Officials from the Yankees, Commissioners Office and Players Association will negotiate behind the scenes in the coming weeks to dissuade Alex Rodriguez from attending spring training, as the suspended player has vowed he will.
But each entity will tread lightly. None wants to give the Rodriguez gang reasons to sue further — that includes the union, which is, indeed, braced for the possibility of being taken to court by one of its members. None wants to provide ammunition — real or imagined — for A-Rod to further his victimization agenda: Look, they won’t even let me attend spring training, which is my right.
The lone group that can stop the distraction and circus that would accompany A-Rod to George M. Steinbrenner Field without giving Rodriguez a legal or public relations foothold is the one that would be most affected by that distraction and circus — the Yankees players.
Players have become more emboldened in recent years to make statements against those who have used illegal performance enhancers. But those criticisms have been made generally or against an opposing player — like Ryan Dempster toward A-Rod last year.
But if Yankees players really don’t want to endure the unwanted tension and attention from having A-Rod in their midst, then it is going to be up to them to make a stand. They could point out to Rodriguez how publicly unified they were in backing him in 2009, through his teary confessional press conference — judge me from this day forward, indeed — and his redemption tour. And also how supportive the clubhouse remained last year when Rodriguez was immersed and ultimately suspended for his involvement with Biogenesis.
In those circumstances, however, Rodriguez was coming back to play once his surgically repaired body allowed. In this case, Rodriguez is not playing in 2014. He would be coming to prepare for, well, what? This would be about tweaking MLB and/or the Yankees while making sure to avoid what he dreads so much — irrelevancy.
But in so doing, Rodriguez would be taking away coaching time and attention, swings in the cage, reps in the field from a contingent actually trying to ready for a championship run. And worse, he would be a daily disturbance to the group.
Rodriguez dominates a room — his needs, his ego, his controversies. When he is a great player who will play, that can be tolerated as the price for having him on the payroll. But when he is not eligible to play, that is asking the rest of the Yankees to endure an unnecessary complication at the outset of a long, challenging season. Imagine having a suspended player who is suing his team and his sport in your midst and having questions directed at you daily about that. It is an emotional anvil slamming regularly in the middle of the clubhouse.
Last season, Rodriguez incubated himself in the support of his teammates. He referred persistently to his “brothers.” Was that real or just another self-serving sound bite? Because if these were his real brothers, then Rodriguez would not step foot near that complex in February, would recognize and honor the need for tranquility as the transition away from Cano, Rivera and Pettitte to Beltran, Ellsbury and McCann was being enacted.
That is what a good brother would do.
And is there a Yankee to lead him in that direction? The most obvious is Derek Jeter, the captain and senior Yankee and the current definition of baseball gravitas. It is not in Jeter’s playbook to make public pronouncements, especially when they veer into the confrontational or controversial. But he certainly could reach out to A-Rod privately, make his wishes and explanations known. And if Rodriguez persisted in attending anyway, then air his desires.
At this point, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira have enough time in New York and enough stature in the game to serve as lieutenants to Jeter, especially since they were staunch allies of Rodriguez’s rights as recently as last year. Brian McCann was brought here for leadership qualities and it might be too quick to jump into a pool this deep, but he had no trouble confronting non-teammates Jose Fernandez and Carlos Gomez on the field for behavior he perceived detrimental to the good of the game, so here is another chance.
Look, if Rodriguez is able to get a court injunction that at least opens the possibilities he could play in 2014, then head to Tampa. But that is viewed as a long shot. Thus, if his next chance to play in the majors is not until 2015, his next spring training should not be until then either, and the group most positioned to defend that idea without significant ramifications is the one that will get the most benefits from Rodriguez’s absence this spring — his once and possibly future teammates.
Release doesn’t make (dollars and) cents
Although he is suspended from playing in 2014, Alex Rodriguez still will be tested for performance enhancing drugs and, in fact, has additional tests because he now has a drug violation. The tests are unannounced and Rodriguez has to be available to take them. If he fails a test or is unavailable, Rodriguez would face further sanctions.
Which is why it is folly to suggest the Yankees should just release A-Rod now and eat the $61 million he is owed from 2015-17. After all, if Rodriguez were to be banned from more games or face further penalties for other reasons (he does run risks suing the commissioner and potentially being insubordinate to the Yankees), they may be able to get out of even more of his contract.
Would a do-over be worth risk?
Rodriguez now has lost so much of what matters to him — adoration, legitimacy, chances at records, the Hall of Fame.
Yet if we gave him a chance to start over again and never touch a PED and try to succeed as a clean player or to accept his career with all the stains as is, I wonder which he would take. Because greed also is central to the Rodriguez psyche. And if you believe A-Rod has been a dirty player throughout his career then, at some level, crime certainly has paid.
For Rodriguez has made $353.4 million in his career with $61 million still awaiting him from 2015-17 even with the 2014 suspension and loss of salary. The next-highest earner ever is Derek Jeter at $253 million.
Would Rodriguez risk that much money to prove he could earn it back without ever touching an illegal substance? If he were clean, at least he would not have to spend so much on lawyers, private investigators and crisis managers.