I'll start my article with a thank you. Thank you, Alex Rodriguez, for your invaluable contribution the 2009 World Series championship. Without you, there would only be 26 Series banners flying over Yankee Stadium right now. Your place in New York's history books is written in stone. Now that we've established that, this is the point where the congeniality ceases and the straight talk begins. Alex Rodriguez and his steroid abusing ways is a curse on the House that Ruth built. His homers, MVPs, and other meaningless records are a petty stain on the afore mentioned history books.
On Monday, Tim Elfrink of the Miami New Times reported that Alex Rodriguez is allegedly one of several Major League players to purchase performance enhancing drugs such as human growth hormone, testosterone, and anabolic steroids from Miami-based physician Anthony Bosch. Elfrink cites a spreadsheet obtained from former employees of the clinic for which Bosch worked that recorded sales transactions of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). In addition to Rodriguez, the spreadsheet mentions Washington Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera, Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz, and others. Through his public relation agent, Rodriguez denied the allegation, stating he had never been treated by Bosch and that the documents are not legitimate.
Man, this feels like deja vu, doesn’t it? In December 2007 Rodriguez, denied allegations by former slugger Jose Canseco that he had used PEDs. He told Katie Couric on 60 minutes that he had never used steroids, yet 14 months later when confronted with a report from Sports Illustrated of failed drug tests he offered a mea culpa. He stated he used PEDs for 3 years from 2001-2003 due to pressure he felt from signing his historic 10 year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers. Two months later he held a dog-and-pony-show new conference at spring training where he blamed “only himself” in that way that people do when they realize they have no other options. Considering his past denials, A-Rod will need some pretty compelling evidence this time around to prove to baseball fans that he did not juice. There is no goodwill left in the well. Yankees fans have been criticized in the past for being too harsh on their teams’ players and A-Rod is the person cited the most in those criticisms. Is it right to boo someone just because they’re in a 2-for-28 slump? No. But when that person is earning receiving $26 million…$26 million that he conned out of the team by using PEDs despite bold-faced denials to the contrary…that’s a different story.
A-Rod has five more seasons left on this monstrosity of a contract. Unfortunately for us, neither it nor A-Rod will go away any time soon. Sure, we won’t see much of him for at least the first half of his season while he recovers from hip surgery, but anyone hoping this will usher the mighty Rodriguez out the door is mistaken. And the presence of that contract is going to force Yankee brass to make some tough decisions this winter when and for the next three winters to follow. If they are serious about reducing payroll below $189 million for 2014, sacrifices will have to be made. Granderson? Almost certainly gone. There’s no conceivable way the Yankees can afford to give him the raise he can demand as a free agent this winter. And, more tragically, I think the same can be said for Robinson Cano. He who is represented by Scott Boras and feels like he’s been playing for New York at a discount these past few years will not be offering the Yankees a discount. He could have been the next Yankee great, and yet next year I think he’ll be playing for someone else. You have A-Rod’s contract to thank for that. The $26 million owed to Rodriguez in 2014 could have gone to Cano, and therein lies the real tragedy. The cost of Rodriguez's contract is not measured by dollars and cents; it's measured by history pages that may never be written and some that we may end up regretting.
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