Reports of Alex Rodriguez buying documents from Biogenesis clinic leaves questions about A-Rod's psyche and future with Yankees


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This won’t be the first time that Alex Rodriguez looked dumb, if it turns out to be true that he essentially purchased the Biogenesis documents, as it is now alleged. But this is in a different league from trying to pick up women from the dugout during a playoff game or kissing himself in a mirror for a photo spread.

For one thing, did he really believe that he could make the story go away by buying the evidence? As if the people he was buying it from were good to their word that they weren’t selling the same information to other interested parties, such as Major League Baseball?

More significantly, dumb is dumb, but in this case, A-Rod has never looked so desperate.

Finally, this kind of dumb could get him in big trouble, as it could pass for proof of being guilty as charged for buying performance-enhancing drugs from Anthony Bosch and the Biogenesis Clinic in Miami.

Of course, MLB would have to be able to prove A-Rod did indeed have an intermediary make such a purchase, as the Daily News’ I-Team reported via sources on Friday, and that would be complicated, at the very least.

 

Still, you’d have to think this increases the chances of A-Rod being suspended, whenever MLB finishes with its investigation of the story that the Miami New Times broke before spring training began.

However, it doesn’t necessarily make it more likely that the Yankees could void A-Rod’s contract and be rid of him, as much as they’d love to.

At least that’s the way an MLB source was reading the new development on Friday.

“If he does get suspended,’’ the source said, “it’s all spelled out in the collective bargaining agreement as punishment in regard to the drug-testing policy. Buying the evidence, if that’s the case, doesn’t change anything in that regard.’’

The caveat to that, the source said, would be if this somehow led to criminal charges of A-Rod tampering with evidence, should the federal government consider the matter worthy of its own investigation.

 

To this point, baseball people don’t believe the feds have much of an appetite for such an investigation, after the government spent so much time and money chasing Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens in regard to steroids, and came away with minimal results.

So in one sense, this may not change anything regarding A-Rod’s future with the Yankees. If he can recover from his second, and more complicated hip surgery, he’ll likely play for them again at some point.

On the other hand, some baseball people believe this latest episode is a sign of just how fragile A-Rod’s psyche is these days, how desperate he is to avoid being further tainted as a steroid user and thus the scourge of Yankee fans everywhere.

As it is, A-Rod offered an indication of his state of mind when he showed up for Opening Day a couple of weeks ago but chose not to be introduced on the field with the rest of the Yankees, knowing what a hostile reception he would get.

 

Then there is the matter of his dependency on PEDs. More and more the evidence suggests that he has been using some form of them for at least most of his major league career, and, who knows, maybe longer than that.

 

 

If he went right back to using in 2009, after being forced to admit that he’d used steroids in the past, it tells you how dependent he was on the juice, perhaps more psychologically than anything.

In that case, you do have to wonder whether A-Rod would be mentally strong enough to come back and play without the juice at the age of 37 after another hip surgery in an environment where he is already largely despised by Yankee fans as the anti-Jeter.

“I’m not sure he could handle all of that,’’ one former teammate of A-Rod’s said on Friday night. “He’s really not a bad guy, but he wants to be liked so badly that it affects everything he does. It kills him that he’s never been able to win the fans over, even after he played such a huge part in winning a championship (in 2009).

“He’s always been able to play through it, but if he really did need that stuff to play, he might be a shell of himself now coming back from another hip surgery. At some point that might be too much for him.’’

At what point, though? After the $28 million the Yankees are paying A-Rod for this season, they owe him four more years and $86 million, plus potential milestone home run bonuses.

This latest dumb play isn’t likely to change that obligation. But it may offer the Yankees reason to believe that A-Rod is fragile enough that he might be amenable to some sort of settlement to his contract. They can hope, anyway.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/harper-purchase-sign-a-desperate-man-article-1.1315638#ixzz2QM2SDncC

 

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  • 2 months later...

WTF has it got to do With Federal Government for though, surely this is merely a matter for the Sports Governing body?

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