Honestly, I didn’t want to do it. I’ve been fighting this urge all week. I even went so far as to sketch out some ideas for other things to write about.

But no, this column has to be about A-Rod.

I’m conflicted for simple reasons, really. The attitude of George Steinbrenner, who believes that six years without a championship is far too long, magnified by the media that goes along with the idea. Drumming up hype about how many heads will have to roll belittles the situation so many other teams face. The Cubs have been waiting for a championship since 1908, the Indians since 1948, and the Giants since 1954.

Why six years is too long for New York I’ll never be able to comprehend, though I certainly do understand the frustrations over the team with the highest payroll in baseball exiting the postseason so meekly. But it is baseball, and these things happen. In a sport where you can be paid millions of dollars for getting a hit in three of 10 tries, everyone is going to go cold occasionally.

Which is exactly why I’m praying Alex Rodriguez is traded this offseason.

How did the Yankees fans, players and management do it? Somehow, they’ve turned A-Rod from national villain to hero-in-waiting. Rodriguez was the athlete most associated with the word “overpaid.” He perpetrated that ridiculous running slap to knock the ball from Bronson Arroyo’s glove in the 2004 ALCS. He’s always carried the perceived stigma of being a phony with the media. Supporting evidence for this notion came with his identity crisis prior to the World Baseball Classic when he couldn't decide whether to play for the Dominican Republic or U.S.

Moreover, he was playing for the Yankees. Through no real fault of his own, he was suddenly linked to the so-called “Evil Empire” and one of its most characteristically “evil” acts. The trade that sent him to New York added yet another star caliber player to a lineup that was brimming with them, the final straw for many on the “Yankee-hater” fence.

And so, A-Rod became a villain, standing for everything Yankee-haters despise: the clean-cut image; the money he receives as a Gold Glove shortstop to play third base; the seemingly disingenuous indecision on which of his cultural identities he would champion in the Classic. But then the most amazing thing happened — New Yorkers themselves decided to vilify him.

As the capstone to George Steinbrenner’s recent strategy of reconstructing Murderer’s Row with overpriced clean-up hitters (namely: Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield), Rodriguez took the blame when the Yankees and that offense sputtered. New York fans and media jumped all over him. One disastrous playoff series against the Tigers later, and A-Rod is poised to be the sacrifice offered up to a rabid fan base.

And here’s where things get interesting: If Rodriguez becomes a villain in New York, then he’s a hero for Yankee-haters everywhere, assuming he makes the Yankees pay after he’s traded. Any success he has — every time he drives in a game-winning run, breaks another record or helps beat the Yankees head-to-head — the New York brass and Boss will look idiotic. And nothing would please the anti-New York crowd more.

So please Brian Cashman, find some sucker out there willing to take a future Hall of Famer and former MVP off your hands. Steinbrenner, you may need to pressure your GM into it, given that Rodriguez is still in his prime. And all you delusional Yankee fans and media types: Be sure to keep up your demands that he simply must be moved. After all, 14 bad plate appearances this year and a few more before that must be indicative of a player’s overall worth. Ignore the fact that as recently as the 2004 ALDS, A-Rod was carrying your team through the postseason.

And send him to some team where a World Series will mean more than the first in six years. Maybe, if we’re all really lucky, it can even be some team that will someday face the Yankees in a game that matters, and Rodriguez can try for a little payback. But that doesn’t need to happen for A-Rod to be a hero.

All he needs to do to outdo the Yankees is do what they said he couldn’t: win.

Denis Griffin is probably hoping the Giants can replace a washed-up, broken-down Barry Bonds with another overpaid hitter. Email him at djgriff@stanford.edu.