 162 162 1436.2 16 4.52 4.53 AS,SS
1985 BAL AL 24 SS 161 161 161 1427.1 0 4.79 4.64 AS,MVP-17,SS
1984 BAL AL 23 SS 162 162 162 1439.1 23 5.50 4.75 AS,MVP-27,SS
1983 BAL AL 22 SS 162 162 162 1452.1 11 4.99 4.75 AS,MVP-1,SS
17 Seasons SS 2302 2291 2204 20232.0 176 4.73 4.69
8 Seasons 3B 675 667 554 5726.2 5 2.67 2.68
3 Seasons DH 25 24
21 Seasons TOT 2977 2958 2758 25958.2 181 4.27 4.25
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/23/2016.

Now these figures are much better to look at; Ripken's a much better comparison to A-Rod on the defensive side of the ball. While, A-Rod smokes both Jeter and Ripken in the batter's box and on the basepaths.

You all know about the greatness of Alex Rodriguez at the plate, and many of you are probably yelling about magic pills to the point of no return. And the same people who are blasting A-Rod because it appears to be a standard line of thought, are also the same people that want David Ortiz (who also tested positive for PED's) in the Hall of Fame. Just because the media has decided to make A-Rod the whipping boy for magic pills and not Big Papi. Stop being naive; your worldview would come crashing down if Ripken, Jeter, or Piazza admitted steroid use. The fact that Alex Rodriguez stood higher than all at his position at that time in baseball history is truly incredible, so let's just leave it at that. And honestly, steroids have been known to hamper your ability to play shortstop, yet during the years he was roiding, his defensive play was at its peak value.

Now for stuff outside the game. Sure, Alex Rodriguez has done many bad things off the field, but he's no different from the all-time greats who were far from saints themselves. And that's why I don't care about what players do off the field. As long as they stay out of prison, which A-Rod has never gone to before and by the way, currently, MLB suspends a player more for PED's than throwing a baseball at a player's head (but that's another matter). And for those of you saying that he's greedy for getting the highest paid contract in baseball history, just listen to yourselves. You're blaming a player who wants compensation for his value? You would've done the same thing. Baseball has had a history of collusion (see the 1980s and now with qualifying offers), that have done everything to keep salaries down and to maintain the owners' high ground. Isn't it funny how wages have pretty much stayed the same since A-Rod first signed that deal in 2002? Well, guess who's responsible for that.




Nobody loves the magic pill theory more than this guy. That narrative has made sure that the players never sniff any of the high revenues that MLB continues to receive each national and regional television deal they sign.

Let's not underestimate who Alex Rodriguez was. Think about the last baseball player featured in a Nike Commercial. A-Rod was in the last one I can remember. That just tells you how the marketing of baseball players has been non-existent since A-Rod. While the NBA and the NFL have successfully marketed their stars time and time again, MLB has dropped the ball.

I'll leave you with a few highlight clips.

Here's my favorite A-Rod homer. Off El Duque's eephus pitch.


Another one of my favorite A-Rod moments, where he embarrasses Ryan Dempster for his nonsense.


From 1997, where he hit for the cycle at Tiger Stadium.



Now let's hope that the last two years of A-Rod's career bring more great moments.

------ Wes


Follow me on Twitter @WesMillsRadio

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