WHY JOE GIRARDI IS COUNTING ON AROD

So Yankees manager Joe Girardi took out his crystal ball at Spring training in Tampa the other day. Among the many topics Girardi addressed was the return of a healthy Alex Rodriguez this Spring. Bleeding Yankee Blue had addressed this earlier this month in a piece titled WILL ALEX RODRIGUEZ BE VINTAGE ALEX IN 2012? We were waiting for Girardi to say something and he did, HERE. Here hare his quotes to the press:

"He’s had the whole off season to get ready and not feel like he has to catch up and get into playing shape... To me, that’s one of the reasons I think it’s important that we do keep him fresh and he feels good on his legs all the time.
I expect him to put up a big season."

Look, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this was Joe Girardi speaking to Alex through the press. Make no mistake, I am sure ARod saw and heard what his manager had to say loud and clear. It's not like Girardi is calling out Alex or anything like that, but I do think the Yankee Skipper was conveying a message that the Yankee brass want to be sure Alex knows it's expected of him to perform big time in 2012.

Personally think that a healthy ARod this year has the potential to put up another MVP season...and by that I mean this:

.312 Batting Avg. - 38 HR's -- 131 RBI

I'm not going to sit here and tell you he needs to bat .350 with 50 home runs, to be honest, I am not sure those days exist anymore, but a .312 season does... 38 homers IS possible, you know what I mean? Let's hope that Joe Girardi and I shop at the same crystal ball shop!

Keep it hear for all your Yankee news and be sure to #BYB on Twitter.

--Mikey Blue, BYB Senior Writer
Email: DonnieBaseball2323@gmail.com
Twitter: @MikeyBlu23

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