The 2014 season has ended and so the next chapter of Alex Rodriguez’s baseball career has begun.
He is no longer a suspended player. Instead, he is again a Yankee, a member in good standing — or as good a standing as possible for Rodriguez — of MLB and the Yankees’ 40-man roster.
What does this mean? Here are 10 questions that come along with the most polarizing player in the game:
1. Will Alex talk?
As much as A-Rod can curry favor with the Yankees and MLB, he did so this year by mainly — as he promised he would — falling into the background and not overshadowing Derek Jeter’s farewell season, in specific, and the season, in general.
As his tour of college and pro football stadiums has shown, though, Rodriguez does not do undercover particularly well. He hates obscurity and indifference to his existence. So he is going to try to put his current status into context at some point.
His sense of himself (think grandiosity) screams for an Oprah moment. Or does he try to go to a friendly inquisitor such as Mike Francesa? Or does he decide to seem less over-privileged and less guarded? In that case, he would probably do something in a group setting.
2. When will Alex talk?
Does he feel compelled to make a statement of some type sooner than later? Maybe. But the risk with that is saying something in November that he regrets by February — mainly if he talks up his health or skills and learns over the course of winter workouts neither are as good as he thinks. Or if he professes love for the Yankees and they reject him in some way.
Is it possible A-Rod could actually act like just about every other player and be quiet all winter and make it a one-time comment when he arrives with the rest of the Yankees come February? That might be the safest route — but that is not a route that A-Rod usually takes.
3. What will he say?
Maybe he will say sorry. Maybe he won’t — he served his time and owes nothing more.
Much of what Rodriguez does next — including what he says — comes down to how much he is lawyered up and how much he is handled by media advisors. And A-Rod has shown in the past he does not trust himself nearly as much as he does the people he pays to make his actions and words come out right.
Is everything he says from now on (as much of his past) designed by others to protect his money and/or his image? (By the way, the image handlers have mainly failed.) If so, we will get vagaries and half-truths and pap — or continuation of his anger about his case, including vitriol that Bud Selig was not compelled to testify.
Rodriguez is the latest to have a chance to put in some larger context what motivates players to cheat with PEDs. However, he has shown in the past trouble with both sincerity and extemporaneous talk. Does he even have the capacity to speak honestly about who he is, what he did and why — should he chose to take that route?
4. What kind of shape is he in?
The worry with Rodriguez has never been about putting in the work. He has been motivated in the past by fear of a lack of preparation, which helped foster his gym-rat persona.
The worries are what kind of work can he do at age 39 and after two major hip surgeries. And it can’t be ignored — what kind of work can he do clean? PEDs allow for more frequent workouts done at high intensity with less need for long recovery times. Of course, that is assuming that he is going to try to play clean.
5. Can A-Rod still hit?
In his 44-game cameo in 2013, Rodriguez had a .771 OPS. On one hand that was way down from his career norm. On the other, 12 Yankees in 2014 had more than 200 plate appearances and none had an OPS that high.
The closest was Chase Headley, who in 224 plate appearances had six homers and a .767 OPS. In 181 plate appearances the year before, Rodriguez had seven homers.
The Yankees would like to re-sign Headley — clearly the better defender at the position — to play third base next year with A-Rod morphing into a third baseman/first baseman/DH.
Of course, again, the question is whether Rodriguez was even playing clean in 2013. He has left himself open for such doubt in all situations.
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6. What do injury/age mean?
Rodriguez will turn 40 in July. He has just those 181 plate appearances over the past two seasons. He has the two hip surgeries and some chronic knee issues. He was troubled in 2013 by high-octane fastballs, and velocity is better now in the sport than ever. That is a lot to overcome to succeed in the majors before even dealing with …
7. Does Alex believe in Alex?
Namely does Rodriguez think he can succeed as a clean player? Did the drugs give A-Rod the psychological edge a player with his level of self-doubt needs to thrive? What happens if he does not believe in himself now? Actually that is a good question.
8. What if he does not believe in himself now?
Does anything that happens in offseason workouts convince Rodriguez he cannot come back? For example, if he is working out with the University of Miami and the ball is not coming off the bat or he cannot move particularly well would that move him to avoid the embarrassment of showing that to the world come February/March? Could he think that if he shows he cannot play now, it removes all doubt that the only way he succeeded in his career was with the aid of drugs?
It is probably much more likely he has an athletic arrogance that he can succeed even with all in his recent past. Plus, he actually loves to play and will not give that up without one more full shot at doing so — and trying to control the narrative around the last chapter of his career.
9. Will Alex and the Yankees get along?
They have $61 million reasons to try. In the best-case scenario for the Yankees, Rodriguez physically is unable to perform in spring training, is forced to retire and insurance covers 80 percent of the $61 million they owe him from 2015-17 (this is what happened with Albert Belle and the Orioles in the end).
The Yanks will probably need Rodriguez’s cooperation for this. And Rodriguez likely understands it is in his best interest to have the Yanks in his corner as much as possible. Of course, there is not much trust either way considering the history here. Think about how leery, for example, the Yankee medical personnel will be to even deal with Rodriguez since he at one point was suing the team doctor.
10. Can A-Rod be a Yankee asset?
That has many tentacles. For him to be helpful as a player, he needs to be able to play some first base and be an option behind the brittle Mark Teixeira. Anyone who watched how hard Rodriguez worked in spring training 2004 to make the transition from shortstop to third knows he will put in the time. Those close to him say he will do whatever work is necessary to try not to embarrass himself on the field.
Off the field, the instinct is to expect Rodriguez to be a distraction. And there is no doubt he becomes the largest personality on the team this second, now that he is back. But with Jeter gone, there are less eggshells to walk on gingerly. He can actually draw attention away from others who do not like the spotlight.
Also, Rodriguez does love to talk the game with and instruct young players. He is not a leader in anywhere near the traditional sense. But he is not afraid to share a baseball-obsessed brain.
Like with most issues involved with A-Rod now, it really is about whether he has the skills to be sincere and make the rest of his career — however long that lasts — about making life better for those around him rather than continue in the selfish vain that brought him great wealth and substantial ignominy.