Alex Rodriguez’s slow start is getting attention

Alex Rodriguez has started out slowly. He’s 3-for-22 with a homer and eight strikeouts. No one buries a player for a slow first week -- or at least no one should -- but Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York would like to remind us of A-Rod’s slow start:

Just imagine if this were a year ago. If Alex Rodriguez began the season with only three hits in 22 at-bats. If his average were only .136 after a week of the schedule had passed. If he were still perceived as an MLB outcast, there would be cries to cut him, that he can’t play without the juice and probably countless other accusations.

Marchand goes on to say “Let’s be clear: No one here is drawing an early broad stroke . . .” but he is TOTALLY doing that. Or at the very least making up for the fact that he couldn’t make such a broad stroke last season when everyone on the planet was waiting to pounce and never got the chance to.

I don’t know if A-Rod is done and if this year will be a lost one for him. He’s 40, and 40-year-olds who play super well aren’t terribly common. But I do know that “40 year-old can’t hit anymore” will be a way bigger story if and when it happens to Rodriguez, because some people really want to be able to write that it has happened to Rodriguez. Indeed, they wanted to do it last year.