The New A-Rod Lawsuit Is No Joke

If you're going to burn every bridge, you might as well soak them in lighter fluid and fire a flamethrower at them to make sure every last bit turns to ash, right?  The full lawsuit filed by Alex Rodriguez's lawyers yesterday is available to the public and it doesn't pull any punches.  My favorite passage might be this one about the MLBPA:

" MLBPA determined early on that it did not want to "take on" MLB over the alleged use of PES by Mr. Rodriguez and, instead, would "save its fire" for other issues where it would be across the table from MLB.  As a result, it engaged in numerous acts that were arbitrary, capricious and taken in bad faith, each of which constitutes a breach of MLBPA's duty of fair representation, and each of which had undermined the entire Grievance process to Mr. Rodriguez's detriment."

Arbitrary, capricious, and in taken in bad faith?  That's dynamite stuff.  Jackie Chiles couldn't have said it better himself.

A-Rod's Lawyer Kicks It Up A Dozen Notches With New Accusations

The Alex-Rodriguez-New York Yankees-Major League Baseball threeway legal dance surrounding the Biogenesis case and A-Rod's resulting suspension has already been playing out like great TV drama.  As someone who's admittedly tired of all the steroid talk in baseball and really doesn't care about it, I'll admit that I find each new rumor and leaked story to be both fascinating and entertaining.  When the baseball season ends and the appeal happens, it's going to be absolutely wild.

How much wilder will it be after the latest story and newest twists laid out by A-Rod's legal team?  Probably somewhere between "much" and "way."  In a story published by the New York Times yesterday, A-Rod's newest lawyer, Joseph Tacopina went on the offensive in his efforts to build A-Rod's defense case.  He accused the New York Yankees of intentionally hiding MRI results revealing A-Rod's labrum tear and continuing to play him while he was hurt, working in collusion with MLB to void A-Rod's contract and ban him from baseball, and singled out team president Randy Levine for allegedly telling the doctor performing A-Rod's hip surgery "I don't even want to see him on the field again."  That's not just "looking to get on base" type of going on the offensive, it's swinging for the fences as hard as you can with a juiced bat.

I WAS IN THE POOL!!! I WAS IN THE POOL!!!!!

The other bit of news from this past weekend that I glossed over yesterday was Phil Hughes getting cleared to get out of the pool and back onto a baseball diamond.  He played a round of catch on Sunday, said his back felt fine, and should be back on his way to getting ready for the start of the regular season.

Now I don't know much about pool workouts or how they're supposed to help an athlete.  I don't know if working out in a pool for pretty much all of last week helped strengthen Hughes' back or was in any way helpful in his preparation for this season.  But I do know one thing that had to come out of Hughes spending all that time in a pool...

Slowed Down Spring For CC Continues, And It's Downright Brilliant

(No, that's not CC reacting to pain in his left elbow.  And that's a good thing)

I jumped on the "reducing CC Sabathia's workload" bandwagon early, like as soon as the Yankees announced plans to do that this season.  I became a card-carrying member of the "I Support Reducing CC's Workload Club" two weeks ago when he threw his first bullpen of the spring, a signal that the Yankees were taking the efforts to reduce his workload seriously.  And I'm putting down money for the official club t-shirt after finding out last Thursday that the Yankees have pushed CC's first spring start back to March 15th.  Chad Jennings had the details last week, which included Joe's desire to not have CC face the Blue Jays as scheduled on March 10th.  As a result, Sabathia will throw another simulated game on the 10th, make his first official ST start on the 15th, and end up with only three total ST outings under his belt before taking the hill on Opening Day.

Whoever Came Up With This Idea Should Be Promoted

Via Danny Knobler of CBS Sports:

"The Yankees are considering an outfield switch that would see Brett Gardner in center, with Granderson moving to a corner spot, sources say. While they believe they have two capable center fielders, Gardner is clearly the better defensive player."

Seriously, whoever it is in the organization that's championing this idea up through the decision-making ranks is a hero of the highest order in my book and deserves a pregame video package, statue in Monument Park, and a standing ovation from the crowd on Opening Day next season if this move actually happens.  And if it doesn't, whoever prevents it from happening should be fired on the spot.

