Alex Rodriguez spoke to reporters after he hit a home run in a rehab game last night. And here is Sally Jenkin’s Washington Post column on Rodriguez vs. Selg:
Selig and A-Rod’s attorneys are discussing a “settlement” according to reports. A settlement? The word is an apt description of how this commissioner operates: What’s most important to him is not the health of players but the health of revenues. Last year Selig bragged on the “Mike & Mike” radio show, “I said to the owners, ‘Look, guys, in the end you can judge me by asset values. Because in the end, that is really the sum total of everything we do.’ ”
A-Rod is the perfect defendant for a show trial. He is despised alike by spittle-flecked hecklers behind the plate who scream at him for not hitting in the clutch and by solemn self-appointed keepers of the emerald chessboard’s sanctity for admitting four years ago to PED use during a three-year stretch with Texas from 2001 to 2003. He’s an incurably self-conscious phony who incredibly still insists he’s “a role model,” an awkwardly hapless stumbler who is always getting caught, whether frequenting a shady clinic or letting Cameron Diaz feed him popcorn on camera like Cleopatra taking grapes from a love slave. He is a tone-deaf egotist who never understood the deep resentment he engendered by being baseball’s highest paid player and then not producing astronomic numbers. The reaction to him by fans and critics has always been excessive to the point of disturbing. My friend Joe Posnanski wrote maybe the truest thing ever about A-Rod and his audience: He gives them “guilt-free hate.”
Meanwhile, the Yanks are still in San Diego.
Never mind the hubbub:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Stephen Shore]
Alex Rodriguez just talked himself out of a possible settlement with Major League Baseball and faces a 214-game suspension to be handed down on Monday, the Daily News has learned.
Following Rodriguez’s explosive comments after Friday night’s minor league rehab game in Trenton in which Rodriguez basically said Major League Baseball and the Yankees were conspiring to keep him off the field in order to void his contract, MLB officials have rejected Rodriguez’s request to negotiate a suspension settlement, a baseball source familiar with the situation said.
According to the source, Players Association chief Michael Weiner reached out to MLB on behalf of Rodriguez Saturday morning in an attempt to talk settlement but was told that baseball is no longer interested in negotiating with the disgraced third baseman.
“They asked for a meeting this morning and were told ‘no,’” said the source. “Baseball is more than comfortable with what they have.”
...
The most substantive offer Rodriguez’s camp has come up with in previous discussions with MLB and the Players Association, according to sources, was for an 80- to 100-game suspension and Rodriguez’s promise to then retire. “The only problem with that,” said one source, “is that they wanted him to retire and get paid his remaining contract -- a paid vacation, in other words.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/mlb-talking-ready-ban-a-rod-latest-outburst-article-1.1416810
Sally Jenkins is corrupt and unethical. Shit is worth more than anything she writes. She made millions off her books on her sociopath bully cheating best fried Lance Armstrong. She stood by hearing and seeing no evil as he ruined the reputations and livelihoods of anyone who confronted his cheating. She viciously attacked USADA because it was taking down her personal banker, Armstrong. Before that she defended Marion Jones who too never had a "positive" test and let's not forget her repulsive Joe Paterno article. Jenkins makes Lupica look like a saint which is says it all.
I will say that I love the short memories of sports reporters. They used to despise Barry Bonds and fawn over Alex because he was going the one to break the home run record and it would "real." Now they have all turned on Alex like rabid dogs; they never liked him, he was always a phony. RME. Give me a break.
"As far as all the legal stuff, to me it's been confusing," Rodriguez said. "The one thing I've gotten from so many people, so many fans, some teammates, they're like, 'What is going on?' "
[2] Well said. We gots to be more selective with whom we follow. Alex be pretty good today!
Bac to Alex. He has been dealing with adviser after adviser since he was a babe. Remember, Warren and someone from Goldman had something to do with his resigning. He talks with some superior women, like Madonna, who is beautiful and smart. He works with countless people, men and women, I might assume, who have vocabularies, knowledge and smarts. Playing the dumb one doesn't suit him or us.
Looking forward to seeing the CBS news tonight and hearing his defiance. He doesn't give a shit about the game or us. That people want his autograph or the ticket stub makes me sick.
