Sunday, January 25, 2015 1:10:09 PM
Yankees reject Alex Rodriguez's mea culpa meeting request after Biogenesis scandal
The disgraced superstar offered to meet face-to-face with team executives to apologize for his role in the Biogenesis scandal and clear the air before players report to Tampa next month, the Daily News has learned, but the Yankee brass declined the invitation, telling Rodriguez, 'We’ll see you in spring training.'
BY Teri Thompson , Bill Madden , Michael O'keeffe
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Saturday, January 24, 2015, 5:24 PM
Updated: Sunday, January 25, 2015, 2:01 AM
Alex Rodriguez wanted to meet with the Yankees, who told him thanks but no thanks. Winslow Townson/AP Alex Rodriguez wanted to meet with the Yankees, who told him thanks but no thanks.
The Yankees have answered Alex Rodriguez’s attempts to apologize for his season-long steroid suspension and the scorched-earth tactics he used to fight the ban with a Bronx cheer.
The disgraced superstar offered to meet face-to-face with team executives to apologize for his role in the Biogenesis scandal and clear the air before players report to Tampa next month, the Daily News has learned, but the Yankee brass declined the invitation, telling Rodriguez, “We’ll see you in spring training.”
Rodriguez, described by one source as now looking noticeably thinner and “massless” than in previous years, has also attempted to cushion his re-entry into baseball with at least two meetings with MLB that began late last summer with new commissioner Rob Manfred.
The Daily News first reported last February, following A-Rod’s admission to DEA agents that he had paid Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch $12,000 a month for steroids and the subsequent abandonment of his lawsuits against MLB, that Rodriguez had reached out to Manfred to attempt a rapprochement. Rodriguez acknowledged then to government agents that he had purchased the drugs from Bosch after signing a proffer agreement with federal prosecutors that shielded him from prosecution for his admissions.
The first face-to-face meeting, however, occurred about six months later when Rodriguez and Manfred met in late summer last year at MLB’s Park Avenue offices. About a week after his DEA confession, which was spurred by his agreement to cooperate with the U.S. Attorneys prosecuting Bosch and other Biogenesis defendants, Rodriguez also abandoned lawsuits against MLB, then-commissioner Bud Selig and the Players Association.
Rodriguez met Manfred again on Wednesday of last week. The meetings were at MLB’s offices and were attended by Manfred and other MLB executives.
According to a source, Manfred told Rodriguez in the final meeting that he will now have to deal with the Yankees. “You’re done here,” A-Rod was told regarding their meetings, according to the source. “You’re a Yankee and you have to work things out now with them.”
The News has learned that Rob Manfred is not the only one A-Rod tried to have a sitdown apology with.
But the Yankees, according to the source, told Rodriguez that they will deal with him “like every other player” when the steroid-stained star reports to their Tampa spring training facility on Feb. 25, rather than offering him the superstar treatment they have provided him in the past. There have been reports that A-Rod plans to make a public apology to the Yankees and their fans, but it is unclear whether the team will provide a forum for a press conference.
It is unclear if Rodriguez and Manfred discussed the tactics Rodriguez and his lawyers and advisers employed against MLB, the Yankees and even some members of the media as MLB investigated his role in the Biogenesis scandal and as he fought his suspension. Perhaps the lowest point came when A-Rod stood up during one session of his arbitration hearing in November 2013, cursed at Manfred and stormed out of the hearing.
According to sources, however, that was hardly the most egregious of the tactics Rodriguez and his associates used during his suspension battle.
“There’s a lot of fence-mending to be done above and beyond his storming out of the arbitration hearing,” one MLB source said of the meetings, all initiated by Rodriguez and his most recent lawyer, the highly respected defense lawyer Jim Sharp.
Relations between Rodriguez, MLB and the Yankees became so heated in late 2013 and early 2014 that baseball executives and team officials hired extra security for protection, going so far as to have their homes and offices swept for bugging devices and employing bodyguards to accompany them, according to sources.
“He put everyone through a lot of undue grief and unnecessary expense,” said one baseball source.
Hal and Jennifer Steinbrenner.
In one incident at a charity event at the Manhattan Woods Golf Club in Pearl River, N.Y., Manfred’s caddy was approached by an investigator allegedly working for Rodriguez demanding to know what Manfred had been discussing during his golf round.
Once Rodriguez signed a proffer agreement with prosecutors, he changed his legal team to include Sharp and powered down his attacks on baseball. He also limited his public statements, saying he simply wanted to get in the best shape possible for spring training and a return to the Yankees.
It is hard to imagine the frayed relations between A-Rod and the Yankees – who still owe Rodriguez $61 million through 2017 — can ever be fully mended, given the legal attacks and media assault he and his lawyers unleashed throughout the Biogenesis saga. Rodriguez’s status as a key government witness in the government’s prosecution of his cousin, Yuri Sucart, will be a painful reminder of those hard feelings. Sucart’s trial is scheduled to begin on April 6 – the same day the Yankees open at home against Toronto.
The next battle looming, according to sources, will be over the performance clauses in A-Rod’s contract, part of a separate marketing contract between the slugger and the Yankees.
Rodriguez, who has 654 career home runs, needs to hit just six more to tie Willie Mays’ 660 and receive a $6 million bonus. The deal also calls for him to receive $6 million if he ties Babe Ruth (714), another $6 million if he ties Hank Aaron (755) and yet another $6 million if surpasses Barry Bonds (762) to become baseball’s all-time home run king.
