The Bronx Finest

I’ve never been a huge fan of Alex Rogriquez. I was always of the mindset that he was overpaid. He’s the kid you played little league with that hit a home run in the last inning when the team was up 5-2 and everyone told him he was clutch – he comes through in the latter innings. By all accounts, he’s a baseball freak. Derek Jeter is the playboy, linked to the models and beauty pageant contestants. Alex was the type to play a day game then go home and watch the footage.
He reminds me of a has-it-together Todd Marinovich. He’s a machine. He’s been doing this for years. He seemingly doesn’t know how to do anything else. Things were going swimmingly for him in Seattle. He was a big fish in a small pond. Not much was ever expected of him. Then came the contract. Who can play under the weight of a 10-year, $250M contract? Again he was in a no pressure situation. It was an NBA-style catch-22. He was paid the big bucks and expected to lead the Rangers to success. When they didn’t win he could point to the fact that there wasn’t enough talent around him. Baseball is a team game that relies on individuals. You need to have a strong staff with a good bullpen and bats to back those pitchers up. But with so much money tied up in one guy who could put up big number [legit or otherwise], how can you put any type of support around him?
Then came the deal to NY. A-Rod was going to lace ‘em up in the house that Ruth built. He was going to be the second coming. He was going to lead them back to the promised land. He would put up the gawdy numbers and the Steinbrenner’s could afford him AND put a team around him. Then the calendar would flip over to October and Alex shrunk faster than a phallus in a polar bear dive.
Last year, he opted out of his deal. as a Yankee fan, I was ecstatic when Hank said they wouldn’t accept Alex back after what he’d done. Thank god. Take that money and rebuild. Let Giambi and Abreu walk. Start anew with chemistry guys with solid bats in their place. Then beef up the pitching staff. Of course they resigned him when given the opportunity. Why wouldn’t they? Hank is so full of shit…
Now, the real A-Fraud has stood up. His steroid use has come to light. They’re saying a known juice dealer travelled along the Yankees schedule, staying in opposite hotels meeting with A-Roid in his free time. I’m glad we got to this place. I’m of the mindset that these guys should be strung up by their naughty bits. The teams should be off the hook for their contracts. Then again, half the time I get the idea the teams knew – somehow. I’m not outright accusing the Yanks of knowing that A-Rod was juiced up, especially since his positive happened when he was under contract with the Rangers. What I will say is that SOMEONE had to notice that a guy who was banned from ballparks just happened to be on the same schedule as the Bombers the past couple years and would meet with Alex from time to time. Scoop Jackson had a great point this morning – where was the media in this? I gotta agree. How does the NY media let that go by them unnoticed?
I could go on about this. I think there are so many guilty parties in this. Bud Selig used McGwire and Sosa to get his league back online. The Bonds saga is a total clusterfuck. Now Rodriguez and his shady cousin. They had ‘Boli’ (???) which no one can even pinpoint its availability in DR at the time. I think the MLB needs to do this – ban Alex for a finite amount of time. Wipe his contract off the books. Fine the Yanks and Rangers for not monitoring their players more closely. Please, (PLEASE!) tell us who the other 104 positive tests are. Let’s please move on from the witch hunt that is the steroid issue in pro baseball and try to start over fresh.