HERE COMES THE AROD CRUCIFIXION

So Brian Cashman came out yesterday to tell all of Yankeeland that there is a "chance" that Alex Rodriguez could miss the entire 2013 season, read HERE.  Half of you weren’t surprised.  The other half, or more than half... got pissed.  Am I right? Me? I sighed, then grabbed my lunch at the deli, sat down and ate it.  I had forgotten once I tasted my hoagie.  You can’t hang on everything Brian Cashman says, he’s just covering his ass and I get it. The reality is, There's no news to this story, it's a nugget and we will have no idea of ARod's recovery, until he's, well, recovering. Don't sweat it.

Look, it has become crystal clear to me that Alex Rodriguez is now a broken down, average, baseball player that has an injury that may in fact end his career, or at least slow him down.  For me personally, I'd be bummed if Alex missed the year, but look, anything can happen, know that!  Alex could come back this season and be perfectly fine after the All-Star Break.  Now, for me, when talking timeline, I’m thinking more like September, but for the sake of argument, let’s just say he misses 2013.  I don't believe it, but say he does... What the hell are you going to do? Scream? Punch a kid? No, you can’t freak out about it.  But people will.  People will scream that Alex Rodriguez was the biggest waste of money ever.  People will Tweet that he’s robbing the Yankees, that he destroyed the franchise, that he’s a waste of space and a piece of shit.  He’s not.  It’s actually my opinion that he’s made some stupid mistakes and he’s legitimately injured and the 2 together is a coincidence.  Sure, I sound naive, but that’s just me, thinking simply, like I always do. I’m not getting heated about this.  

Back when Alex Rodriguez signed with the Yankees, it was a big deal.  I knew at that moment, Alex was the best player in baseball and so did the New York Yankees. But many hated him because of his inflated salary.  But I have always thought this way, and I'll say it now... how do you blame a guy who was able to negotiate a huge contract? Blame the dudes with the dough. Anyone who could see dumping that much money into a player like that seems silly, but whatever…it happened.  At the time, I understood the Yankees marketing scheme was all coming together… get the best player in the game to hit the most home runs ever in baseball, hence, bringing the all-time home run record back to the Yankees, hopefully forever.  It really didn’t matter if it was Alex Rodriguez or Dale Berra, if that player could do it and if the Yankee could own that crown again, it would put butts in the seats, and merchandise galore.  They were set.   

But they didn’t know they’d have a PEDs problem with Alex and when that happened, the trouble seemed to start.  Now, there are plenty out there that speculate that PEDs killed Alex’s hip.  I’m not smart enough to know that and I’m not going there.  I will say that it’s been a battle for years to get him right, and 2009, it all came together perfectly.  But then, injury happened again.

Now we sit here wondering, will Alex come back in 2013? I can’t answer that and you know what? I’m not going to. I’ll leave that to you.  I made a vow to myself that it’s not worth getting angry about the Yankees anymore.  It’s clear times have changed things and as far as I’m concerned, I’m going to root for my team, root for my players and then shut the TV off and go to bed, win or lose, because, to be quite honest, there’s a lot more important crap going on.  Sure, I’ll take it all in and I’ll watch a game with my kids, but wondering about the health of Alex Rodriguez or Kevin Youkilis is exhausting. It’s also not my job.

I will say this, I’ll write about it. I’ll take a jab once in a while. I’ll laugh about my Yanks when I see fit, but note to self, "No need  to get upset, it just ain’t worth it."

I wish Alex well.  I have always liked the guy.  I felt like he finally “got it” in 2009 and I’ll continue to root for him as long as he plays.  But what once was a great, great game has been tarnished by a lot of nuttiness. Sooner or later, you need to step back and just watch and sure, make a comment once in a while, but don’t take it personally.  I promised myself I’d do that in 2013… you know what? I’m going to.

How do you feel about Alex? Comment and tell me.

Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.