re: How good was Alex Rodriguez in his early 20's?

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People thought he was going to shatter Hank Aaron's record.

(Don't come in here and say it's Bonds' record cause it's not)

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Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, I don't care who you want to consider, he still might break the record and he very likely would have broken the record if he doesn't get a one-year ban in 2014.

In 2010 he was still considered practically a lock to smash the record. He's had 82 HRs in the 6 years since, but he was sitting at 613 HRs, 34 years old, and hadn't hit fewer than 30 HRs in a season since 1998.

Baseball in the 90s was tGOAT

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A-Rod was a much better SS than Jeter. If Jeter was the "team first" kinda guy that the NY press fellated him for, he would have moved to 2nd and let A-Rod play SS.

No doubt A-Rod was a weird dude but I almost rooted for him the way the a-hole Yankee fans and NY press treated him.

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Totally agree, and I say that as a Yankees fan.

I don't particularly like or root for A-Rod, but I also don't find him this deplorable monster that baseball fans and media have turned him into.

He was stuck on terrible Rangers teams and had watched the 2003 ALCS and wanted to play meaningful baseball in September and October. He actually wanted to sign with the Red Sox but the players union torpedoed the deal because it would've meant he was taking less money.

From Wikipedia:

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Following the 2003 season, Texas set out to move Rodriguez and his expensive contract. The Rangers initially agreed to a trade with the Boston Red Sox, but the Major League Baseball Players Association vetoed the deal because it called for a voluntary reduction in salary by Rodriguez.

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Let's not forget that he was arguably the best player and undoubtedly the best shortstop in the league but volunteered to move to third base despite being much better defensively than Jeter.

If people want to crush him for being sort of a weird phony and being this rehearsed robot in interviews, that's fine, but can you blame him when you take into account the fact he's spent over a decade getting blasted by the New York media? He didn't ask for the Mantle/Maris dynamic with Jeter.

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I know ARod and Nomar were juicing

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I would think if Nomar was juicing he would have stayed healthier, injuries cut his career short

Just watch manny machado now. Spitting image