After a few days of silence after Sports Illustrated broke the story that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for performance enhancing drugs back in his days in Texas, A-Rod finally came clean in an interview with ESPN's Peter Gammons. In the interview, A-Rod admitted to doing banned substances from 2001-03, blaming the culture of baseball, being young and naive, and GNC.
In watching the interview, I didn't lose any respect for A-Rod, but that might be because I didn't have any respect for him as a person to begin with. Yeah, he loses points from me because he's a Yankee, but even when he was going to possibly be traded to the Red Sox I did not want him. Yeah, he is an incredibly talented player in the regular season, but I didn't want him on the Sox, largely in part because at the time, Nomar was my favorite player and I didn't want to lose him.
Once A-Rod agreed to switch to 3rd for the Yankees, he was forever dead to me. Had he been willing to do that for the Sox, Boston could very well have won the 2004 title with my favorite player and arguably the best player in the league manning the left side of the infield. Oh wait, the Sox did win that title, and they went right through A-Rod to do so. So between A-Rod being a mercenary, a Yankee, and us showing we didn't need him, why would I like A-Rod? Throw in the fact that he seems to only care about his public image, hence the A-Fraud name, and his fate was sealed.
A-Rod's concern for his public image is what surprised at first when I heard that this interview would be aired on SportsCenter today until I actually watched it. A-Rod passed the buck as much as possible while still admitting it was his fault, if that makes any sense. He accepted he did the substances while giving a host of excuses as to why he did the substances. He also questioned the creditability of Selena Roberts, the reporter who broke the story for SI, which really has no place in any apology.
I also like how A-Rod told Peter Gammons that he had to understand what baseball was like earlier this decade in order to understand what he did. As a quote that's fine, but the way A-Rod said it, it almost seemed like he was implying Gammons didn't understand the culture of baseball 6 years ago. Um, A-Rod, you're talking with Peter Gammons about understanding baseball and it's history. Gammons is probably the best and most trusted baseball mind writing today, or at least he should be because there isn't anyone better. You are not talking to a 12-year old Yankee fan who was 6 and probably didn't care about you while you were in Texas because honestly, how many 6-year olds follow teams other than their own? Know who you're talking too A-Rod.
But still, he did apologize, and people will move on because of it. Yeah, it will be brought up some in the future, especially when he passes Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds on the all-time home run list. And it will surely come up a lot in 14 years (at minimum, based on the 9 years left on his contract and 5-year waiting period of retirement) when A-Rod is eligible for Cooperstown.
But even if you just take the 156 HR, 395 RBI, and 382 runs scored from his three seasons in Texas, not to mention his MVP from 2003, A-Rod would still be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. I wonder if MLB would retroactively give the '03 MVP to Carlos Delgado, who finished second that season, since A-Rod has admitted to juicing and there are positive tests from him that year. Probably not for a few reasons.
One, I'm not sure what Delgado's deal looked like 6 years ago, but I know a lot of deals have a kicker in their contract for winning the MVP, so the Blue Jays might owe Delgado some more money, which may have been budgeted back then, but might handcuff the Jays now a bit today. Also, what happens if it turns out that Delgado is one of the other 103 players who tested positive in 2003, or if he tests positive in the future? What kind of backlash would that bring to MLB if they took an MVP away from one of the faces of the game (let's see if that continues next year) just to give it to another tainted player?
Quick side-note, here's a list of AL players since 2000 who have won the MVP. Jason Giambi, Ichiro, Miguel Tejada, Alex Rodriguez, Vlad Guerrero, A-Rod, Justin Morneau, A-Rod, and Dustin Pedroia. Only four of the eight winners have zero taint to them, and I am only 100% sure that two of them, Ichiro and Pedroia, haven't juiced. Tainted much?
Anyways, people will move on because of the A-Rod admission, but it will not completely ever go away. A-Rod will get a lot of abuse on the road, not that he didn't already, but the focus will be shifted. I can't wait until April 24th when the Yankees first play in Boston. The chants and jeers in Fenway will truly be fantastic. I just hope NESN and YES have the place miked up very well so it can be heard on TV.
Also, given that it is less then a week until Valentine's Day and I'm sure a lot of guys need to find a gift for their ladies, maybe Gammons could have asked A-Rod where he got that shade of lip gloss he was wearing for his interview. Could make for a good gift, some lip gloss that's poppin', even if A-Rod was once frontin'.
No comments:
Post a Comment