It’s not fair, but that’s what selling yourself as the greatest ballplayer who ever lived and coming to town with all that money gets you. Players never think of that end of the bargain when they’re demanding an emperor’s ransom as free agents. The never stop to realize that when you make that much and make such claims, the fans are going to expect you to live up to the hype and the numbers on your paycheck.

If he were making $10 million or even $15 million, the fans wouldn’t care. For the Yankees, that’s just a bit over the average paycheck. But he’s making $25 million, and if he’s going to make $7 million a year more than Jeter, he better be $7 million better than the most popular Yankee since Don Mattingly.

It’s become impossible. He’s blamed for playoff losses. He’s blamed for regular-season losses. He’s blamed for global warming and three-bucks-a-gallon gasoline. He’s in a nose-dive that a person with his mental make-up isn’t going to pull out of.

Even Michael Kay, the Yankees YES Network broadcaster, is talking on his ESPN Radio show about moving A-Rod. What makes that significant is that when Kay starts criticizing players, it’s not just with the approval of George Steinbrenner, but sometimes at the Boss’ direction.

In Chicago, there’s speculation that the Cubs, who need to do something to revive interest in this lost  season, might be interested in him and would be willing to part with Aramis Ramirez to get him. They’d probably throw in Greg Maddux, too, and the Yankees are so desperate for a bat and any pitcher who can go five innings while holding the opposition to six runs, they might go for that deal.

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It’s really up to A-Rod. He’s got a no-trade clause, and he keeps saying he wants to make it work in New York. But this can’t be fun, and, given the chance to start over with a clean slate somewhere else, he may be persuaded to see the benefits of getting out of town on his own before the fans chase him out.

He really doesn’t have much of a choice. He can go somewhere where the demands aren’t as high and the fans friendlier, the sort of place in which he’s always thrived. Or he can continue being Ed Whitson.

I know which option I’d take.

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