David Cone said he believes Alex Rodriguez should be able to defend himself, but he’s not sure about Rodriguez’s tactics. Cone is certain, however, he doesn’t want to see the suspended slugger show up at spring training.
“I would not advise that at this point, if I had a say in this matter,” Cone said at the Thurman Munson Awards Dinner for AHRC NYC at the Grand Hyatt in Midtown. “I don’t think that’s probably the best thing to do. Judging by his last comments, when he said he was looking forward to a year off, maybe he thinks so, too.”
Cone had a major role in the union as a player, so he stands behind Rodriguez’s right to defend himself.
“Guilty or innocent, he deserves due process,” Cone said. “I’m always going to be a supporter of that. At some point, hopefully he’ll get a chance to talk and we’ll find out more about what exactly happened. Until then, it’s just been an ugly brawl, and it’s been bad for baseball in my opinion.”
Rodriguez is suspended for all of 2014 by MLB but has taken his fight to federal court.
Brett Gardner said he just wanted to put the controversy behind him.
“I wish it had been handled differently by everybody involved,” Gardner said. “It was bad for everybody.”
As for Rodriguez suing the MLBPA, Cone said he believed that was a formality.
“I think the fact that the players association was thrown into the lawsuit was probably more of a legal maneuver by his lawyers than it was Alex trying to send a message,” Cone said. “But at the same time, the scorched-earth policy that he and his legal team have taken has really been hard to watch.”