DENVER -- Alex Rodriguez is a weasel.
Fantastic player. Great hitter. Fabulous, skilled, amazing, incredible hitter. GQ dresser. Nice eyes.
And a complete, colossal and utter weasel.
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| A-Rod showed no desire to be at Game 4 of the World Series, but didn't mind hijacking it. (AP) |
But opting out in the middle of a World Series game is the height of arrogance. It is the Towering Inferno of arrogance. Arrogance doesn't reach higher peaks.
It's an incredibly selfish act by an incredibly selfish man, and no matter what kind of spin he attempts to put on this one, it will only be one more disingenuous and vacuous comment from an empty silk suit.
Since forever, baseball has had one mandate for every team: No significant news announcements during the World Series. The focus should be on the event. It's the pinnacle of the game. And whether you're the gaudy Yankees or the little ol' Devil Rays, this news blackout goes for you.
Usually, clubs follow it. Not always. Almost always.
There is no such restraint on individual players. So Sunday night, we learn this is the only way A-Rod has figured out a way to get himself into a World Series.
By squatting and dumping on it.
His agent, Scott Boras, e-mailed the announcement to the Associated Press during the game. And excuse me, maybe one other point should be made here:
It wasn't simply a World Series game. It was a potential clinching game.
The unmistakable message in the timing of this move: I'm bigger than the game. I'm bigger than the World Series.
On the arrogance scale, A-Rod now has done the impossible. He has made the outsized Reggie Jackson of the 1970s appear as humble as Mother Theresa.
You can sit here from now until next Wednesday with a thesaurus and a 12-pack of Red Bull and still not begin to describe the gall.
On many occasions this season, from spring training through September, A-Rod told people he wanted to stay in New York. Told people it felt like home. Said at one point this spring, in the pages of the New York Times, "I understand I have an option, but I want to be a New York Yankee."
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A-Rod as a phony is not a new story. A-Rod as a politician who puts one finger into the air to check which way the wind is blowing before he speaks is not a new story.
But A-Rod urinating on the World Series, the arrogance of his bankrupt soul growing faster than the national debt?
New story.
Oh, and one other thing: Baseball's ultimate event wasn't the only thing A-Rod kicked dirt onto Sunday.
No, our man also managed to snub the ever classy and dignified Hank Aaron, one of the all-time greats and a gentleman for the ages. See, baseball in 1999 instituted the Hank Aaron Award, a trophy that is awarded annually to the top hitter in each league. Before Game 4, there was a big ceremony to present this year's Aaron awards to Milwaukee's Prince Fielder, the National League winner, and A-Rod, the AL winner.
Guess which one didn't even bother to show?
Word was that A-Rod had a "prior commitment."
On the day of Game 4 of the World Series?
What, the guy already figured that his Yankees wouldn't be here and months ago booked an important speaking engagement?
It's either that or something he scheduled in the past three weeks, after the Yankees were eliminated on Oct. 8. And by then, it was pretty clear, given his incredible season, that he would be invited to the World Series to personally receive this award from Aaron.
Suggested New York tabloid headline: A-Rod to Hammer: Take your award and stick it.
The man had until 10 days after the conclusion of the World Series to opt out of his contract. He and Boras couldn't have waited until, say, Monday morning to notify all involved parties? Maybe allow the World Series -- mismatched snoozer that it was -- to actually conclude before moving onto this winter's matters?
The Yankees were said to be preparing another offer. Lord knows they're cold-blooded themselves and almost always undeserving of sympathy, but A-Rod couldn't have at least given them the courtesy of letting them present the offer and hearing them out before burning rubber out of the Bronx?
"Alex's decision was one based on not knowing what his closer, his catcher and one of his statured pitchers was going to do," Boras said of Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte. "He really didn't want to make any decisions until he knew what they were doing."
As if the Yankees are too broke to keep their marquee players. As if Rivera and Posada haven't been emphatic enough about their desire to stay in New York.
Unless, of course, A-Rod just assumes everybody else lies as often as he does.
So by opting out, A-Rod walks away from $72 million. And Boras puts the squeeze on the Yankees, forcing them to either cough up Old Man Steinbrenner's life savings or lose their best player. And if they decide to negotiate from here -- and they swear they won't -- Boras assuredly will use them as leverage to help drive up other teams' offers.
You wonder whether this might finally be the point when the money stops growing on trees. Don't count on it. Boras is the Joe DiMaggio of agents. His hitting streak on the $ sign is incredible, something to behold. Maybe A-Rod winds up with the Los Angeles Angels, Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets or even Boston. Boras will find somebody he can outsmart, and A-Rod will get his money.
And then he will report to spring training, start another season, and spend it wondering why everybody hates him so much.
Sure, it was Boras who precision-timed this for maximum advantage.
But ultimately, he works for A-Rod. And if A-Rod is too clumsy and stupid to take the puppet strings himself, then he is doomed to a lifetime of derision and contempt -- albeit a very rich lifetime.
"Don't sign A-Rod!" the Boston fans chanted after Game 4 here, voicing their support for World Series MVP Mike Lowell -- a third baseman who is genuine, productive and clutch.
The chants echoed into the night, much as A-Rod's silly, "I want to be a New York Yankee" statement will echo throughout his career.
Hell, nobody believed him, anyway. We've all become sadly immune to deception, misdirection and lies in this game.
But can we at least play a frickin' World Series game without A-Rod trying to hijack it for his own personal gain?
This is a man who needs to be taken down.
