Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger that he is “not comfortable anymore” talking to Alex Rodriguez given the litigious nature of the third baseman’s interactions with the club lately. Rodriguez’s lawyers recently filed a grievance over the team’s medical treatment of Rodriguez dating back to the post-season last year. Cashman defended the medical staff and expressed shock at the entire situation, saying, “We’ve never had anything like this. This is my 16th year. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
More, from McCullough’s column:“If you all remember, last year, just let’s turn the clock back again. We enter the playoffs. He finally gets healthy from the broken wrist. I think you guys – not us – you guys, the media, asked him how he feels going into the playoffs. He said he felt the best he’s ever felt, or something to that effect, correct?
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“We have a whole level of medical staff. We have team doctors. We have team trainers. We have a strength and conditioning coach. We have chiropractors. All of which get their hands on this guy. All of which he interacts with, every single one of them has their own level of dedications with each off our players, that they provide services for. And they’re all the same. No complaints. Nothing.”
Cashman added that the entire situation involving Rodriguez is “definitely a distraction” and called it “frustrating”.
After this season, Rodriguez will still have four years and $86 million left on his contract extension signed in December 2007. Currently at 648 career home runs, he can earn an extra $6 million by reaching 660 home runs. His ability to hit 12 more home runs is highly in doubt as Major League Baseball levied a 211-game suspension against him for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal, which he is currently appealing.