Throw That Idea Out The Window

I saw that my favorite player, Frank Thomas, hit 3 home runs tonight to give him 512 for his career. I wanted to check where that ranked him on the all-time home run list and I stubled upon the most outrageous thing ever. (By the way Frank now is in a tie for 18th with Ernie Banks and Eddie Matthews, but this is not about him, he only led me to the evidence).

I know that Alex Rodriguez is on pace to blow away what is now Barry Bonds' career home run record, but I always thought that Albert Pujols was on pace to blow away Alex Rodriguez, I found out that I am horribly mistaken this evening. While scrolling through the home run list I can across the 27-year-old Pujols in 136th place with 281 career home runs. Alex Rodriguez is in 17th place with 516. Rodriguez is only 31. Some quick math shows that for Pujols to catch A-Rod he has to average (yes, average) 58 home runs a year for the next four years. That is just to get to 516 at the same age as A-Rod. I think Pujols is a tremedous hitter, but there is no way he can do that considering he has yet to hit 50 in a season, let alone four in a row. Four consecutive 50 homer seasons has only been done by Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire and we all assume they had a bit of help.

I don't think we realize how great Alex Rodriguez really is. He gets so much crap for not having won a championship, but he's only 31. He's got a good five years of his prime to get a title and rack up more ridiculous nubmers. Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's record at 43 years of age. If he maintains his current pace Alex Rodriguez will hit his 763rd home run (one more than Bonds has right this second) halfway through the 2013 season, making Rodriguez between 36 and 37 years old. Say Bonds plays one more year and hits about the same as he did this year (mid-20's), A-Rod breaks the record in 2014 assuming he maintains his current pace. Imagine if he played until he was 43 or 44 like Bonds. 900 becomes a realistic number. Scott Boras, his agent, hinted he thought Rodriguez would hit 1000 home runs, Boras might wind up being right.