Marc Malusis: Alex Rodriguez has a legitimate shot at AL MVP

Alex Rodriguez, 2015 American League MVP.

Let that sit there for a while and marinate.

He is having that kind of season. Now I may be getting ahead of myself right now, but his impact on the Yankees is unquestioned. He is not the best player in the game, that honor goes to Mike Trout, who is 17yearsyounger.

Trout is 23-years-old and Rodriguez will turn 40 tomorrow. Think about that, Trout is 17 years younger than Rodriguez and they are having comparable seasons. That is amazing when you think about it. It will also raise the eyebrows of some and question if Rodriguez is doing it clean. After all, he has never failed a drug test under the MLB testing policy.

But while you have every right to call into question the legitimacy of his 2015 season,I can have the opinion that he is doing it on the level.

As Rodriguez has admitted, during the year away he found Alex Rodriguez once again. I think his season has more to do with the health of his hips and the fact that he is not playing the field and is a permanent DH than anything else.

Heading into Sunday’s action against the Twins Alex Rodriguez is hitting .277 with 23 HR and 58 RBI with a .914 OPS. He has had an MVP caliber season. I can’t believe I am writing that a year after he served a year-long suspension from Major League Baseball for PED use.

The Yankees are sitting in 1^stplace in the AL East due in large part to the performances of Alex Rodriguez and Mark Texiera. They are two players that Yankees fans had given up on coming into the year. Both have had remarkable seasons up until this point.

If you had told me before the start of the season that Rodriguez would be having this kind of season, I would have thought you were crazy. He has performed and has kept his name out of the headlines and has let his bat do the talking. In a year without Derek Jeter, he has become the face of the Yankees and had a signature moment on Saturday night when he hit 3 homers to help the Yankees rally back against the Twins.

Manager Joe Griardi called it maybe the Yankees best win of the year.

After the game, Rodriguez said, “I’m healthy, I’m happy, I’m appreciating everything the game has to offer.”

Girardi added, “He’s been a guy that’s been productive all year. He’s been very impressive.”

He certainly has been impressive and as he continues to try and change everyone’s perception of him as a player and a man, he learned from a year away. He learned that he neededbaseball more than baseball needed him. He has been a different player in 2015. He has allowed his bat to do the talking as he looks for the love and admiration of the fans in the Bronx and the baseball community. He has made giant strides forward and I look forward to watching how this story ends.

We are a forgiving society. Rodriguez has hit like anMVP and if the Yankees are to make it to the postseason, they will need him to continue to produce. I think he will.