I didn’t get a chance to squawk this morning — I had real-life stuff to take care of — so this afternoon, I was trying to think of a fresh angle on the Yankees-Red Sox and Yankees-A-Rod feuds for when I did get to write.
My thoughts on last night’s game
Obviously I was disgusted at Ryan Dempster for him hitting Rodriguez and was happy to see A-Rod get his revenge, complete with him pulling a classic heel move by imitating David Ortiz’s double finger point at home plate after Alex’s home run. (Thanks to my Facebook friend Alan for pointing that out!) And how about Joe Girardi flipping out with the umpire? The postgame was over the top, too, with Girardi comparing Dempster to “My Cousin Vinny” and A-Rod saying that he was the last one to talk about suspensions, but he could recommend. And of course it was the best Yankee game of the year, by far.
But anyhow, when I was on my ferry ride home, I was thinking about the big feud between A-Rod vs. MLB and the Yankees, and I came up with what I was going to write about. One of my brothers and I were talking about the whole to-do, including MLB’s silly “Today Show” stunt, and I brought up what Curt Schilling said last night in the broadcast, about how ballplayers may think twice before choosing to sign with New York after the way this was going down. Keep in mind that Schilling hates A-Rod, and would have no reason to say anything in his defense. But what Schilling said is exactly what I have said before — there could be real repercussions if the Bronx Zoo is seen to be open again for business. (Incidentally, Schilling said on Colin Cowherd today that he said that he felt bad that A-Rod got hit by Dempster, and worse for Rodriguez that the Yanks didn’t retaliate by hitting a Red Sox! Very interesting!)
What the Yanks have to lose
Anyhow, I also said to my brother that hat I thought that A-Rod had nothing to lose by going after the Yankees and MLB here, since his name was already mud. Not to mention that they are kind of proving his point that they are out to get him, what with all their negative talk and shenanigans.
On the other hand, the team — and MLB — have a lot to lose by getting in the mud with Rodriguez. If there case is so strong, why all the leaks? Why don’t they just say “no comment” and let the process play out?
So I was formulating my squawk in my head, but when I got home, I saw that ESPN’s Wally Matthews, of all people, beat me to the punch and said virtually everything I was thinking and more in this column!
He goes through all the ways that MLB and the Yanks could be damaged with this, calls it a “witch hunt,” and asks things like “What if A-Rod’s medical records do show that he was suffering from a hip injury during the playoffs last year?” (Incidentally, we already know Cashman is playing fast and loose on that story. He claims now that Rodriguez never said that he was hurt during the playoffs. Then why did the team do an MRI on him then, Bri?)
Anyhow, Matthews writes:
Is it really worth it to baseball to expose its dark side in order to make an example out of Alex Rodriguez? Is it really worth it to the Yankees, a franchise worth more than $2 billion, to try to get out of paying him $86 million.
We know that lawyers bluster all the time. It is what they do for a living. But what if Rodriguez’s side does have even a fraction of the evidence it claims to have against MLB and the Yankees?
You took the words right out of my mouth, Wally. And that’s unsanitary!
Anyhow, I would like to see the media actually, you know, investigate A-Rod’s lawyers claims, and see if they are true. Imagine that!
Squawker Jon, who apparently is on a summer squawking sabbatical, pointed that Tacopina deliberately said that George Steinbrenner would be “horrified” with what was going on as part of his long game, to get media people to write about how Steinbrenner indeed did similar shenanigans, and put that in people’s minds. Hmmmm!
Anyhow, I don’t know what the Yanks and MLB are thinking here. If their case is so persuasive against Rodriguez, then why don’t they just take the high road and let this play out?
Granted, all of A-Rod’s charges don’t disprove the charges that he took PEDs. But if his people are able to prove shenanigans in acquiring that evidence, or other Yankee mayhem, who knows what will happen?
I did see that Cashman was whining about how all this is a distraction keeping him from doing the rest of his job. Oh, please. You make $3 million a year, dude — learn to multitask!
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