Brett Gardner is faster than Curtis Granderson, gets better reads on balls than Curtis Granderson, takes better routes than Curtis Granderson, and is just an all-around better outfielder than Curtis Granderson.  And now that better, faster outfielder could be moved to the position most requiring a player to be better and faster.  What a plan!  So inspired, so devious, yet so simple.  If this happens, it might end up going down as the second greatest switch in human history.

("Gardner for Granderson.  It's the perfect plan.")

RIP Brett Gardner's Right Elbow

At this point, they might as well just amputate.

"Brett Gardner started a hitting program today. He has not swung a bat since his elbow surgery, but he has been taking fly balls for about two weeks and could be activated any day now."

Well that's the end of Brett Gardner's days as a 4-appendaged human being.  I thought I had already made this perfectly clear, but the Yankees really just don't seem to get it.  Call ahead and pencil the guy in for surgery this time next week.

Paging Dr. Van Nostrand!

Melky Cabrera: Master Internet Criminal

I didn't say anything about the Melky Cabrera steroids story this week for 3 reasons: 1) I wasn't all that surprised by it, 2) I didn't really care, and 3) He doesn't play for the Yankees anymore, so I wasn't going to start talking about him until he was officially a free agent.

But with the latest part of this story breaking today, now it's time for me to get involved.  This latest news is much more up my alley...

"The scheme began unfolding in July as Cabrera and his representatives scrambled to explain a spike in the former Yankee’s testosterone levels. Cabrera associate Juan Nunez, described by the player’s agents, Seth and Sam Levinson, as a “paid consultant” of their firm but not an “employee,” is alleged to have paid $10,000 to acquire the phony website. The idea, apparently, was to lay a trail of digital breadcrumbs suggesting Cabrera had ordered a supplement that ended up causing the positive test, and to rely on a clause in the collectively bargained drug program that allows a player who has tested positive to attempt to prove he ingested a banned substance through no fault of his own."

Really, Melky?  That was your plan?  Just hop on the old interwebs, get a sweet new Go Daddy domain name like Danica Patrick, and boom, problem solved!  It's brilliant.  It's no wonder you got caught in the first place.  You're an idiot.

P.S.- If they didn't name this phony company "Vandelay Industries," they did it wrong.

Derek Says HELLOOOOOOOOOWE!!

(Not an image I expected to see.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

See what I did there?  That's clever shit.  It's gold, Jerry.  Gold!

In all seriousness, I, like many others, was not excited about the prospects of Derek Lowe joining the Yankee pitching staff, even if it was as a temporary bullpen arm to help cover for the loss of CC Sabathia.  There wasn't much in his final days as a Cleveland Indian (10.03 ERA/5.45 FIP, 0.57 K/BB in 23.1 IP) to suggest that he was going to going to be anything more than a batting practice pitcher for the opposing team.  And despite his claims that he had "fixed" what was wrong, without actually seeing it in action it was hard to take that as gospel coming from an older, no-stuff guy like Lowe.

How Have I Never Heard Of Jeter's New Side Piece?

Now I'm not nearly the hot female celebrity knowledge freak that I was in my early-to-mid teens, but I still consider myself pretty up to date on who's the new hotness and who's not.  So I was a little surprised when I started reading all these stories this week about Derek Jeter's latest notch in his belt, Hannah Davis.  Hannah Davis?  Who the hell is that??  Apparently she's a Victoria's Secret model, but if I haven't heard of her then she can't be that big time.  I mean, we're talking about the king of celebrity starlets here.  Jeter has had the best in the world when they were the best in the world.  Now he's moving on to no-names who are probably buried in the back pages of the monthly VS catalog?  You wanna talk about Jeter losing his range, let's talk about this.  I bet she's not even that ho-

Andy Pettitte's Non-Setbacking Setback

There was a bit of breaking news prior to last night's game involving Andy Pettitte and his rehab from his broken ankle.  There were reports that he had pushed himself too hard while working out in Seattle (which I still say is completely stupid) and was going to have to back off for an undetermined amount of time.  Seeing as how he was already scheduled for a return sometime in September, that undetermined amount of time could put his return at all this season into jeopardy.