But with A-Rod’s pursuit of the records discredited by his steroid admissions the Yankees will argue that those milestones are no longer valid in terms of marketing deals.
The disgraced superstar offered to meet face-to-face with team executives to apologize for his role in the Biogenesis scandal and clear the air before players report to Tampa next month, the Daily News has learned, but the Yankee brass declined the invitation, telling Rodriguez, 'We’ll see you in spring training.'
BY Teri Thompson , Bill Madden , Michael O'keeffe
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Saturday, January 24, 2015, 5:24 PM
Updated: Sunday, January 25, 2015, 2:01 AM
Alex Rodriguez wanted to meet with the Yankees, who told him thanks but no thanks. Winslow Townson/AP Alex Rodriguez wanted to meet with the Yankees, who told him thanks but no thanks.
The Yankees have answered Alex Rodriguez’s attempts to apologize for his season-long steroid suspension and the scorched-earth tactics he used to fight the ban with a Bronx cheer.
The disgraced superstar offered to meet face-to-face with team executives to apologize for his role in the Biogenesis scandal and clear the air before players report to Tampa next month, the Daily News has learned, but the Yankee brass declined the invitation, telling Rodriguez, “We’ll see you in spring training.”
Rodriguez, described by one source as now looking noticeably thinner and “massless” than in previous years, has also attempted to cushion his re-entry into baseball with at least two meetings with MLB that began late last summer with new commissioner Rob Manfred.
The Daily News first reported last February, following A-Rod’s admission to DEA agents that he had paid Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch $12,000 a month for steroids and the subsequent abandonment of his lawsuits against MLB, that Rodriguez had reached out to Manfred to attempt a rapprochement. Rodriguez acknowledged then to government agents that he had purchased the drugs from Bosch after signing a proffer agreement with federal prosecutors that shielded him from prosecution for his admissions.
The first face-to-face meeting, however, occurred about six months later when Rodriguez and Manfred met in late summer last year at MLB’s Park Avenue offices. About a week after his DEA confession, which was spurred by his agreement to cooperate with the U.S. Attorneys prosecuting Bosch and other Biogenesis defendants, Rodriguez also abandoned lawsuits against MLB, then-commissioner Bud Selig and the Players Association.
Rodriguez met Manfred again on Wednesday of last week. The meetings were at MLB’s offices and were attended by Manfred and other MLB executives.
According to a source, Manfred told Rodriguez in the final meeting that he will now have to deal with the Yankees. “You’re done here,” A-Rod was told regarding their meetings, according to the source. “You’re a Yankee and you have to work things out now with them.”
The News has learned that Rob Manfred is not the only one A-Rod tried to have a sitdown apology with.
But the Yankees, according to the source, told Rodriguez that they will deal with him “like every other player” when the steroid-stained star reports to their Tampa spring training facility on Feb. 25, rather than offering him the superstar treatment they have provided him in the past. There have been reports that A-Rod plans to make a public apology to the Yankees and their fans, but it is unclear whether the team will provide a forum for a press conference.
It is unclear if Rodriguez and Manfred discussed the tactics Rodriguez and his lawyers and advisers employed against MLB, the Yankees and even some members of the media as MLB investigated his role in the Biogenesis scandal and as he fought his suspension. Perhaps the lowest point came when A-Rod stood up during one session of his arbitration hearing in November 2013, cursed at Manfred and stormed out of the hearing.
According to sources, however, that was hardly the most egregious of the tactics Rodriguez and his associates used during his suspension battle.
“There’s a lot of fence-mending to be done above and beyond his storming out of the arbitration hearing,” one MLB source said of the meetings, all initiated by Rodriguez and his most recent lawyer, the highly respected defense lawyer Jim Sharp.
Relations between Rodriguez, MLB and the Yankees became so heated in late 2013 and early 2014 that baseball executives and team officials hired extra security for protection, going so far as to have their homes and offices swept for bugging devices and employing bodyguards to accompany them, according to sources.
“He put everyone through a lot of undue grief and unnecessary expense,” said one baseball source.
Hal and Jennifer Steinbrenner. In one incident at a charity event at the Manhattan Woods Golf Club in Pearl River, N.Y., Manfred’s caddy was approached by an investigator allegedly working for Rodriguez demanding to know what Manfred had been discussing during his golf round.
Once Rodriguez signed a proffer agreement with prosecutors, he changed his legal team to include Sharp and powered down his attacks on baseball. He also limited his public statements, saying he simply wanted to get in the best shape possible for spring training and a return to the Yankees.
It is hard to imagine the frayed relations between A-Rod and the Yankees – who still owe Rodriguez $61 million through 2017 — can ever be fully mended, given the legal attacks and media assault he and his lawyers unleashed throughout the Biogenesis saga. Rodriguez’s status as a key government witness in the government’s prosecution of his cousin, Yuri Sucart, will be a painful reminder of those hard feelings. Sucart’s trial is scheduled to begin on April 6 – the same day the Yankees open at home against Toronto.
The next battle looming, according to sources, will be over the performance clauses in A-Rod’s contract, part of a separate marketing contract between the slugger and the Yankees.
Rodriguez, who has 654 career home runs, needs to hit just six more to tie Willie Mays’ 660 and receive a $6 million bonus. The deal also calls for him to receive $6 million if he ties Babe Ruth (714), another $6 million if he ties Hank Aaron (755) and yet another $6 million if surpasses Barry Bonds (762) to become baseball’s all-time home run king.
But with A-Rod’s pursuit of the records discredited by his steroid admissions the Yankees will argue that those milestones are no longer valid in terms of marketing deals.
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