Alex Rodriguez: ‘I Acted Like An A**’ Over PEDs, Benched By Joe Girardi


Alex Rodriguez has been benched by New York Yankees Manager Joe Girardi. This comes as the star, also known as A-Rod, is set to play his last game tomorrow, August 12. He has also finally made a mea culpa of sorts over the way that he behaved over the whole PED scandal that he went through a few years ago, describing himself as behaving like an a**..

In an interview with New York’s WFAN sports talk radio, Alex Rodriguez told Susan Waldman that he regretted the way in which he acted as the scandal unfolded through 2012 and 2013.

“I’m upset about the mistakes, and I’m disappointed. But I’m even more disappointed that I acted like an a**. I doubled down, and that whole process was painful. In the back nine of my career, I hope to be able to pay it forward and let youngsters know about my mistakes, and hopefully they can avoid some of those.”

This was reported along with a recording of the apology by A-Rod in the New York Daily News.

So what exactly is Mr. Rodriguez apologizing for anyway? Using performance enhancing drugs? No! Alex has still not admitted to anything.

Without rehashing the whole sordid and drawn-out scandal which Yankee fans and baseball fans were forced to suffer through for several years, we can just remind you that A-Rod tried to sue baseball for his suspension which forced him to sit out the entire 2014 baseball season. This came after Rodriguez had walked out of his own hearing when he appealed the suspension.

This also came after countless accusations that the slugger made against the New York Yankees, which included claims that they failed to treat his injuries properly and that the team was colluding with Major League Baseball in an attempt to frame him so the Yankees could save more than $50 million in salary owed to him.

In the end, Alex Rodriguez only lost about $25 million for the year he sat out. He then made a loud return in 2015, slamming out 33 home runs, but with only a .250 batting average.

So will this mea culpa satisfy angry baseball fans? Probably not. It is more reminiscent of how Pete Rose has apologized for all sorts of things since he was banned from baseball back in 1989 but not for betting on baseball games.

The people who revile A-Rod will surely continue to do so. As for the people who love him and insist that Rodriguez never did anything wrong, they do not expect any apologies anyway.

As for his benching, maybe that is why Alex is now concentrating on selling his new line of merchandise as evidenced by his most recent tweets that came with a thank you to his fans in addition to retweets from sporting goods stores.

The New York Yankees have had a disappointing season this year, and so has A-Rod. That is disappointing for Yankee fans who expect at least a division championship each year if not a World Series championship. But for most teams, this has been an OK season, with the Yankees playing just above .500 and basically tied with their crosstown rivals the New York Mets, who are now falling out of contention since starting off the 20016 season with high expectations.

So why is the benching such a big deal? First of all, Alex Rodriguez sat out the first two games of this week’s Yankees/Red Sox series in Boston, which the two teams split. This is the Yankees’ last trip to the home of their arch rival in A-Rod’s career. And while the Yankees might not make the playoffs this year, the Red Sox are still in a position to win the American League East Division. Yankees fans would love to see their team help keep that from happening by beating the Bo Sox a few times.

And more importantly, this definitely means that Alex Rodriguez will not break into the 700 home run club for his career along with only Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds. He is currently sitting on 696 home runs, and A-rod has had a measly nine home runs so far this season in more than 200 at-bats.

Rodriguez has also been hitting just .203 so far this season, which certainly played a part in Joe Girardi’s decision to bench him. This in spite of the fact that a very poor performing Derek Jeter was allowed to play every day of his final season in baseball just two years ago. But Jeter had played his entire career with the Yankees and had none of the negative baggage that A-Rod has.

A visibly annoyed Joe Girardi was forced to defend his decision in a post-game press conference, where he explained that A-Rod’s retirement announcement came only a few days before he planned to make his goodbye, and that it is not the manager’s job to operate a farewell tour for Alex.

“My job description does not entail a farewell tour. My job description is to try and win every game and put everyone in a position to do that.”

Maybe he was also concerned that if Rodriguez played these last few games, it could have had an adverse effect on his players’ performances. In any event, if the Yankees were already more than 10 games out of a playoff spot, A-Rod would certainly be playing this week.

So will Alex Rodriguez get to play one last full game before he goes? His last day will be Friday, and the New York Yankees will be playing at home against the Tampa Bay Rays, so expect A-Rod to start.

[Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images]

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