New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has been receiving a lot of negative attention lately, which I don't agree with.  Yes, he makes an obscene amount of money, much more than anyone else on the team.  This year, he's pulling in $25,680,727.  That's more money than I could even dream of. 

New York fans are intense.  They expect their players to come through in the clutch, something Rodriguez has had trouble with.  Every time he makes an error, the New York fans question his commitment, his concentration, his desire to win.  They think he's too soft, too much of a nice guy.

But when he knocked the ball out of Kevin Millar's glove in the playoffs, he got criticized for being too mean, for cheating.  Can he do anything right?

Lets look at his stats for a moment.  They can hardly be described as poor.  In 407 at bats he's had 115 hits, 17 doubles, 1 triple, 23 home runs, 80 RBIs, and a batting average of .283.  That is very respectable.  The only place I can fault him?  His 18 errors this season.  In his first year at third base (he was originally a short stop, before switching in 2004) he had 13 errors.  Last year, he had 12.  But he also had 24 errors in 1997 while playing short stop for the Seattle Mariners, so how can you really complain now?

But don't just listen to me.  Eric Neel's article over on ESPN says everything perfectly, and it's way more in-depth.  Check it out by clicking the link.