Rodón shades Giants fans, endears himself to the Bronx faithful

The New York Yankees in 2023 are the AL East and the the second-biggest favorite to win the World Series. Yes, expectations are high for this team, but that’s nothing new. When a brand as iconic as the Yankees doesn’t live up to it Lofty season goals, fans going crazy. Despite being a consistently above-average team, solid regular season wins aren’t enough to satisfy those living in the Bronx these days. No, those people like Denzel in Washington Remember the Titansthey demand perfection in all aspects of the game, day in and day outand Sun Who.

Rodón knows this – and probably endeared himself to the fan base in an interview NJ Advance Media Bob Klapisch.

In interviewRodón said: “The fans [in New York] they want to win. They are interested. They really care about them.” He expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to play with a fan base that holds him accountable when he plays poorly, unlike the teams he played for in the past. “Giants fans are an investment, but not like they are in New York,” Rodón asserted. “Win or lose, you’re not going to get booed in San Francisco.

“There was just something about the Yankees,” he added.

The way Rodón frames this statement, it sounds like he’s calling Yankees fans a great fan base, and from the Yankees’ responses fans online, fans are proud to be thought of in this light.

Bronx cheers

Here’s the thing though. I don’t blame them. The Yankees have a reputation winning. They have a reputation a big expense. They have a reputation to win at great expense. Big spending should lead to victory. If that doesn’t happen, I’d be mad too. I’m not a Yankee fan, but the expectations that come with landing a huge contract lead to a litany of taunts and boos everywhere you go.

Everyone knows the Oakland A’s don’t like to spend money. Well, there were times when they bypassed that expectation. The most notable example in recent memory was in 2009 when Ak upset everyone trade for Colorado slugger Matt Holliday. The Aks owed Holliday $13.5 million that year, the highest ever payroll and more than double the team’s third-highest paid player.

Well, if you look back at Holliday’s short time in Oakland, most people consider it a failure. People say he “struggled hard” with the A’s. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the swing. He didn’t live up to his salary. Well, with those claims in mind, what do you think of Holliday’s A numbers? How terrible can they be?

The truth is, they weren’t. Of course, those numbers aren’t what Holliday became known for, but in 93 games with Oakland, Holliday still hit eleven home runs, drove in 54 runs, and had a triple slash of .286/.378/.454, good for .831 OPS and 120 OPS-plus. In a ballpark as expansive as Oakland’s, those are all very solid numbers. Throughout the 2009 season, Holliday was still tied for fourth among Aks in WAR on the season, tied for third in home runs, and led the team in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. He was definitely more successful in Oakland than people think.

San Fran fans are passionate, too

It seems a little disrespectful for Rodón to say that the fans in San Francisco weren’t as invested as he would have liked. Sure, the Giants had just finished a 107-win season, the best record in MLB, but even the most die-hard Giants fans knew the season was magical and unlikely to happen again, especially with the absence of Buster Posey and Kevin Gausman and the injuries to guys like Anthony DeSclafani. No one expected that Brandon Crawford would repeat his career in 2021 at the age of 34.

Of course, Rodón was paid the most of any player on the team, but he not only met expectations, he exceeded them, finishing sixth in the NL Cy Young voting. Yes, the team may not have reached 100 wins again, but why would you expect them to boo you for doing a damn good job on the mound?

Retired southpaw Barry Zito wrote in his book about his time in San Francisco: “In the bad games, they pitched more aggressively than they did in my worst games in Oakland. Although I had some great years across the bay, I had no credibility in front of the San Francisco fans and had to earn every cheer.”

This was before the Giants won any of the post-2000 races World Series titles. The reputation of winning wasn’t there yet, and yet the expectations and price for Zito drew a much bigger reaction from Giants fans. And that’s to be expected. Even Giants broadcaster Microphone Krukow admitted that Rodón’s comments were partly true, claiming that while East Coast teams treat their players like children, San Francisco treats them like grandchildren. That doesn’t mean love and investment aren’t it’s just offered in a different way there, and I wholeheartedly believe that the money spent plays a big part in that.

Let me put it this way. If you run a company, would you be more upset about the small part of said company that isn’t performing at the level you’d like, or the big division that you just threw a bunch of money into that you’re now getting into? thousands of dollars? Chances are the latter. The more you invest in something, the more reality sinks into it, and no one likes to invest in their team more than the New York Yankees (historically, the Mets have recently grabbed that distinction).

Yes, Rodon, Yankees the fans will be more invested in your success than the Giants were fans. This fan base expects to win and they haven’t done so in years. They’re angry and you’re the guy to push them over the edge. Even though they are expected to win the AL East, that won’t be good enough. Unlike San Francisco, where he was only supposed to trade Gausman, he’s now expected to be worth the money the Yankees gave you — aka the fourth most among American League pitchers, and one of the three in front of you is Shohei Ohtani. Obviously, the fans will be more invested. Don’t pretend it’s not about money and fame.