TAMPA – Alex Rodriguez confirmed yesterday what everybody has known for years: The relationship between Rodriguez and Derek Jeter has grown icicles.
Skin tight before Rodriguez slapped Jeter in a 2001 Esquire article, the superstars drifted apart. No more dinners. No more nights at the China Club. No more standing around talking as their Mariners and Yankees teammates fought. That didn’t change when Rodriguez landed next to Jeter in the Yankees’ infield.
For six years they danced around questions about their relationship. After taking a physical at Legends Field, Rodriguez yanked the plug on the music.
“We were the best of friends, 10, 13, 14 years ago and we still get along well. We have a good working relationship,” said Rodriguez, who dropped 12 pounds and shaved his body fat from 16 percent to 7 percent. “I cheer very hard for him and he cheers hard for me. And most importantly we are both trying to win a world championship and we will leave it right there.”
Of course, Rodriguez knew the topic wasn’t going to morph into questions about reaching 500 homers (he needs 36) or having Andy Pettitte as a teammate. There were queries about him opting out of the final three years of his contract but Rodriguez understood when he put Jeter in play nothing else came close.
Why did Rodriguez choose yesterday, 24 hours before the first full-squad Yankee workout, to be frank about his relationship with Jeter?
“I think it’s important to cut the bull. It is what it is,” Rodriguez said. “I think when you get into all the BS, people start assuming things are a lot worse than they are, which they are not. Obviously they aren’t as great as they used to be, which we were like blood brothers.”
While Rodriguez was talking in the first base dugout, Jeter was taking a physical. By the time Rodriguez was done opening an emotional vein, Jeter departed from the ballpark. Today, Jeter will be begged for a response to Rodriguez’s words and don’t expect Jeter to be as deep as Rodriguez because it’s a topic Jeter enjoys as much as swallowing phlegm.
“The reality is that there has been a change in the relationship and hopefully we can put it behind us,” Rodriguez said. “You sleep over somebody’s house five days a week and now you aren’t sleeping over.”
Jeter was criticized last summer for not coming to Rodriguez’s defense when Rodriguez was drowning in a sea of Yankee Stadium boos. According to Rodriguez, he didn’t need Jeter’s support last year and won’t this season.
“Absolutely not,” Rodriguez said. “I am a big boy. I am 31 and I should be able to help myself out there.”
For the first time since Joe Torre dropped Rodriguez into the eighth spot for Game 4 of the ALDS against the Tigers, Rodriguez addressed the move.
“I wasn’t excited about it,” said Rodriguez, who expects to hit in the middle of the card. “For me it was very disappointing to see my name there. Again, it’s not my job to judge or even have an opinion on that. Personally, I didn’t like it but I have to look at myself in that mirror and say, ‘What the hell did I do to get myself in the situation?’ I never once questioned Joe. I have to look at myself in the mirror. Yes, I was embarrassed.”