tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

My Take On ARod, Yankees

With pitchers and catchers scheduled to report in a couple of weeks, it is a good time to look at the upcoming season for the New York Yankees. Tied to that is the blockbuster story that has come out linking Alex Rodriguez, once again, with performance enhancing drugs. When the Yankees acquired ARod in 2004, it was believed that the Yanks were set up for another run of multiple championships. But here we are in 2013 and the boys from the Bronx have only added one championship and along the way ARod has caused plenty of controversy.

We all remember the reported feud between ARod and Derek Jeter. But that paled in comparison when it was reported in 2009 that ARod had used performance enhancing drugs. ARod, at the time, admitted using steroids but indicated that it was during the time period of 2001 through 2003. He stated that he was clean since then. At the time, I wasn't enraged at ARod. In fact, I felt like he was singled out because of who he was as there were a number of players who were named in the report but their names were never published. He was contrite and was committed to educating young baseball players about the ill-effects of steroids.

The Yankees won the World Series in 2009 and ARod seemed to be on his way to having a place in Yankee history as he led the team, particularly in the division series against the Minnesota Twins. However, if last week's reports are true, as far as I'm concerned ARod will go down as one of the biggest embarassments in the history of this storied franchise. You see, as long as Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association refuse to police itself, the whole argument about these guys being cheaters doesn't fire me up. But what does have me boiling is if these allegations are true, then ARod flat out lied to all of us. He said his use of PEDs was between 2001-2003. The recent reports allege that he was using PEDs in 2009 and beyond. In essence, he was taking us all for suckers.

How much more can this franchise take from ARod? The feud with Jeter, flirting with women in the stands during the playoffs and his much publicized dalliances with a stripper in Toronto are all incidents that the team has had to put up with but are not situations that were earth shattering. After all, there are many stories about teammates not getting along and players' extracurricular activities. But if you lie about taking a substance that enhances your ability to perform then you not only make yourself look bad but it also looks bad for the organization you work for. One has to wonder, what did the Yankees know and if they knew anything, when did they know it.

What makes it worse for the Yankees is the amount of money that they have tied up with ARod. With Hal Steinbrenner's self-imposed $189 million salary cap, the ARod contract is a killer particularly in that they don't know how he is going to recover from the recent hip surgery and if these allegations are true will he be suspended and for how long. As has been mentioned before on this blog, what compounds the problem is that the Yankee farm system is probably 2 to 3 years away before it will bear any fruit for the big club. And at the end of the 2013 season, the Yankees will have to decide what they are going to do with free agents Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson.

The Yankees still don't have a legitimate right handed hitting outfielder unless you consider Matt Diaz the answer. The signing of Travis Hafner as your left handed DH is questionable based upon Hafner's health status over the past several years. The pitching staff needs to hope that over 35 year olds, such as Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera, stay healthy.

The 2013 season looks to be a very difficult one for the Pinstripers. Many question marks and the never ending soap opera surrounding ARod. It will all begin soon enough and I can hardly wait.