Alex Rodriguez: 30 + 30 = 747. What then?

Alex Rodriguez hit 33 home runs (HR) in 2015. This despite turning 40 on July 27 and being suspended for the entire 2014 season. His contract includes both the 2016 and 2017 seasons after which Rodriguez will probably, but not definitely, retire. Rodriguez displayed characteristic ambivalence a few days ago in discussing it with media people. Rodriguez will be paid $21 million in each of the next two seasons. There's also that $30 million marketing agreement between Rodriguez and the Yankees for HR milestones reached. There is disagreement between the parties over whether that is still valid after the finding that resulted in the suspension of Rodriguez for 2014.

Rk	Player	HR	From	To	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos	Tm
1	Barry Bonds	762	1986	2007	21-42	2986	12606	9847	2227	2935	601	77	1996	2558	688	1539	106	4	91	165	514	141	.298	.444	.607	1.051	*78H/D9	PIT-SFG
2	Hank Aaron	755	1954	1976	20-42	3298	13941	12364	2174	3771	624	98	2297	1402	293	1383	32	21	121	328	240	73	.305	.374	.555	.928	*9873DH/45	MLN-ATL-MIL
3	Babe Ruth	714	1914	1935	19-40	2504	10622	8399	2174	2873	506	136	2214	2062		1330	43	113		2	123	117	.342	.474	.690	1.164	97/H381	BOS-NYY-BSN
4	Alex Rodriguez	687	1994	2015	18-39	2719	11964	10341	2002	3070	541	31	2055	1324	97	2220	175	16	108	257	326	76	.297	.382	.554	.937	65D/H3	SEA-TEX-NYY
5	Willie Mays	660	1951	1973	20-42	2992	12496	10881	2062	3283	523	140	1903	1464	192	1526	44	13	91	251	338	103	.302	.384	.557	.941	*8H/39675	NYG-SFG-NYM

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/27/2016.

Those 33 HR enabled Rodriguez to pass Willie Mays in 2015. Only 13 more and Rodriguez will reach 700. 28 HR in 2016 will put Rodriguez past Babe Ruth.

But what if Rodriguez hits 30 in 2016 and then another 30 in 2017? That would have seemed ludicrous one year ago, that Rodriguez might hit 30 HR in each of the three remaining years on what was then seen as an onerous contract. Now it still seems difficult but not impossible.

Let's say that Rodriguez does that and is sitting at 747 HR after his contract expires following the 2017 season. It takes two to tango. If Rodriguez is still healthy, is there any doubt that he would want to play another season and go for the record that had seemingly been taken away from him by commissioner Allan Huber "Bud" Selig and his master prosecutor and successor Rob Manfred, the A-Rod Slayer? And what of the Yankees? Wouldn't Rodriguez be sufficiently rehabilitated by then to be offered another contract, this one for a single year?

And how would baseball fans view all this? That Rodriguez is a cheating usurper who deserves nothing? Or that despite all, it's really amazing that Rodriguez could still break the record, that the one year suspension had cleansed Rodriguez and made up for whatever advantage Rodriguez might have gained by cheating?

We fans don't have much sense when it comes to home runs. We still consider totals way more than we should. Even something as basic as opportunities are overlooked. Rodriguez has almost 2,000 more at bats (AB) than Babe Ruth and 494 more than Barry Bonds. If Rodriguez passes Bonds, Rodriguez will probably have these additional AB:
2016 550
2017 550
2018 400

That's another 1,500 AB plus the almost 500 more Rodriguez already has. It would equal about 2,000 more AB than Bonds. So if Rodriguez sets the record, what will that prove?