Picking Splinters

It’s not the middle of the American League Championship Series. Really. I swear. In fact the baseball season hasn’t even started yet. Not even close. But you’d never know that given all of these verbal jabs against Alex Rodriguez coming out of the Red Sox Spring Training Camp. Even if the Red Sox players are being baited by New York media.

As far as I’m concerned all of this Alex Rodriguez bashing is getting blown out of proportion. Just look at what Trot Nixon said regarding Rodriguez:

“I don’t look at him as that. He might be in a lot of people's eyes,” Nixon said. “He’s done some great things on the field. He’s one of the best baseball players in the game and probably will be when it’s all said and done.

“But when people ask me about the Yankees, I tell them about (Derek) Jeter and Bernie Williams and (Jorge) Posada. I don’t tell them about Rodriguez. ... He can't stand up to Jeter in my book or Bernie Williams or Posada.”

Yeah, that really hurts when some jerk calls you one of the greatest players in the game. Zing! I don’t think most people consider A-Rod to be a Yankee in the truest sense of the word. That’s like saying people don’t think of Shemp when they think of the Three Stooges. For starters, he’s been on the team for one season, while Jeter, Williams and Posada have been Yankees since their days in the farm system.

Similarly he’s been about as un-clutch as an automatic transmission. His debut season was a relative disappointment, not because of his statistical output (though it was low by A-Rod standards) but because he repeatedly failed to deliver the pivotal plays that Jeter (the legendary back-handed flip against the A’s in 2001, Williams (Game-winning HR against the Orioles in the 1996 ALCS) and Posada (game-tying RBI double off Pedro Martinez in Game Seven of the 2003 ALCS) have delivered over the course of their careers in pinstripes.

And then there’s the criticism by Nixon and Curt Schilling about Rodriguez slapping the ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s glove during the 2004 ALCS. All that is fair, but it’s water under the bridge. It was a cheap move, and an illegal one. And it will haunt A-Rod for the rest of his playing career and is likely what invited the additional comments by Nixon insinuating that he was a filthy rich jerk who neglected his child. Now them’s fightin’ words. At least that’s how the press has been playing them up.

Is this really the biggest story of the Spring? Grown ups essentially calling each other names?

Within the Red Sox compound, questions abound about the health of their pitching staff. The Yanks are dealing with questions about Giambi’s rebound from steroid withdrawal. Major League Baseball has been desperate to sweep the Jose Canseco-fueled steroid controversy under the rug, essentially confirming that there’s at least some element of truth to the slime ball’s story by announcing they wouldn’t even look in to the allegations. The two most consistently solid pitching staffs (the Atlanta Braves and Oakland A’s) are sporting radical makeovers. And lest anyone forget, the Montreal Expos have relocated to the capital of the United States and are abuzz with activity. Heck, there’s even a legal battle over fantasy baseball.

So with all this going on, is A-Rod’s image the biggest story out there? No. But there is something interesting going on that is worth noting.

It seems that Rodriguez might be treading in the slippery footsteps of Kobe Bryant. Not in the court room sense mind you, but rather on the image front and in the eyes of his fellow players.

Like Kobe there’s no doubting A-Rod’s abilities. And from all appearances both men play hard, play with a smile and want to win. But like Bryant, a lot of people simply seem to dislike Rodriguez.

A-Rod has said some dumb things. He implied that while the rest of the leagues players lazed in bed, he was working out in the early morning hours. He called the cheap play in which he knocked the ball free from Arroyo’s glove “brilliant,” expounding by saying: “We almost got away with it. It took a lot of guts for the umpire, I think it was Jim Joyce, to make that call (in Yankee Stadium).”

It’s not like Rodriguez meant any harm with those statements. It’s not like he insulted the ridiculous facial hair configurations of the Red Sox, or ridiculed Trot Nixon for carrying on the family tradition of naming his son with a verb (Chase). He was simply trying to say that he was working hard to improve in the off-season. In the latter comments he probably thought people would identify with his desire to win. But people don’t take it that way. Even players on his own team are hesitant to defend him, while they rally around Jason Giambi.

So while the Boston and New York media will continue to portray a Yankee or Red Sox player biting off a hangnail on his thumb as an incident likely to set off some sort of Montague-vs.-Capulet rumble, the A-Rod bashing stories are far from a big deal in terms of the 2005 season. But the apparent disconnect between Rodriguez and other players around the majors, could be something to keep your eye on as the delicate Yankee chemistry is tested during the course of the year.

Mike Hume may be emailed at mhume@fcnp.com