With the World Baseball classic ahead, the Dominican Republic team welcomes Alex Rodriguez, baseball icon who is the center of the steroid scandal in that has rocked the Major League. His admission to using Performance Enhancement Drugs in 2001 and 03 while with the Texas Rangers made him a controversial player in the history of MLB.
Stan Javier is all praises for A-Rod despite the negative publicity. The Dominicans’ general manager is optimistic that the latest storm in the baseball star’s career will hardly affect his performance in the WBC.
From the Seattle Times:
“Alex is the best player in baseball,” said Stan Javier, the Dominican Republic’s general manager and also a former Mariner. “When we found out he was playing for us, I was very happy for him and very happy for us.”
For three months, Javier and manager Felipe Alou worked to assemble the most potent team possible. Javier lamented how superstars Albert Pujols, Alfonso Soriano and Vladimir Guerrero were not playing for the Dominican Republic. But the team had Rodriguez drop into its dugout when he said his mother wanted him to play for her native country.
As the Yankees know and as the Dominican Republic team might learn, the attention will often tilt toward A-Rod.
“We have to see and wait how Alex does,” Javier said. “I hope that he can be in a very relaxed environment. Like the slogan says, ‘Talk baseball.’ That’s what we’re trying to do. I hope it’s a nice environment for him and the other teams to play in.”
Alex met with the MLB Officials last Sunday to answer questions that were focused mainly on his cousin Yuri Sucart who injected him with the steroids and the Alex Presinal. Presinal worked with the Dominicans in 2006 WBC but will not be used by the team this year.
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