Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci reports that the Boss wants A-Rod to make his prescence felt.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner summoned Alex Rodriguez to Tampa last month to deliver a face-to-face message to his third baseman: It’s time to assert yourself on this team. Often using coarse language, Steinbrenner told Rodriguez to take more of a leadership role on and off the field, according to a baseball source who was briefed on the meeting.

The source said Steinbrenner acknowledged shortstop Derek Jeter’s influence as team captain but said there was room for Rodriguez to expand his own responsibility. Steinbrenner compared Rodriguez’s first season with the Yankees to Roger Clemens’ inaugural season in pinstripes in 1999, telling Rodriguez that he and Clemens tried too hard “to blend in like one of the guys” after joining the Yankees.

“I didn’t bring you here to be just one of the guys,” Steinbrenner said, according to the source.

So perhaps the above story has something to do with A-Rod’s nonsensical ramblings about “beating up on” Curt Schilling earlier this month. But if Alex really wants to commad the respect of his teammates, he could do worse than book himself, Jeter, Tony Womack and Tino Martinez for manicures.