TAMPA – The biggest distraction in sports is very close to departing from Yankees camp.
Nevertheless, before Alex Rodriguez joins the Dominican Republic’s club for the World Baseball Classic, Major League Baseball’s team of investigators will meet with A-Rod tomorrow, a Yankees source confirmed yesterday.
The meeting, which isn’t likely to be held at George M. Steinbrenner Field, will be an information-gathering exercise in which Rodriguez will have a personal lawyer and a representative from the Players’ Association. Dan Mullin, an investigator from MLB, was at Steinbrenner Field on Thursday.
Rodriguez cannot be suspended for reportedly testing positive for steroids in 2003 because that testing program was for survey purposes only. Penalties for failed tests went into play the following season.
The investigators, however, want to know how often Yuri Sucart, Rodriguez’s cousin, and legendary Dominican strength coach Angel Presinal were around the Rangers and Yankees.
It’s not clear if Rodriguez will have to answer questions concerning where he may have obtained steroids. When Rodriguez arrived in camp this spring, he said a cousin, whom he failed to identify, brought a banned substance from the Dominican Republic to the United States and injected Rodriguez from 2001 to 2003, while he was playing in Texas. A family member later identified the cousin as Sucart.
Because Rodriguez will join the Dominican team in Jupiter, Fla., on Monday, manager Joe Girardi’s plan was for Rodriguez – and Derek Jeter, who’s playing for the U.S. team, and Robinson Cano, also playing for the Dominican team – to play today against the Twins at Steinbrenner Field and against the Reds in Sarasota, Fla., tomorrow. Nevertheless, because MLB wants to talk to Rodriguez tomorrow, it’s possible he will not be in uniform for that game.
Rodriguez never will vanish from the Yankees’ consciousness, but if the Dominican Republic advances to the finals, he could be gone until March 24.
With the Yankees playing the Twins in Fort Myers, Fla., yesterday, Rodriguez went through a day of batting practice and fielding ground balls at Steinbrenner Field with Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Johnny Damon and Cano.
Asked after the workout if he had any plans to meet with MLB during the day, Rodriguez initially said, “No,” then switched to, “No comment.”
Earlier, in a post-workout moment, Rodriguez lounged at his locker asking The Post what the latest dirt on Manny Ramirez was. The mood was light and Rodriguez smiled.
Then, as television reporters approached, his face went blank and a string of “No comments” flowed from his mouth.
“I am just glad to be playing baseball,” Rodriguez said.
After he took extra batting practice and filmed a children’s video, Rodriguez exited the ballpark with Joba Chamberlain at 1:15 p.m.
There are pros and cons connected to Rodriguez leaving camp.
The positive is that the WBC drug tests are more exhaustive than MLB’s and if he passes that test, he can point to being clean, which Rodriguez insists he has been since 2004.
One drawback is that Rodriguez has developed a support system inside the Yankees clubhouse that will not be with him during the WBC.
He also knows what to expect from the media that covers the Yankees. Starting Monday, he will be treated like new meat for another army of reporters. And given Rodriguez’s ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, he could cause himself additional trouble.
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