A-Rod Statement: The Tweet Was Pure Excitement About Dr. Kelly's Prognosis
By Mike Cardillo
It took all of nine tweets for injured Yankees’ third baseman Alex Rodriguez’ Twitter account to land him in hot water. Tuesday night he tweeted that a visit to Dr. Kelly, “the green light to play games again!” The tweet was read on the air during the Yankees/Rangers game, which didn’t sit well with GM Brian Cashman who offered a swift, bold, powerful retort to ESPN New York for Rodriguez to “shut the fuck up.”
Wednesday morning, as the New York media begins to circle with all this blood in the water, Rodriguez issued a statement, oddly enough not through his official Twitter account but rather his publicist Ron Berkowitz:
"“I will continue to work hard until my efforts get me back in pinstripes and help my team win. The tweet was pure excitement about Dr. Kelly’s prognosis.”"
Cashman is normally very guarded when he talks to the press and mild-mannered on top of that. For him to start dropping f-bombs is pretty good indicator how little the Yankees organization wants to do with Rodriguez and the remaining $86 million he’s owed over the next four seasons. Rodriguez’s stained reputation due to his links to the Biogenesis scandal aren’t helping matters either. This is only going to get uglier as the summer progresses, as the organization is almost forcing fans to pick a side.
The irony here is that the Yankees could use Rodriguez, assuming he’s healthy and not the shell he looked like in last October’s playoffs when he couldn’t get around on 90 mph fastballs. Rodriguez is surely an upgrade at third base over rookie David Adams , who’s put together a .105/.171/.105 line in June.
Maybe down the road Rodriguez ought to leave his Twitter account for some focus-group approved, non-committal banal tweets. Stuff like urging kids to “say their prayers, eat their vegetables and drink their milk.” Even then he’d likely attract heat. He is the “Lightning Rod” afterall.
And give credit where credit is due, Rodriguez hasn’t deleted the tweet.
[Photo via Getty]
Previously: MLB Offered $125,000 to Original Whistleblower in Biogenesis Scandal, and He Didn’t Take It
Previously: MLB’s Latest PED Scandal: Outrage, Fauxrage or None of the Above?
Previously: Alex Rodriguez Finds Himself in Another Fine Mess