I WONDER if Alex Rodriguez fully understands that was not a Mariano Rivera close the other day on ESPN. We remain, in reality, pretty close to the first inning when it comes to where A-Rod is in his steroid revelation phase.
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Rodriguez opened himself up to just as many questions as he supposedly answered in that sitdown with ESPN. Here are just a few in no particular order and nowhere near the full extent of what was left unanswered (at least in my mind):
1. You portrayed yourself as being naive about steroid use prior to your Texas years, saying to ESPN “before that (signing with the Rangers) I had never even heard of the idea of taking any substance.” However, from the mid-1990s forward your now ex-wife was an avid bodybuilder, your inner circle as a couple was made up of many bodybuilders, and both of you were gym rats at a time when steroids were rampant in bodybuilding circles and gyms. So how is it possible that you “had never even heard of the idea of taking any substance?”
2. You say you only did steroids in the Ranger years from 2001-2003 and it was because of the pressure you felt to justify your record $252 million contract? But shouldn’t the pressure have been greater in 2000 in Seattle to play well enough to merit the contract? Or since coming to the Yankee cauldron? And, if so, why should we believe you did not respond to that pressure in Seattle or New York by illegally juicing?
3. What human being hears from a top member of his union that he “may or may not have” failed a drug test, and not follow up on it at all? And without that inquiry now why would you believe that you did fail the test based only on the work of a reporter you are currently disparaging as a stalker out to get you?
We can keep going, but you get the point. A-Rod offered an apology for his Ranger years, which means you have a bunch of reporters out now digging into, among other things, the Mariner and Yankee years to see if his story collapses. So any Yankee executive or fan who feels comfortable just because A-Rod said he has not done illegal performance enhancers since arriving to the Yankees in 2004 should put their confidence on hold. A-Rod has lied about steroids before, and no one should be betting their lives on his veracity now.
This is why this is really just the first inning of the revelation phase. A-Rod, after all, has nine years left on his Yankee contract. That is a long time for an organization to hold its breath that its most expensive commodity does not further wreck his image – and theirs.
And it is all about to get more complicated for both player and team. Rodriguez is due to report next week to Yankee camp with the rest of the position players, bringing both his tawdry life and a media throng into the middle of preparation for an already stress-doused season. He will be what he has always been as a Yankee: the biggest talent and the biggest distraction rolled into one. Except this distraction makes all the others – even feuds with Derek Jeter and dalliances with Madonna – seem minuscule.
Joe Girardi and his Type-A personality already were going to have to manage the anxieties caused by not making the playoffs last year, spending nearly a half a billion dollars in the offseason on players and the opening of a new stadium beyond the usual weighty demands that surround the Yankees and A-Rod. Say what you will about Joe Torre, but it is hard to think of anyone better suited to handle all of that. In Girardi, it is hard to imagine anyone much worse constituted to defuse all of this than a truth-challenged, uptight manager without loyal lieutenants in the clubhouse.
Girardi’s job already was in peril before these latest Rodriguez complications, which leaves Girardi in this awkward situation: In A-Rod’s greatest moment of need, Girardi needs Rodriguez most of all.