TAMPA — After a year of being surrounded by Alex Rodriguez-related drama, the Yankees are ready to put it behind them.
“For us, we don’t have to deal with it,” Derek Jeter said Monday. “It’s over and done with. He’s not going to be here this year, so you have to find ways to get it done.”
Now that Rodriguez has dropped his lawsuit against Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association and finally accepted the year-long suspension handed down following the Biogenesis investigation, Jeter believes the team is prepared to move on.
“You have no choice,” Jeter said at the Yankees minor league complex. “It is what it is. He’s not here for this season, so we’re going to have to find ways to win with the team we have.”
And it’s a team that won’t have Rodriguez around.
The third baseman’s saga was a constant cloud that hung over the Yankees in 2013, both during his rehab and his comeback. That figures to dissipate in the aftermath of Rodriguez’s legal team making it clear he will not report to spring training — and he obviously won’t be in The Bronx during the regular season.
Jeter, of course, has grown accustomed to dealing with controversies.
“There’s always something going on, but it’s not a distraction unless it’s something you have to talk about all the time,” Jeter said after going through his normal routine as he prepares for the beginning of spring training.
Jeter added he had exchanged texts with Rodriguez since the lawsuits were dropped and his battle with MLB came to an end, but declined to guess what Rodriguez’s mind-set is.
“It’s not my job to answer for him,” Jeter said. “I can’t tell you what he’s thinking. You’ve got to ask him.’’
Rodriguez has yet to publicly address why he changed course and accepted his punishment, although legal experts largely agreed he had little to no shot of success in a courtroom battle.
While there was no shortage of Rodriguez-driven storylines in 2013, Jeter insisted Rodriguez’s issues with the team and the league never impacted the players on the field.
“For us, look, we show up and we do our job,” Jeter said. “The situation that he’s in is a situation that affects him. You have to ask him how he feels about it, if he’s glad that it’s over with. But it’s not something that’s weighing on our mind when we’re playing games. It’s a situation that he has to deal with. Now it’s over and it’s done with and we move on from there.”
Francisco Cervelli, who was banned 50 games last season for his own ties to Biogenesis, declined to delve into Rodriguez’s suspension.
“I’ve got no comments on that,” Cervelli said. “You guys want to know, call him.”
Easier said than done.
For Jeter and his teammates, the reality of a season without Rodriguez is about to begin.
“We know the fact he’s not here,” Jeter said. “It’s a complicated situation. It’s played out and that’s what has happened.”
Jeter took grounders both on the grass and on the infield dirt as well as batting practice on the field and reported no problems. He said he feels fine and hasn’t changed his schedule at all as he comes back from multiple leg injuries a year ago that limited him to 17 games.
“It’s the same thing, just like every spring,” Jeter said.