Alex Rodriguez v. Derek Jeter rehab & quad treatment by the Yankees.

Before it hit the media fan in recent days, was I the only Yankee fan who wondered why Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter seemed to be getting different treatment from Yankee management?

For rehab games:
Rodriguez: AA Trenton, then AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
Jeter: AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

Then Jeter was activated and injured his quadriceps in his only game.  He then stayed with the Yankees and did physical therapy with the team even on the road.  Jeter is on the disabled list (DL), due off Saturday.

Rodriguez has not played for the Yankees this season.  He indicated that he, too, had injured his quadriceps.  The Yankees wanted a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and you can read your favorite tabloid version of events associated with this.

I'm not into gossip, especially the sordid detailed stuff that's been floating around.  But as a Yankee fan I had thought it odd that Jeter was with the team and Rodriguez was not.

Rodriguez has played nine seasons with the Yankees, won two MVP awards as a Yankee and is the all time Yankee third baseman, as Jeter is the all time Yankee shortstop. Rodriguez plate appearances:
Yankees 5,476
Seattle 3,515
Texas 2,172 (one MVP)

Clearly, Rodriguez is a Yankee.  So what's the problem?  Primarily it is Rodriguez himself.  Tomorrow Rodriguez will be 38 years old, yet he is still unsure of himself and still awkward socially.  He seems to have become aware of twitter rather late and his advisers should advise him not to use it.  Rodriguez seems to get under the skin of some people.

Then there are the steroids.  Rodriguez appears to have used steroids, lied about that and now, maybe repeated that pattern.  Bad but ultimately a big fat so what except for the under the skin stuff already mentioned.

As a practical matter my non-lawyer's view is that the Major Baseball League (MBL) will have a very difficult time making a case for suspension and an even more difficult time justifying a suspension to an arbitrator after Rodriguez appeals.  Paying witnesses, as the MBL did, will not play well on appeal.

All of which makes the Yankees dealings with Rodriguez all the more puzzling until we consider the Steinbrenner factor.  It was the late George who paid a weasel named Howie Spira to dig up dirt on nine year Yankee Dave Winfield, since inducted into the Hall of Fame.  The Steinbrenner kids (actually four adults) now seem to have a similar situation, regretting a big contract paid to a player and ultimately being disappointed by that player's inability to deliver championships.  Rodriguez was instrumental in the Yankees winning in 2009 but has disappointed overall.

There is also the rift between the Steinbrenner kids, primarily Hal and the vanquished Hank, and general manager Brian Cashman who grows more arrogant by the day.  Cashman correctly thought that extending the already bloated Rodriguez contract inherited from Texas was ill advised but Yankee president Randy Levine, whose function and value are still unclear, gave Rodriguez the extra years and money that now so burden the Yankees.

Which brings us to an age old baseball oddity, that of denigrating the product.  Rodriguez will probably wind up playing for the Yankees this season.  The Yankees are three games out of the second wild card spot and Rodriguez could clearly be the difference.  So far Yankee players at third base have hit four home runs.  Rodriguez could probably do that playing only in September.

So unless the paranoia of Rodriguez has some further validity, like the Yankees don't want him to play so that an insurance company will pay him instead of the Yankees, then all parties should come to terms.

Yankee captain Derek Jeter could exert some influence but, as usual, shows no such inclination.  Oh captain, my captain!