Quick to quell the rumor mill before it could get started too much, Cash, via Ken Davidoff, said that Andy did NOT suffer a setback but rather experienced the "ebb and flow of rehab."  I don't know about you, but that sounds like the definition of a setback to me.

So that raises the all-important question.  Is what happened to Andy, whatever it was, a setback or not?  Is it a setback... or isn't it?  That's the question.

/grabs a bottle of Hennigan's



Think about that for a while.

It's Simple Physics, Russ...

Calculate the velocity, V, in relation to the trajectory, T, in which G, gravity, of course, remains a constant.

It's not complicated.

BREAKING NEWS: Brett Gardner Suffers Setback With Elbow (UPDATED)

I'm a little late on this breaking story (damn internet was down at the apartment), but via Marc Carig, the bad injury luck continues for the Yankees as Brett Gardner has suffered a setback in his rehab from his right elbow strain.

Apparently there was some soreness and swelling after he played in the Triple-A game last night, which would explain why Gardner wasn't activated today, and he's probably getting an MRI as we speak.  As usual, I'll update this story as more details become available.

I'm really at a loss here.  When is this injury madness going to stop?  I can't take it.



** UPDATE- 6:46AM- According to Joe's postgame presser last night, Gardner re-aggravated the strain in his elbow that put him on the DL in the first place.  The plan is to shut him down for 10 days and see where he's at then, but Gardner will likely be out longer than that.  Dewayne Wise looks like he's going to stick around for a while. **

The Right Man For Pineda's 2nd Opinion

As you know if you're a regular follower of the AB4AR Facebook Page, the results of Michael Pineda's dye contrast MRI were delayed yesterday after it was reported that his agent requested a 2nd opinion.  That request was made PRIOR to the completion of the MRI, which makes the situation slightly less stressful, but it still probably means more bad than good.

All I know is, if Pineda is getting this 2nd opinion today, there's only one doctor he should be seeing.

Bobby V Making Himself Right At Home In Bahhston

(You should probably be sitting here if you're going to mouth off, dude)

All this "consistently covering the Yankees" stuff has got me slipping on one of my true passions in life, that of course being bagging on the Fraud Sawx and their crumbling mess of an organization.  And DAMN, am I missing some good stuff.  We're barely over a week into the season and shit's already starting to play out like a season of "The Real World."  Let's go to the quote book!

Kim Jones' Replacement Has Been Found

As you may remember, I was a bit distraught when it was announced in January that Kim Jones would not be returning as the clubhouse reporter for the YES Network this season.  Her replacement was announced to say, and dare I say I think she will be more than enough to help me get over the loss of my precious Kimmy.  Say, "HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" to Meredith Marakovits.

She's worked for SNY and with the Philadelphia 76ers and Phillies, so to get to graduate from the scuzz heap that is the NL East to the big leagues in Yankeeland is obviously a huge upgrade for her.  I don't know how I'm going to feel about her taking a pie after a walk-off win this year, if the Yankees are dumb enough to try to keep that tradition going, but if she can give a good interview I think she and I will get along just fine.  She's a peach, Jerry.  A peach.

D-Rob Takes The Morning Train

He was off crutches yesterday, his walking boot is scheduled to come off today, and things are looking good for Dave Robertson in terms of being able to fully recover from the bone bruise to his foot and get back into action quickly.  That being said, it would be probably be wise for the Yankees to take it easy on that foot and not have Robertson be on his feet all the time, unnecessarily walking and running around on it and risking a setback.  It's his plant/push foot so it's important that it be 100% before he gets back out on the mound, and since D-Rob has already shown to not be a master of walking down/kicking boxes down the stairs, better to proceed with caution.  And how to do that, you ask?  Simple.  Stair rails.

Install a few of these babies around the Tampa complex and completely eliminate stairs from the equation.  This lessens the wear and tear on that bruised foot, takes away any chance of a repeat of Robertson's previous stair gaffe, and should help get him back to 100% and on the mound quicker.  While we're at it, the Yankees should probably designate a few of the younger, bigger guys in camp responsible for carrying Robertson to and from all team activities over the next week.  And a private handicapped bathroom probably wouldn't hurt either.