If only George Steinbrenner were still alive.
At some point, the nonsensical chain-pulling will end and the New York Yankees and Alex Rodriguez will realize they’re stuck with each other. The demands for apologies and the resulting petulant responses, the subtle and not-too-subtle attempts at spinning messages … none of them will be enough to overcome the harsh reality of three years and $61 million. Guaranteed.
The truth is that once the Yankees players report for spring training, the organizations best-case scenario is no longer pretending that there is a chance that their disgraced slugger somehow disappears into the ether. It’s that Rodriguez can contribute in some manner to a team that has as much of a chance of finishing last in the American League East as finishing first.
Honestly? At this point, it’s just best for everybody that Rodriguez get on the field.
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Tuesday’s latest twist was a written apology to Yankees fans in which Rodriguez said he “takes full responsibility” for the “mistakes” that led to his suspension and actions that “made the situation worse than it needed to be,” without actually saying he used performance enhancing drugs.
Rather, Rodriguez’s statement notes that: “I served the longest suspension in the history of the league for PED use.” Big difference from saying “I did it … I’m sorry.”
The Yankees, of course, said that they wanted Rodriguez to address the matter at a news conference at Yankee Stadium this week, allowing the business of spring training to begin with the least amount of possible disruption – which seems logical from a neutral point of view.
Rodriguez, who was suspended for 162 games due to evidence that suggested he had not only procured PEDs from a Florida anti-aging clinic but also interfered into an investigation into the matter, has already apologized to Yankees ownership and management and attempted to make peace with new baseball commissioner Rob Manfred.
It’s an attempt to at least start turning the page publicly, leaving it to the lawyers to work out the messy legal issue of what to do with the bonuses in a side marketing agreement between the team and Rodriguez that more threatens to be the thorn in everyone’s side, moreso than Rodriguez’s contract.
It’s easy to paint Rodriguez as the culprit, here, but shed no tears for the Yankees, either. They are among the most aggressive teams in baseball when it comes to raising revenue from memories, whether it’s dirt – Steiner Sports, the Yankees official memorabilia merchandiser, will sell you a variety of plaques, coasters and other items with a little patch of game-used dirt for anywhere between $24.99 and $129.99 and infamously put Derek Jeter game-used (but washed) socks on the market for $410 last year – and when the Yankees entered this marketing agreement with Rodriguez at the same time as they signed him to a 10-year, $275-million deal in 2007, you’d think one of the executives or lawyers in the room might have piped up and said: “You know, there’s all this steroid stuff out there. Maybe we ought to cover our ass.”
Or, at least noted that the ultimate record Rodriguez was pursuing would likely be tainted to begin with, since Barry Bonds was dogged by steroid allegations just a few months earlier when he finally capped off his despondent assault on Hank Aaron’s career mark.
But the Yankees – bless them – decided it was more important to control the use of Rodriguez’s name and image in the likely event he took a run at the overall record. Some might see that as prudent management and maybe even quality control; but viewed from another angle it looks like institutional greed.
It’s time to take it out to the field. Really. Understand that there will still be moments of low drama; such as when Rodriguez addresses reporters “informally” in a crowded spring training clubhouse because the organization has told him he can’t use a special tent set aside for formal press gatherings at the team’s George M. Steinbrenner spring training site in Tampa; his first appearance in a Grapefruit League game; his first strikeout; the first close called third strike – at home and on the road. That’s spring training then. All that’s left is the small matter of the regular season.
There’s no place to run or hide, and the sooner that’s realized, the better it will be for both sides. You can debate legalities and choose one side over the other, but there’s no debating that there is mutual culpability.