OT: Could Alex Rodriguez qualify for Comeback Player of the Year?

[conor912]

Depends on if there's standards for what you're coming back FROM.....

[baseball tourist]

It would be a travesty to award it or anything to him.

[oldjudge]

He has done everything right this year and, as of now, is absolutely the comeback player of the year.

[iwantitiwinit]

Comeback PED user of the year. In my opinion he remains on the juice, no reason to think he's off them. Hmmm a 40 year old hits a 452 foot home run that seems vaguely familiar to someone else playing in the early 2000's. Get serious, he has lied about PED use at least twice, he was unable to stay off them after having been caught using them the first time. He makes me sick and I refuse to attend a Yankee game while he is on the active roster. Went to 25+ games last year and none this year, its a travesty.

Remember this:?

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/3811116/

And this:?

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/ml...le3578762.html


Come on get real. Prediction, there will be a third scandal before the end of 2016.

[Jim65]

I know it doesn't always work this way but liars and cheaters should never be rewarded.

[egbeachley]

Cashing out the last few years of his contract is more important to production for A-Rod. He is not on PEDa but he did benefit from the year off. Essentially that's what PEDd do, they efficiently repair your body - like having a year off.

Who else would be in the running? Bryce Harper?

[Rich Klein]

There are no restrictions on who is eligible for that award (or MVP or Cy Young, etc). The proper question is, do you believe because of the PED past, is what he is doing in 2015 worthy of this award.

[Vintageclout]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

He has done everything right this year and, as of now, is absolutely the comeback player of the year.

+1! He served his penalty which was more severe than any of the other PED users and has seemingly walked a straight line since. Considering that hitting a baseball at a major league level is arguably the toughest task in sports, his performance this year (after missing a full season at the age of 39) is nothing short of miraculous.

[darwinbulldog]

The impression I came away with from reading "The Education of Alex Rodriguez" was not so much that he's a narcissist (cf. Donald Trump, Kanye West) as that he just has low intelligence. I don't mean that in a flippant "Man, what an idiot! How could he act that way?" sense; I just mean literally he seems to have a lower IQ than all the people around him, and he's just trying to follow everyone's advice because he knows they're smarter than he is. That's actually the same thing I've heard about Shoeless Joe. I don't think either of them is particularly heroic, or even brave, and the word tragic is overused, but I think for both men their situation is sad and is more understandable in light of appreciating what it would be like to be in the spotlight and being constantly worried that everyone is on the verge of recognizing that you have this embarrassing flaw. So what do you do? You latch on to the people around you and say the things they tell you to say or the things you've heard them say (This is why he only speaks in cliches. He lacks the aptitude to conceive of anything clever to say on his own.) and act the way they tell you to act ("Hey, Alex, why don't you kiss that mirror? That would make a great picture.") or the way you've seen them act.

There's a reason that in the more serious case of the death penalty there is an IQ cutoff (70 here in Florida). A-Rod's clearly not in that range, but I'd be surprised if his IQ was above 85. That's not particularly unusual; it just means he's in the bottom sixth of the population. I don't see anything untoward about expecting people who in fact are smarter to be able to act smarter. I don't think A-Rod is a bad person. He's a great baseball player, he cheated, he was punished, and he's doing the right things now. I agree with the sentiment of allowing someone to move on with his life after he has done his time.

The answer to the original question is yes.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Whose example was Alex emulating when he blatantly cheated by slapping the ball out of Arroyo's hand and then pretending he hadn't?

[conor912]

Originally Posted by darwinbulldog

The impression I came away with from reading "The Education of Alex Rodriguez" was not so much that he's a narcissist (cf. Donald Trump, Kanye West) as that he just has low intelligence. I don't mean that in a flippant "Man, what an idiot! How could he act that way?" sense; I just mean literally he seems to have a lower IQ than all the people around him, and he's just trying to follow everyone's advice because he knows they're smarter than he is. That's actually the same thing I've heard about Shoeless Joe. I don't think either of them is particularly heroic, or even brave, and the word tragic is overused, but I think for both men their situation is sad and is more understandable in light of appreciating what it would be like to be in the spotlight and being constantly worried that everyone is on the verge of recognizing that you have this embarrassing flaw. So what do you do? You latch on to the people around you and say the things they tell you to say or the things you've heard them say (This is why he only speaks in cliches. He lacks the aptitude to conceive of anything clever to say on his own.) and act the way they tell you to act ("Hey, Alex, why don't you kiss that mirror? That would make a great picture.") or the way you've seen them act.

There's a reason that in the more serious case of the death penalty there is an IQ cutoff (70 here in Florida). A-Rod's clearly not in that range, but I'd be surprised if his IQ was above 85. That's not particularly unusual; it just means he's in the bottom sixth of the population. I don't see anything untoward about expecting people who in fact are smarter to be able to act smarter. I don't think A-Rod is a bad person. He's a great baseball player, he cheated, he was punished, and he's doing the right things now. I agree with the sentiment of allowing someone to move on with his life after he has done his time.

The answer to the original question is yes.

I don't think its a secret he's not bright, but this is an interesting theory, nonetheless.