To Met fans salivating at the idea of Alex Rodriguez coming to Flushing this offseason, hold your horses. A-Rod yesterday did a calculated moonwalk backwards from last week’s comment that he was willing to be traded. If it happens, he says, he doesn’t expect it to be anytime soon.
Last Wednesday’s editions of the USA Today quoted him as saying, “I’m hoping with all my heart that we turn this around. But at some point, if we don’t turn it around, I’ll definitely be having a conversation with our owner. If he feels he has a better chance of winning without me, then I’d [discuss it].”
When the media descended on him the next day, A-Rod amended his comments to say, “If the Rangers found they could be better off without me, whether now or a year or two down the road, I’d be willing to sit down and talk.”
And that was the story he was sticking to last night at the Stadium.
“[Writer] Jon [Saraceno] did a good job quoting me. I was quoted perfectly: I said in two, three years if we haven’t moved in the direction we all want, then we’ll sit down and talk. But that’s two or three years away,” Rodriguez said. “I’m very happy in Texas. I don’t think I said anything bad.”
If not bad, at least tantalizing. And, two days before the trading deadline but with the Rangers finally playing a little better with their youngsters, it came at an odd time.
“I turned 28 and I feel older. The clock is ticking; I’m in my third year in Texas,” Rodriguez said. “But my sense of optimism is looking at those young players. I said [in] two or three years we’ll sit down and talk; we’re still a long way from that.”
And if two or three years becomes this offseason? Rodriguez, appearances to the contrary, claims he’s not looking for a way out of the Rangers’ rebuilding youth movement.
“I hope not. I can’t answer for Tom [Hicks, CEO],” Rodriguez said. “Ultimately it’s going to be Tom’s decision, as well as John [Hart, GM] and Buck [Showalter, manager]. I just hope that’s not the case.”
The deadline came and went without the Mets acquiring the star shortstop and his $252 million contract. But the news had Flushing fans drooling at the prospect of the Mets sincerely pursuing him this offseason. The club’s recent trading spree has left them enough financial flexibility to become buyers instead of sellers this offseason.
The last time Rodriguez was on the market in 2000, then-GM Steve Phillips derided him as a “24-plus-one” player. Will interim GM Jim Duquette take the same view? And will A-Rod forgive it?
“The Mets are my favorite team in the NL,” A-Rod said. “I watched every game growing up. When Jesse Orosco made that last out, I jumped from the bed, hit the roof and landed on the floor. It’s the happiest day of my life. There are absolutely no hard feelings. It’s just funny how that whole thing worked out.”