I have one more stupid comment. If I had $750 million and I had the chance to forfeit $100 million, I'd do it. What would I do with what I have? Cannot build a library or a stadium with my name on it. He has one. Has Miami taken his name off? Others have had their names removed, haven't they. If I open a soup kitchen, hungry people would come and eat. But he doesn't need the extra money to feed the needy, clothe them or house them. He hasn't done it yet, so why think he would do it now. What does he want to do with his money? So, why does he need more. He needs his reputation restored. No one wants an asteric.
What make of car does he drive? He cannot even get that right! If you were in trouble, wouldn't you drive to the park in a not recent US made car?
[1] Interesting. I thought they were threatening him with a lifetime ban to get that 214-game suspension.
Can he play while fighting the suspension?
Among the things made obvious by Biogenesis is that baseball’s drug testing is failing: It’s not catching people or especially deterring them. Recently, researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia produced a paper calling current drug controls in sports “largely for show.” Professor Maciej Henneberg, one of the study’s co-authors, said in a statement, “It appears that anti-doping policies are in place more for perception.” Maybe A-Rod’s real offense is exposing that.
I don't know much about Jenkins, but I thought this final point was interesting.
[7] That particular co-author is possibly not the most trustworthy academic in the world. Currently suspended from his job, under investigation for fraud. (Financial, not scientific fraud exactly.)
Simone, stop beating around the bush. What do you actually think of Jenkins?
Looks like the Yankees might possibly find a way out of this miserable contract with this miserable shadow of a player. We'll see if they can escape the $100 million dollar noose. But I hope they never sign another player to a 10 year deal ... I really hope to never see Arod in pinstripes again.
Incidentally -- his game tonight in Trenton could be his last.
[Mick - as for Arod's money he reminds me of the Buchanans in Gatsby]
He's a careless person, Arod -- he smashed up things and the Yankees and then retreated back into his money or his vast PED carelessness, or whatever it was that helped him keep it together, and let other people clean up the mess he had made.
November 15, 2013—Tokyo. Alex Rodriguez, former third basement for the New York Yankees, has signed a 2-year contract with Tokyo's Yomiuri Giants, according to team officials. Details of the contract will be announced at a press conference, scheduled for Tuesday, but it is said to be worth approximately U.S.$14 million.
Alex was stupid for making that statement, but it's not as if no one else was talking about it or thinking about it. He just pointed out the pink elephant in the room, something that the principals to the negotiations (Alex, MLB, NYY, MLBPA) shouldn't be doing.
It was a contract that was going to bite the Yankees in the ass at the end, we here all knew it going in. And now I want the Yankees to have to live up to it. You don't get the good PED years and then find some wiggle room to get out of the bad last few years.
I think the trivia answer is Greg Vaughn
According to the NYDN:
"MLB officials have rejected Rodriguez's request to negotiate a suspension settlement, a baseball source familiar with the situation said."
If this is true, on Monday we should hear that ARod is done for (at least) 2013 and 2014, and will NOT be able to play during the appeals process.
Methinks ARod's people screwed him.
Is this the game thread, or has everyone just given up on the current team?
...because Nova is pitching another good one.
And the offense ... is being offensive again ...
Hooray!
Oh my, the Grandyman can!!!
If I were Arod, I'd take the suspension, then "retire" and work out a buyout where most of the remaining money goes to charities. I'd ask for eligibility for the HoF with a delayed vote.
As for the game, is this Freaky Friday and did Nova and CC switch bodies or something? If we could only get a run, or at least string together a couple of hits.
[20] Nova looks more like Cy Young than CC. ;>)
Rarely see Gardner play a ball that poorly.
1. Simone is dead on. Jenkins is an odious journalist whose output isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Anyone who follows cycling would likely agree.
2. Nova was dealing tonight. Unfortunately for a while, the Yanks batters were making Ross look like Koufax for a while too. Nova, more than any other Yankee starter in a while, seems to generate serious momentum some nights. Kinda like a running back who wears out the defense and starts turning 5 yard runs into ten, and so forth.
Singleton is hilarious today. "Anticipating a play at the plate, but the play was not by the Yankee dugout."
Vaya con Mo.
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