By Geoff Walter / SNY.tv

 

Time flies doesn't it? No, that isn't a clock & window joke. But it is the one-year anniversary of this column, an entire 12 months that you've spent with your beloved Ref. We've been through a lot together, my maniacal message board miscreants, so I thought it only appropriate to take the DeLorean back to the beginning, the very first column. The feature was at first designed to rule on the most controversial and burning questions of the day, and put on the just-born message boards in order to stir some activity. Back then, your humble zebra only graced you with his presence Monday mornings (what a way to start a week), there was no cartoon (it was added the following week), and the posts were a bit more lengthy and presented both sides of the coin.

 

That very first column was on one Alex Rodriguez and if the Yankees should trade their third baseman after being ousted in the opening round of the playoffs to the Tigers. I won't bore you with the details, but not a lot has changed in 365 days, except A-Rod now wants to opt out of his contract and hope for a bigger paycheck. He's said that Torre leaving gives him a lot of reason to pack his bags as well, but I don't believe him there, especially when it's coming out of the mouth of super-agent Scott Boras. Rodriguez was never a Torre-era player. Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neil, et. al -- they were Torre-era players. If A-Rod really was committed to staying in New York, he would have told Boras to make it happen, and not let his agent do the talking for him.

Basically, the Yankees are in a bind right now. First, this season would have been lost if not for A-Rod's bat. Mr. May kept the Yankees afloat long enough to make it to October, where the future home run king subsequently (and not surprisingly) sputtered out. On the other hand, $300-plus million is way too high a price to pay, especially when the postseason is the only one that counts in New York. If A-Rod wants to keep playing in pinstripes for $300 million or less, I say let him. If not, go sign Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell and use the rest of that astronomical sum to go out and start getting some young pitching talent to develop into aces. That would truly be money well spent.

Wanna argue with the Ref? Don't like the call? Go ahead and make your own!