Though Yankee 3B Alex Rodriguez previously swore his flirtations with the loosey-goosey culture of illegal PED intake ( (his words) came to a stop over a decade ago, an investigation on the part of Miami’s New Times seems to indicate that even in more recent years, A-Rod has enjoyed drugs almost as much the company of muscular women. Aside from giving the Bombers some hope they might be able to void the final 5 years of Rodriguez’ monstrous contract, yesterday’s revelations give the Bergen Record’s Bob Klapisch cause to dub A-Rod, “the ultimate snake…baseball’s all-time fraud.”
There’s no way out — the relationship with the Yankees and their fans is too toxic. Rodriguez was reportedly dumb enough to keep breaking the rules, but he’s savvy enough to know he’s used up the last of his equity. Just wait and see, A-Rod will find a doctor to say he’s medically unable to keep playing, like Albert Belle, whose own career ended in 2000 because of hip problems. This convenient detour will allow A-Rod to pocket the rest of his money and give the Yankees 85 percent reimbursement from their insurers.
Remember that monster return from the first hip surgery four years ago — the real-life Roy Hobbs blasting a home run in his first at-bat off the disabled list? Rodriguez drove in 100 runs in just 124 games, but according to the New Times, that performance was phony as Rodriguez’s apology six months earlier, after he’d been caught by Sports Illustrated using PEDs in 2001-03.
What happened to Rodriguez’s talent if he was indeed juicing and cheating his way through the 2012 season? He finished with his lowest slugging percentage since 1995 and, with only 18 home runs, turned a pursuit of Barry Bonds’ all-time home run record into a dead crawl. And this was while allegedly on PEDs, prompting one baseball executive to say, “imagine what [Rodriguez] would be without them?”