PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — If Alex Rodriguez isn’t quite giving up his fight — and he isn’t, he insists — he at least sounds prepared for defeat. And for moving on beyond that.
The Yankees’ disgraced superstar, who received a 162-game suspension Saturday from independent arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, spoke to Spanish-speaking media Wednesday in Mexico, at a promotional appearance, and displayed a new, conciliatory tone.
“I think that the year 2014 could be a big favor that [Major League Baseball has] done for me because I’ve been playing for 20 years without a timeout,” Rodriguez said, according to an ESPN report. “I think 2014 is a good year to rest mentally and physically and prepare for the future and begin a new chapter in my life.”
The words were strikingly different than the combative statement he released Saturday when the bombshell first hit. Furthermore, on Monday, Rodriguez lodged a new lawsuit (against MLB and the Players Association), his third since the Biogenesis scandal broke, this one designed to vacate the suspension.
But the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against Rodriguez prevailing in that lawsuit, because federal courts usually respect the outcomes of binding arbitration. That reality seems to be seeping through. There even seems to be increased optimism among baseball officials that Rodriguez will not report to the Yankees’ spring training, in an effort to not increase his record-setting level of ill will.
“This process has been taxing both mentally and physically throughout the past eight months,” Ron Berkowitz, A-Rod’s spokesman, said in a statement. “Alex will abide by the rulings of the federal judge — whatever he decides — and get ready for 2015 should the judge rule against him. He will continue to move forward with his complaint which will help all players against this unfair system.“
Rodriguez also is suing MLB in a separate lawsuit for tortious interference, and in yet another legal action, he is suing Yankees team physician Christopher Ahmad and New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center for medical malpractice concerning the treatment of his injured left hip.
“I have three years left on my contract starting in 2015,” Rodriguez said at the event, “and I hope to play very well and finish my career in New York.” Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said Wednesday, here at the MLB owners’ meetings, he considered Rodriguez “an asset” and a productive player when healthy.
Rodriguez said he has received support “not just from my Yankees teammates, but also players from other teams, retired players, Hall of Fame players and lots of good people, owners of other teams.”
Nevertheless, he didn’t specify which Hall of Fame.
“[To] tell the truth,” A-Rod continued, “it’s a very sad situation, and we hope to get this out of every newspaper and start concentrating on all the good things that MLB is doing and the great things that young ballplayers are doing and move forward.”
He could get it out very quickly by dropping all of his pending litigation. That’s not in the plans right now, though.
Commissioner Bud Selig, who spoke at the conclusion of the owners’ meetings, declined comment on most Rodriguez questions, citing the pending litigation. Selig acknowledged MLB COO Rob Manfred, who was MLB’s representative on the three-man arbitration panel for the A-Rod case, updated the owners on the Rodriguez case.
Asked whether the Biogenesis scandal had increased his awareness that players always will try to beat the drug-testing system, Selig cited the addition of longitudinal profiling of each player, which began last year (after Rodriguez’s proven period of illegal performance-enhancing drug usage) and has raised the bar for mischievous players.
“Can you ever get complacent? No. That’s true,” Selig said. “But between our Montreal lab and [MLB medical director] Gary Green and everybody else and all of our people here who have become quite sophisticated in all this, I feel very, very comfortable.
“Nothing in life is perfect and that won’t be either, but longitudinal testing, you talk to the experts and they’re very confident. So if they’re confident, I am.”
Let’s see last week’s Pop Quiz question, from The Post’s own Dave Blezow:
In a 1996 episode of “Seinfeld,” Kramer credits an ex-Yankees player for designing Central Park. Name the player.
— The annual BAT dinner, held by the Baseball Assistance Team, will be held next Tuesday, Jan. 21. The late Players Association executive director Michael Weiner will be honored, as will Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins (for his community service) and free agent Michael Young (for his character). Tickets are still available at BaseballAssistanceTeam.com or by calling 212-931-7822.
Your Pop Quiz answer is Joe Pepitone. If you have a tidbit that correlates baseball to popular culture, please send it to me at kdavidoff@nypost.com.
But please don’t send me a wrong Pop Quiz question, because then I get angry e-mails. A few weeks back, I ran a question asking you to name the three Yankees who appeared as themselves in the classic (overrated, in my opinion) “Pride of the Yankees.”
Thanks to Mark Forman of Boynton Beach, Fla.; Mickey Goldberg of Milford, Conn.; Sal Buono of Riverview, Fla.; and Anthony Salerno of Fairfield, Conn., all of whom wrote me to note that a fourth Yankees player, Mark Koenig, also appeared as himself in the inexplicably adored film.