Report: New York Yankees Could Discipline Alex Rodriguez over Doctor Visit
July 25, 2013 · Kenny DeJohn · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The drama never seems to end with New York Yankees third baseman (and resident headache) Alex Rodriguez.
Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com reports that the Yankees could look to potentially fine Rodriguez after receiving a second opinion on his quad strain without the permission of the organization.
The CBA (Article XIII, paragraph D, to be exact) states that a player may not seek a second medical opinion without notifying his club in writing. Rodriguez did not do so, and instead told the club about his second doctor’s visit the night after it happened.
The second opinion on his quad was given by Dr. Michael Gross.
The reason behind Rodriguez’s decision to go behind the Yankees’ backs was made clear during a phone conversation he had with team president Randy Levine.
During the phone call—which was originally intended to tell the team of his meeting with Dr. Gross—he told Levine that he did not trust Yankees’ team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad.
To put the icing on the cake, Rodriguez was again examined on Thursday by Dr. Dan Murphy (this time with the team’s consent). Dr. Murphy agreed with the original diagnosis of Dr. Ahmad—a Grade 1 quad strain.
This most recent debacle comes on the heels of a conspiracy theory thought up by Rodriguez’s team of reps. His reps believe that the Yankees are keeping Rodriguez out of game action in an effort to tarnish his image and collect insurance money from him missing a substantial portion of the season.
Needless to say, that seems ludicrous.
The Yankees are in absolutely no position to be denying anybody who can provide even a sliver of offensive firepower, so it literally makes no sense to keep Rodriguez from starting yet another rehab assignment and getting him into games as soon as possible.
Sure, the impending suspension he likely faces will be a gray cloud over what potentially could be blue skies for himself and the Yankees, but he’s innocent until proven guilty.
While still allowed to play, Rodriguez could actually be helpful. He’s no longer the 30-homer, 100-RBI threat, but even a 37-year-old with two bad hips could out-produce the third baseman that manager Joe Girardi has thrown out there on a nightly basis this season.
Even if Rodriguez does come back to finish the rest of the season, his reputation and relationship with the Yankees and the fans could be ruined forever.
Not only is he (scratch that, his reps) accusing the team of conspiring against him, but he is denying the fans of the character and class that the Yankees and their players have held for nearly the entirety of the team’s existence.
A punishment in the form of a fine would be what the Yankees need to do to regain control of this messy situation, as all they’ve allowed Rodriguez’s camp to do is make decisions without their consent and then bash the organization for it.
Rodriguez’s fate with the team—let alone Major League Baseball—is hanging in the balance. He’s a Yankee for now, so the team needs to take action and discipline their maligned slugger.
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