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Same Old A-Rod?: Alex Rodriguez’s Doctor Controversy Angers Yankees

March 5, 2010   ·     ·   Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees

This is supposed to be the new Alex Rodriguez—the clean one who no longer has any connection with steroids, the one with the giant gorilla off his back, and the one who no longer cares about numbers, just winning.

Then why are the Yankees pissed off at him? Bob Raissman of the NY Daily News tells you why :

“Certain members of the Yankees high command are very, very angry with Alex Rodriguez.

“No one likes being deceived, especially these suits. They are furious over A-Rod hanging them out to dry, not immediately informing them he had been contacted by the FBI to testify in a matter concerning Anthony Galea, the Canadian doctor linked to the importing of illegal drugs.

“‘They (Yankees brass) don’t like being blindsided,’ said a TV industry source who deals with the Yankees and YES. ‘If Rodriguez isn’t protecting the organization paying him a fortune, why should the organization go out of its way to protect him?’

[snip]

“‘At first they (Yankees execs) thought the media was blowing this up (out of proportion),’ an MLB source said. ‘Then they found out he (Rodriguez) is being called in (by the FBI) to testify and this was coming directly from the feds. Thanks to Alex, the Yankees were caught off guard.’

“Now, there is concern over this FBI situation—and where it will lead. Whenever players are called to testify under oath, there’s always the risk they can get caught up in perjury charges, as was the case with Barry Bonds and Miguel Tejada. There’s also concern that A-Rod may be backsliding into his days of scandal and turmoil.

“‘They (Yankee officials) are concerned this stuff is going to start happening all over again,’ the source said. ‘They are not happy. He’s been in camp, what, a week? First he gets in the papers for his Maybach thing (fender bender). Then comes this FBI thing. They’re wishing he would have stayed with Kate Hudson.'”

 

Thoughts

The heart of this problem seems to stem from the fact that A-Rod needed to have all doctors that he dealt with in any way be approved by the Yankees. Now not only have they found out that one of the doctors that saw him, however briefly, was not only not approved, he also has connections to illegal substances, and A-Rod gave them no warning that another problem was brewing.

They probably have a right to be upset, but doing it publicly, as Raissman suggests they’ve done in other parts of his article, even subtly, is not going to help the situation.

Also, despite the change in A-Rod that everyone, myself included, has talked about, it might have been a bit overblown. Sure, he seems to have learned to keep his foot out of his mouth lately, but being the big power guy he is, with his huge contract, and playing in New York—he’s always going to be a lightning rod. To expect him to be totally controversy-free is just not realistic.

To me, it seems like the best thing for the Yankees to do would be to keep this entire thing as quietly as they can instead of playing petty games with the most public arm of the organization—the YES Network—because whether they like it or not, the ink is dried on the 10-year deal they gave him.

This won’t be his final controversy. No matter how much we talk about change, he’s still got that lightning-rod quality about him.

 

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readers comments
  1. george on July 30th, 2014 5:33 am

    .

    thanks for information!!…





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