WHEN IT COMES TO A-ROD, IT'S UNITE OR DIVIDE
Joel Sherman
from nypost.com
October 11, 2006 -- THIS felt like an either/or proposition. This felt like
Joe Torre goes, Alex Rodriguez stays. Joe Torre stays, Alex Rodriguez goes.
It felt like changing managers was the last gambit available to the Yankees
to try to get the best out of Rodriguez from April-though-October, especially
if the new manager was going to be Lou Piniella. There is no hiding the
reality that Rodriguez was more comfortable in Piniella's lineup in Seattle
than bouncing between second, cleanup and, eventually, sixth and eighth for
Torre.
Now that Torre is back, the Yankees have to seriously consider trading
Rodriguez, recognizing there is unlikely to ever be full comfort in the
clubhouse between the manager and the most sensitive player. The most overt
embodiment of the frosty Derek Jeter-Alex Rodriguez relationship is played
out most fully in the uncomfortable bond between Torre and Rodriguez.
Jeter is Torre's most beloved son and A-Rod, who so badly needs the approval
of those around him, is the other guy. It is hard to see how that changes if
A-Rod reaches Year 4 as a Yankee. It is hard to see how the soap opera ever
diminishes. Both feel betrayed by the other and neither forgives easily, if
at all. Among other items, Torre does not like that A-Rod sought batting tips
in season from Piniella while the Rodriguez camp senses Torre dished too much
inside and damning info about Rodriguez in last month's infamous Sports
Illustrated piece.
Can you really see everyone letting bygones be bygones? Can you believe
Rodriguez will really free himself of all that clutter in his overactive mind
and overcome the booing, expectations and touchy relationships? Can anyone
really imagine Torre investing full faith in a player he simply does not have
full faith in?
Wouldn't it be better for the Yanks and Torre to say this was a noble
experiment gone bad and turn Rodriguez into as much young, high-end pitching
as possible? Wouldn't it be best for Rodriguez to reclaim his full greatness
in a place where that would be made easier because his every sentence and
facial expression was not being scrutinized for deeper meaning?
Yet at the press conference yesterday to announce Torre was coming back to
manage his 12th - and likely last - season with the Yankees, both Torre and
GM Brian Cashman expressed expectation that Rodriguez would return, as well.
And, even in the aftermath of another failed postseason for him and the
Yanks, Rodriguez was insisting that he would never ask out.
So if everyone is to be taken at their word, then Torre's first job in this
next, perhaps final, phase as manager is to meet soon with Rodriguez
face-to-face. He needs to model this meeting off the one he had last year
with George Steinbrenner at a time after the season when Torre was not sure
he wanted to return and The Boss was not positive he wanted to keep Torre. To
appease his mind, Torre knew he had to see Steinbrenner in person in Tampa
and put all the uncomfortable issues that existed between them - the
backbiting, the second-guessing questions fed to YES - on the table. No
bluffing, no artifice.
From that meeting, a better relationship flourished. Torre pledged to call
Steinbrenner regularly during the season to make sure the lines of
communications and true feelings never dimmed. He did. Folks around the Yanks
will tell you that it was a success story of 2006.
Well, now Torre and Rodriguez need to stop pulling punches with each other.
Rodriguez, who always seems to be reading lines from a particularly horrible
p.r. agency, has to honestly tell Torre why he feels disrespected, from the
lineup card to being compared unfavorably to Jeter. Torre needs to explain
himself by delineating all the places he senses Rodriguez has tried to ignore
issues of jittery nerves and ebbing confidence.
It is possible such a meeting would harden feelings, leave matters in further
disrepair. But it must be tried because there is also a chance - a last
chance - for a new start; a forged pact where both recognize there is no way
to win a championship in 2007 without each other's full support and faith.
joel.sherman@nypost.com
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