Will A-Rod and Mark Teixeira get along as Yankee teammates? Peter Gammons says no

Would-be president of Red Sox Nation Peter Gammons caused some controversy this weekend with his comments on Boston radio station WEEI about the Mark Teixeira signing. He said:

As you probably remember, there was a lot of testiness between Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira when they played in Texas together . . . and I don’t think Alex really cares about communicating with other players, we know [that] from Derek Jeter.

Actually, I never heard anything about the two of them having “testiness” in their one year together, when Mark was a rookie. The one issue between them was this, according to the New York Post:

Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees that offseason, and told ESPN Magazine he never would have signed with Texas if someone had said, “‘Alex, it’s going to be you and 24 kids.’ Never. For no amount of money.”

And Teixeira was openly offended by the comment, and said so in the media at the time.

However, I think Gammons is blowing up one argument from five years ago into a whole to-do. He seems openly bitter about the Yankees’ Teixeira signing. And given that Gammons is supposed to be objective in his capacity at ESPN, that’s a bit much. Take a look at what else he said on that radio show:

Teixeira is Scott Boras’s ultimate client, and he’s very well-programmed . . . The Red Sox didn’t know it, and in the end there was nothing they could do about it. He wanted to go to the Yankees, his wife doesn’t like Boston — apparently she doesn’t like the stores on Newbury Street or something — and in the end that’s the way it goes.

I know Gammons is well-respected around the game, but he shouldn’t be well-respected for comments like these. He previously compared Boras to Sirhan Sirhan’s lawyer, which was over the top.

And now he suggests that Teixeira is a robot, and that his wife is a vapid, shallow woman who chose New York over Boston because of the shopping. I’d like to hear the sourcing on that tidbit about how “apparently she doesn’t like the stores on Newbury Street or something.” It’s a cheap shot, and Gammons should apologize for it.

Do you think A-Rod and Mark Teixeira will get along? And what do you think of Peter Gammons? Leave us a comment!