TAMPA — Alex Rodriguez has a village full of fences to mend if he actually wants to play major league baseball again, but he’s in good standing once more at the Players Association. At least, so said the union’s executive director Tony Clark Monday morning at Steinbrenner Field.
“The page has been turned,” Clark said after he and other MLBPA officials held their annual meeting with the Yankees players.
As part of an attempt to vacate the 162-game suspension he received for his involvement with Biogenesis, the shuttered South Florida anti-aging clinic, Rodriguez sued the Players Association on Jan. 13, alleging the union “completely abdicated its responsibility to Mr. Rodriguez to protect his rights under the agreements between MLB and MLBPA.” The lawsuit specifically mentioned comments that Clark’s predecessor Michael Weiner made about Rodriguez in an August 2013 radio interview. Weiner died of brain cancer in November.
That day, Clark released a statement that read, in part: “Mr. Rodriguez’s allegation that the Association has failed to fairly represent him is outrageous, and his gratuitous attacks on our former Executive Director, Michael Weiner, are inexcusable.”
When A-Rod dropped his lawsuit on Feb. 7, however, Clark considered the matter closed. And he will urge his members to do the same, though then-Red Sox pitcher Ryan Dempster threw intentionally at A-Rod during a game last August and players discussed the idea of ejecting A-Rod from the union.
“Whether you’re a player who played from the very first time you stepped on the field, or to any of the players that are going to come next, our membership is our membership. Alex is a member of the Players Association,” Clark said. “He will serve the penalty that he has been given by the arbitrator. He will come back [next year] in spring training ready to go, wherever that happens to be. He’s under contract with the Yankees. I would expect him to be in camp with the Yankees. Am I concerned about anything beyond that? No.”
“Not once” on his current spring-training tour of teams, Clark said, has a player expressed his unhappiness over Rodriguez remaining in the union.
Asked whether Rodriguez’s lawsuit against the union concerned him, Clark said, “At any point in time, any player in the fraternity feels like this organization — that I have a lot of passion for and I have a lot pride in — isn’t defending his rights, it is a concern. Having played with Alex, having played against Alex, yes, it is a concern. Having any number of conversations, I’m glad we find ourselves [past it].”
Clark and Rodriguez were teammates on the 2004 Yankees.
The first former player to head the union, Clark offered his thoughts on other matters, as well:
* Regarding the Yankees’ decision to exceed the $189 million luxury-tax threshold in 2014, after making plans to the contrary for two years, Clark said: “We always like to see clubs making decisions that they inevitably feel are going to help them be the last team standing. Obviously, the New York Yankees are a special group, and them continuing to make decisions that they hope are going to leave them the last team standing, we always enjoy seeing that.”
* He said “discussions are being had” about the free-agent compensation rules that have contributed to Stephen Drew, Kendrys Morales and Ervin Santana remaining unemployed. All three players rejected qualifying offers of one year and $14.1 million from their old teams and haven’t yet found employment, as they require the signing team to give up a draft pick.
“I don’t think it’s anyone’s interests to have any of the game’s best players sitting at home when they can help teams,” Clark said. “We are gathering information.” It’s unlikely the rules can be changed before the current Basic Agreement expires at the end of 2016.
* On the challenge of his new assignment, in which replaced his beloved mentor Weiner while dealing with Biogenesis, instant replay and home-plate collisions, among other issues: “What’s great is that I started going gray at 19, so I’m able to shave the top now and the gray that you see in the beard has been there for a while. So nobody knows exactly what kind of toll the busy offseason has taken.”