Apparently, ARod is all in.

I think ARod is going to have a good offensive year.

But, you know, this is about the 1,000th time ARod has supposedly crossed an imaginary Maturity Boundary and become a True Yankee:

"But on Friday morning, hours before they’d open their spring schedule against the University of South Florida and start all over again, sources said Rodriguez commanded the room for more than 10 minutes like he never had before."

A ten-minute Spring Training speech.

On Friday morning, at work, I spent more than ten minutes discussing the relative merits of pomegranate iced tea vs. lemon iced tea. There's one iced tea with black pepper and pomegranate and it didn't taste too good, but it tastes good without the black pepper.


" 'It was great,' said one witness. 'I’d never seen that out of him before. I didn’t know he had it in him.' "

One witness is quite a source.


"According to those in the clubhouse, however, Rodriguez talked about being 'all in.' He advised them that, on that subject, there was only black or white, 'no gray.' He said each of them – from the biggest superstar to the last guy on the 40-man – knew what 'all in' meant. They’d had to have been 'all in' just to sit in that room, to make it this far. And that every man knew exactly what his 'all in' amounted to, in work ethic and dedication and sacrifice. He asked them to find that within them, to bring it every day, all season long, for the good of the Yankees. For the good of themselves."

According to unnamed witnesses in the clubhouse.


" 'Amazing,' a witness said. 'The guys were drawn to him.' "

A witness.

This didn't really happen, did it?