Does anyone remember the Yankees brawl with Seattle in which Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez playfully chatted as their teammates fought? Jeter's actions, and Chad Curtis' resulting harsh criticism, sent Curtis packing and proved to players league wide that the two shortstops were the best of pals. In an interview with reporters this morning, Rodriguez confirmed what everyone knew for years. Those days are long gone. He really picked an interesting day for this revelation. Today marked the first day of Spring Training for position players, a day already being hyped at Legends field due to the absence of long-time Yankee Bernie Williams.
Given a few hours to reflect on Rodriguez's comments, I've come to the following conclusions. First of all, it's almost refreshing to see A-Rod go against the grain. Since arriving in New York he's been so careful with his words, but anyone with a pulse could tell things were clearly strained from his published criticism of the Yankee captain. He figured he'd have to field questions about his and Jeter's relationship, so it was good to see him take the offensive. However, it will open the flood gates on the speculation that he'll opt out of his contract after this season. People will blow these comments out of proportion and it could be a lingering issue in the press. Any signs of tension between the two will be front page news and could serve as an unnecessary distraction. Will it actually be a problem? I think not. Athletes are too competitive to let petty differences affect their performance on the field. They both realize they need each other to play well in order to achieve their common goal of winning the World Series. Hopefully this disclosure, albeit not a surprising one, will start to put this issue to bed.
For more on this, check out this article available at MLB.com.
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