With the struggles of Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez during a now-rebuilding New York Yankees team, the front office faces a difficult circumstance.
Thanks to the latest roster makeover courtesy of the genius general manager Brian Cashman, the New York Yankees have a colorful future that will feature the newest core of potential Yankees’ superstars.
Sure we can expect a dip in attendance and some ghastly baseball may come our way from now until season’s end, but any fan with half a brain can understand how much it will be worth it.
This rebuild, although against the standard business model of the Steinbrenner family, should not come to an end just yet.
Why? Because you have two past-their-prime and non-producing veterans clogging up roster spots that could easily be occupied by an encouraging rookie on the rise.
Not only should Cashman venture to deal 32-year old Brian McCann at the waiver deadline on August 31, but he desperately needs to show 41-year old Alex Rodriguez and 36-year old Mark Teixeira the door in order to make the rebuild statement as clear and unforgiving as it gets.
SEE ALSO: A-Rod Would Be “OK” If Released
Maybe if they were producing at a high level – like their 2015 selves – their names would have popped up in trade rumors prior to Monday’s trade deadline but their output has been nowhere near even a subpar level here in 2016.
To add insult to injury, while some people want these two out of the Bronx, they don’t realize that the A-Rod and Teixeira we used to know have been finished for nearly a year now.
Through play on August 2 of 2015, the middle-of-the-order duo had a combined for 53 home runs with a consolidated batting average of .272 as New York led the American League by six games.
Through play on that same date this season, the now-decrepit sluggers own a mere 18 home runs and are both batting well below their listed body weight – which is downright appalling.
If they were producing at the same rate they were when the Bombers busted a two-year playoff absence, they would not only be being glorified instead of vilified by the fan base but their team might be on top if the division. However, that’s not the case, and here we are now.
This is not saying that A-Rod and Teixeira’s tenure in pinstripes are now a colossal failure because, in all honesty, the organization wouldn’t be able to call themselves the “27-time World Champion New York Yankees” without their presence.
What Rodriguez did during his years here separates him from the average player that puts on the uniform and Teixeira ranks 17 in franchise history with 200 home runs while giving the Bombers a gold-glove caliber first baseman for seven years.
Their tenures should be respected to an incredible degree but they are not in any way shape or form in the organization’s future.
The Yankees, for the first time in contemporary memory, became sellers and traded away their biggest assets in Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, and Carlos Beltran which immediately shifted the focus towards that same future that looks so very bright.
Therefore it makes absolutely no sense to hold into A-Rod or Teixeira until season’s end. When teams become sellers, the next immediate action is to rid the team of dead weight while devoting a surplus of playing time to the core of the future. As I mentioned, the aged superstars are not part of that future.
After all, watching them grapple through a lost season is just getting exhausting to watch. Hal Steinbrenner needs to put an end to the A-Rod and Teixeira era in New York.
And after calling up top catching prospect Gary Sanchez and the expected arrivals of guys like Tyler Austin or Aaron Judge, the time couldn’t be more perfect.
RELATED: Sanchez’s Promotion Is Long Overdue
Money does come into play as a problematic situation but if you remember correctly, the Los Angeles Dodgers dismissed the contract of the underachieving Carl Crawford a year ago while eating nearly $34.6 million of his remaining contract.
Yes, Crawford’s overall contract was $100-million less than that of Rodriguez but the 41-year old is a high-priced roadblock in Cashman’s wish to play the youngsters who are knocking on the door at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Teixeria, however, still offers his golden glove but at this point in the year – which is too late for a playoff push – the organization would rather see utility man Rob Refsnyder continue to get his feet when at a foreign position. After all, his future to the Yankees could be compared to a Ben Zobrist-like athlete.
The only thing A-Rod offers, though, is a $21-million dollar mentor for the deserving youngsters that ought to take his place on the 25-man roster. That is more than he’s offering now, though. Which is jack-squat.