Alex Rodriguez is in apology mode once again. It appears as though, at least for the time being, the Yankees are willing to play along. Sort of.
The Yankees aren’t just willing to let bygones be bygones, and they’re still going to try and withhold some home run bonuses for big dollars he has a chance to reach. And there’s still plenty of buzz that if Rodriguez sans steroids breaks down during spring training, there won’t be many tears shed in the Yankees front offices.
The Yankees have also reportedly told ARod that he needs to clear the air with the media sometime between now and next Friday when pitchers and catchers are due to report to camp.
Here’s where I’m perhaps going to have a problem. According to what was written on espn.com, Rodriguez will be the one who gets to put together the setup with the media.
Sorry, but that’s a red flag for me. We’ve already been down this road before. I have no interest whatsoever with Rodriguez selecting someone to sit down with for an “extensive” one on one interview. We’ve already traveled that road with Peter Gammons conducting the ridiculous “loose goosy” conversation in which the subject basically admitted nothing, and we know now, was barely truthful.
If ARod wants to sit on a podium and answer what figures to be some really rough questions from a variety of respected baseball journalists, that’s fine. Let the cameras roll, and we can judge him on what he says.
But if this is all a prelude to another softball session where Alex Rodriguez gets to basically call his own shots, no thanks. This time, he needs to face the music and let the chips fall where they may.