Verducci On A-Rod & Yankees, Post-Breaking News
Tom Verducci rings on on the A-Rod situation…
Some highlights, at least for me:
SI.com: You chronicled A-Rod’s fragile psyche in your new book with Joe Torre, The Yankee Years. How severely could this news impact his production and the Yankees as a whole in the coming season?
Verducci: I don’t think anyone knows for sure. Larry Bowa said with great concern that he is worried about how Rodriguez will respond, knowing how he frets about even small things. Others have told me that he will be crushed because the legitimacy of his records is ruined; his greatest motivation was to be the greatest player ever. But Rodriguez has changed in the past couple of years, his personality growing a little darker and detached as his personal life blew up in public (stripper, divorce, Madonna, etc.). He could grow more Bonds-like, caring (or pretending to care) about nothing. If I had to guess, I’d say he focuses even more on his baseball and has a typical Rodriguez season.
SI.com: How will the Yankees approach this situation? Will this have any effect on Rodriguez’s $275 million contract, the richest in baseball history?
Verducci: The Yankees are stuck with him for nine years, a guy who is untradeable and unloved. They have to be reserved with how much they promote him because a guy who used steroids and lied about it is not exactly what the image-conscious Yankees want as a face of the franchise. They’re stuck paying him and they’re stuck paying those garish bonuses based on home run milestones, a bad idea that looks embarrassing now that those milestones are meaningless.
SI.com: When and how do you think Rodriguez will respond to this news? And how do you think he should respond?
Verducci: I think he’s going to need some kind of crisis management professional here, because it’s more complicated than fans think. If he tries to limit an admission to 2003, for instance, look at the potential trouble he faces: a guy with a credibility problem already who would want you to believe he was so unlucky as to be caught the first and only time he tried something. And the timing is curious. First, you will hear from Canseco again about the 1990s. Second, does it make any sense that somebody resisted steroids for eight years in places such as Seattle and Texas in the Wild West days when there was no drug testing or public pressure whatsoever, and then suddenly (and with the security of a $252 million contract in his pocket) choose to use them precisely when drug testing and the public pressure are put in place for the first time (after the 2002 SI Special Report on steroids, including an admission by Ken Caminiti)?
And if he goes the plausible deniability route (early signals from his camp questioned the technicalities of the testing process), he chooses to go down the path of Bonds as the uncontrite villain. In any case, given his Hollywood publicity agents, I expect he’ll put himself in front of camera very soon with a friendly interviewer to control his very carefully crafted message, rather than a news conference.
Me? I think the jury is still out on how this plays with Alex’s head – and performance. As far as the Yankees, no doubt, going foward, they need to consider how much they want to promote him – and the team through his image. Lastly, A-Rod had better be very careful with how he speaks to all this stuff. If he wants to play the “unlucky as to be caught the first and only time he tried something” card, it better be the truth. Because…you know…everyone is going to be digging for stuff on him now. And, if he claims that 2003 was a ‘one and done’ thing, and then it’s later found out that he’s been using since 1999 (or something like that), at that point, he’s a two-time liar on the same subject…and will have zero credibility after that.
As far as the Yankees, no doubt, going foward, they need to consider how much they want to promote him – and the team through his image.
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That is an interesting point you brought up; the marketing of the club for the next few years.