Alex Rodriguez’s feud with the New York Yankees’ upper management has escalated following controversial comments made by the third-baseman’s lawyer in a story published in the New York Times on Saturday.
Joseph Tacopina, Rodriguez’s new lawyer, accused the Yankees of withholding information regarding the severity of the third baseman’s injuries during the 2012 playoffs in hopes he would be unable to play again and to nullify his lucrative contract.
“They rolled him out there like an invalid and made him look like he was finished as a ballplayer,” Tacopina told the Times.
Tacopina also alleged Yankees president Randy Levine had told Dr. Bryan T. Kelly, who was set to operate on Rodriguez’s hip in January, “I don’t ever want to see him on the field again.”
Tacopina said Kelly told Rodriguez that Levine’s comment “wasn’t a joke” when Rodriguez asked the doctor.
“They did things and acted in a way that is downright terrifying,” Tacopina said about the Yankees.
Rodriguez declined to address the topic on Saturday.
“I’d rather not get into that,” he said. “I think there is a time and a place for all of that, and that time is not right now.”
According to the Times, Kelly, through a lawyer, would not confirm that the statements were made.
Levine vehemently denied Tacopina’s allegations, and later told ESPN that with Rodriguez’s permission the Yankees would release all of his medical records dating back to 2009 to refute Tacopina’s allegations.
Levine added that transcripts of phone calls between him and Kelly would back him up and would release those transcripts with Rodriguez’s permission.
Tacopina said “very damaging” e-mails between Levine and Rodriguez, along with recordings and affidavits gathered by Rodriguez’s advisers, will help Rodriguez in his suspension appeal hearing.
He also told ESPN the MLB acted like “thugs” during its investigation.
“They are threatening people if they don’t speak to MLB; they will refer them to law enforcement,” Tacopina told ESPN. “A lawyer can’t do that. That is what Major League Baseball lawyers have done here, telling witnesses that they will expose them to the media if they don’t speak to them. We have a videotape of MLB investigators flashing badges into a gated community to try and find a witness. That is illegal. Why they are acting the way they are acting, I don’t know. Why do they think it is OK to tell mom and dad that, ‘We’re sorry Mr. (Anthony) Bosch injected your minor, your son with narcotics, controlled substances? We are going to tell the federal prosecutors that he has been a really good guy that he helped us get some baseball players so you shouldn’t prosecute him.’ That’s the deal that they made with this guy.”
Tacopina’s allegations came a day after 60 Minutes reported members of Rodriguez’s inner circle leaked documents to Yahoo! Sports that implicated Ryan Braun and other players in using performance-enhancing drugs. Rodriguez’s former lawyer, David Cornwell, denied the allegations.