It’s the middle of the major league baseball season. The 2007 All Star Game is now
history. And A-Rod’s contract with New York Yankees is up for renewal.
The sports pundits and millions of fans are now speculating
as to whether he will remain in pinstripes or decide to depart from The Big Apple.
A lot of air time, print media space and energy is being spent on trying to
figure out what will happen with this remarkable player.
In my view, it is pretty easy to predict what the future holds for this super star.
There are several, logical and predictable scenarios.
If the Yankees do well and make it to the playoffs, and if Rodriguez plays
well, the Yankees will, in all likelihood, sign him to a long term mega deal.
The fans and public will perceive him as a hero and I believe he will want to
stay in
record in
and Dimaggio.
If the Yankees do poorly the second half of the season and fail to
make the playoffs, A-Rod will depart and sign with another team, possibly
The
has not been valuable to the team and the franchise will probably choose
to spend their money on several quality pitchers which they desperately
need.
Also, if this happens, Joe Torre will be gone and the Yankees will field
a team with perhaps six or seven new players next year. It is very unlikely that
Kyle Farnsworth, Jason Giambi, Luis Vizciano will return for another season.
If the Yankees play in the postseason and Rodriguez performs
poorly, they will not renew his contract. The baseball public and the powers that be will
label him as a great hitter who could not perform under playoff pressure in
Some will refer to him a player who chokes and can not hit when it really counts.
At times, A-Rod has seemed somewhat unhappy and discontent in
and it is possible that he and his wife might be much happier playing in
a more forgiving environment. The intense limelight that focuses on the
the New York Yankees may not be quite right even for his future member of the
Baseball Hall Of Fame.
Jay P. Granat, Ph.D is a Psychotherapist in River Edge, NJ. I write
extensively on sports and sport psychology. I am the founder of www.StayInTheZone.com