Mike Lupica, in last Sunday's Daily News, came up with a very intriguing suggestion:
"The Yankees are going to need a centerfielder next season, and sometimes I think they should have A-Rod go out there over the winter and catch about a million fly balls and see if he can do the job.
"He can run, he can throw, he'd be playing a position even more glamorous than the one he gave up to play here.
"See, no matter what Alex Rodriguez says, and he says all the right things, I don't think he loves playing third.
"I think he wakes up every morning and still thinks of himself as a shortstop.
"Because he wasn't just any shortstop before he got that new piece of real estate to Derek Jeter's right.
"He was on his way to having the kind of career that would have had people calling him the best shortstop of all time.
"Then he voluntarily gave it up to get himself out of last place.
"This week he temporarily ended up in last place with the Yankees.
"It's kind of ironic, if you think about it."
I wholeheartedly endorse the idea, but it probably makes too much sense to ever happen. If it did, though, Hideki Matsui (if he's re-signed) would move back to left field, Eric Duncan—a minor league third baseman—would be brought up to play (imagine!) third base, and the Yanks' centerfield problem would be solved until 2012 or so.
|