Alex Rodriguez’s misfortune was a boon for his teammates CC Sabthia, Mark Teixeira, A.J. Burnett and Nick Swisher. Since February 13 the spotlight had been on A-Rod following his admission that he took steroids in 2001-2003. After that his name got linked with Dominican trainer Angel Presinal who gat banned from ballparks and MLB training facilities. A week after there was Yuri Sucart, A Rod’s cousin. Rodriguez made the news almost everyday. According to the tally he was on the back cover of the paper 21 times and 16 times on the front. Andy Pettitte called it crazy.
It seemed that anywhere he went and whatever he did, Rodriguez always made it to the headlines. It was not just steroids, there was his transfer to the Dominican Republic team to play with them for the World Baseball Classics, trainings barely started he’s off to Vail for a surgery, even when he was lying low the media still had something to write about. There was the madam from the escort service. The spotlight just trailed him around.
From The Daily News:
“I’m sure a lot of players appreciated it in one sense,” Girardi said. “Not that Alex was going through that, but the focus wasn’t on them. They were allowed to just get ready.”
None of the new players seemed uncomfortable dealing with the fallout from the constant cloud of controversy hovering over the Yankees’ clubhouse, handling the crush with ease.
“Even with all the distractions that were going on, they just did their thing,” Mariano Rivera said. “I like that. That tells me good things about them. They’re ready for this stage.”
With Alex recuperating in Aspen until May, things are expected to get back to normal. Girardi was happy that despite the distractions the players continued to focus on their training. Rivera says he was convinced that the team was a solid group. Despite the adversity they had faced they had remained intact.
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