OPINION:
Of course in a year of bizarre political theater, Alex Rodriguez will become an advisor to the New York Yankees – the final chapter of the Fraud of the Yankees.
“This is a tough day,” Rodriguez said Sunday upon the announcement that he will end his playing career Friday. “I love this game, and I love this team. And today, I’m saying goodbye to both.”
I’ll bet he considers himself the luckiest man on the face on the earth.
In a year where the notion of shame has all but disappeared in this country, of course everyone involved in the final days of The Fraud of the Yankees will play their shameless part in this fiction.
The Yankees will play their part by claiming how much A-Rod represents the best of the Yankees.
“After spending several days discussing this plan with Alex, I am pleased that he will remain a part of our organization moving forward and transition into a role in which I know he can flourish,” Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement. “We have an exciting group of talented young players at every level of our system. Our job as an organization is to utilize every resource possible to allow them to reach their potential, and I expect Alex to directly contribute to their growth and success. Baseball runs through his blood.
AUDIO: Nationals manager Dusty Baker with Thom Loverro
“He’s a tireless worker and an astute student of the game. Alex has already proven to be a willing and effective mentor to many players who have come through our clubhouse, and I am confident that this next phase of his baseball life will bring out the best in Alex and the next generation of Yankees.”
The reality is that the Yankees owe A-Rod $7 million for the rest of this year and $21 million next year, so to diminish the embarrassment of having to pay a player $28 million when he can’t play any more, they have created this position for The Fraud of the Yankees.
Or does anyone really think if the Yankees didn’t owe A-Rod any money, they would be welcoming him as an “advisor” – or that he would take it.
If it was up to the Yankees, they would just as soon never see The Fraud of the Yankees again.
Then there are my brethren, the media, who created this “redemption” story last season when A-Rod – coming off an unprecedented 162-game ban after The Fraud of the Yankees was exposed for the second time in his career as a performance-enhancing drug cheater in the Biogenesis case – went from a player who appeared finished in 2013 to one who hit 33 home runs, at the age of 40, last season.
A-Rod is a two-time loser – that we know of. We only have the times he was caught. Yet the media was willing to peddle this redemption story last year as if this time was different – as if somehow The Fraud of the Yankees, a chronic liar throughout his career, had gotten religion.
They either forgot, or chose to ignore the testimony that The Fraud of the Yankees gave federal investigators in the Biogenesis case about how he was schooled in how to beat testing by his Dr. Feelgood, Tony Bosch, as reported by the Miami Herald.
“Bosch advised him to only use mid-stream urine for MLB drug testing,” the DEA’s report said. “Bosch told Rodriguez not to use the beginning or the end urine stream.”
We think he suddenly forgot how to beat testing? Or, after two years of spending $12,000 a month on Dr. Feelgood’s juice, decided to go straight?
Why? For the greater good? He was getting paid no matter how many times he tested positive or evidence revealed he cheated. The Yankees exhausted every possibility of trying to figure out how to use his cheating against him to get out their contract and found none.
Me? I think if you cut A-Rod open, Ben Johnson would come falling out.
The Fraud of the Yankees even sued his union during his battle against his ban from baseball. Which in effect meant he sued every teammate he had in that Yankee locker room, and his union brothers on the field.
And now he is going to be mentor? I’m surprised the Yankees didn’t make him Minister of Integrity.
The Fraud of the Yankees currently has 696 home runs and 3,114 hits, yet he will never have a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame, because in the end, he was more concerned about his urine stream than the game.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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