Yankee Hotstove

Weirder Every Day

Here's something that purports to explain the series of events from A-Rod's perspective. Interesting reading.

"He read all the criticism online from home," one person who spoke to Rodriguez said. "And when he was out of the country, he was calling people every day to find out what was being said about him. I think it got to the point where he truly was in a state of depression."

More than anything, it apparently was the very public and seemingly ironclad dismissal by Hank Steinbrenner after the opt-out that made A-Rod begin to re-think his willingness to let Boras once again dictate the direction his career would take.

"That's why he called me, to ask if Hank was serious about closing the door on him," a second person said yesterday. "From what I gathered, Boras had been telling him not to worry about what Brian Cashman was saying about the opt-out, partly because they knew they had George on their side.

"But then Alex saw the shift in power, with the Steinbrenner sons taking over, and here was Hank saying 'Goodbye, we don't want you if you don't want to be a Yankee.' Those words really messed with his mind because he really did want to be a Yankee."

Yes, there are indications that Boras had convinced Rodriguez that all of the talk about an opt-out ultimatum from Cashman was merely negotiating rhetoric, regularly reminding him George Steinbrenner was on his side.
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People who should know say that while Rodriguez had given Boras the go-ahead to opt out, he had no idea the agent would leak the news in a way that would upstage the World Series.

"He was blind-sided by the timing," was the way one person put it. "He was (ticked) and he got more (ticked) as time went on and he saw the hit his reputation was taking. The demand for his (merchandising products) dried up almost immediately.

"He was so angry at Boras that at one point he told friends he was thinking of suing him. Then there was a series of steps that led him to take control of the situation. The Lowell talks (with the Yankees) pushed him over the edge. He didn't want any part of going to Boston. So he made his move without Boras.

"I think their relationship will survive - there's too much history there. But I don't think it will ever be the same."

So this dovetails with the Kevin Long/Brian Cashman conversation that was reported yesterday. Interesting line about the merchandising demand. When he opted out, I looked at my A-Rod signature Louisville Slugger and thought, what do I do with this now? ("try actually using it" says my partner "instead of worshiping it"). Typical A-Rod - Weird, weird, weird.

Jeter would never put me and other fans through this kind of shit. No, he puts you through this other kind of shit. :)

New York state tax officials want Jeter to fork over what could be hundreds of thousands — even millions of dollars— in back taxes and interest for the years 2001 to 2003, when the baseball shortstop claimed residency in Florida, despite his high-profile presence in New York’s sports and gossip pages during that time.

Lawyers for Jeter, who has an off-season home in Tampa, Fla., dispute the claims that Jeter “immersed himself in the New York community” and made “numerous statements professing his love for New York" during the disputed period, according to documents published this week on a state Web site monitored by FOXNews.com.

Pay your taxes properly, Jetes!