(reprint from NY Post)
Alex Rodriguez invoked The Boss’ name in asking the Yankees to leave him alone.
According to emails obtained by New York magazine, the beleaguered Yankees third baseman told team president Randy Levine he was “ruining the business of baseball” as the player and club dueled last summeron Rodriguez’s return from injury, with the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal hanging overhead.
“Can u please stop!!” Rodriguez wrote to Levine on Aug. 3, according to the magazine. “I want to play baseball and I could make a big difference to the game. [George] Steinbrenner would roll in his grave IF he knew what was happening! Stop, Randy, this isn’t going to be good for any of us!! You are a businessman and what you are doing is ruining the business of baseball. If u want to meet in person to discuss it, let’s do it!”
Two days later, Levine reportedly responded.
“I received your email, the contents of which are a complete shock to me,” Levine wrote, according to the magazine. “As I have repeatedly told you, this is an MLB investigation. We had no role in initiating the investigation or assisting in the direction of the investigation.
“Despite your continued false accusations (which you know are false) we have acted consistently. My focus and direction, as well as that of the entire Yankees organization, has been, and continues to be, to treat you in the same manner as we do all of our players, to have you healthy and ready to play as soon as possible. Good luck.”
That same day, MLB handed Rodriguez a 211-game suspension for his involvement with Biogenesis. Rodriguez appealed the suspension and is awaiting an arbitrator’s decision on the matter, which could come as soon as this week.
The oddest moment in the re-printed correspondence comes from a pair of reported Levine emails from before the Biogenesis scandal in the summer of 2012, when Rodriguez was sidelined with a broken hand and Yankees teammate Robinson Cano was struggling at the plate.
“How r u feeing since u left Robby [Cano] under 200, he needs some steroids fast,” Levine wrote, and in a separate email: “Hey, what’s up with Robby. This guy must not be using the liquid.”
According to the magazine, Levine later referred to at least the first of these PED references as a “bad joke.”
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