Do you mean he will throw out his arm?

One in a crowd.

Think about the meaning of words that you are using:

"Alex Rodriguez's 2017 retirement plan − this is, if he really does retire − means he’ll be eligible for baseball’s Hall of Fame ballot in late 2022, but it’s unlikely he’ll get into Cooperstown if previous voting patterns hold true."

Agreed.

In a way, this is old news ... tired news ... in another way, it's irrelevant because we're talking about 2022.


"That’s because A-Rod, like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, has first-ballot baseball numbers but a close association with performance-enhancing drug use that tends to alienate Hall of Fame voters. The voters have repeatedly rejected Bonds and Clemens since they became eligible in 2013."

I just coughed. It sounded like "Mike Piazza," but it was a cough.



"With 75% of the vote necessary for inclusion, Bonds got on 44.3% of the ballots last year and Clemens got on 45.2. Those numbers could rise if voters become more forgiving about doping, but A-Rod took doping, and the effort to cover it up, to the next level."

1) ARod almost undoubtedly did not take doping to the next level. I'd say ARod took doping to the normal level.

2) As for the degree of ARod's cover up, does Nathaniel Vinto know something the rest of us don't know? I'd say ARod had one of the most ineffective steroid cover ups in MLB history. You know how I know? Because he's one of the few MLB players who was caught.


The numbered list of Daily News ARod stories, intended to prove ARod's unique stature as the PED King of the Hill, merely highlights the journalistic deficiencies of the Daily News.

Where are the rest of the players on the Mitchell list? Nobody is willing to give them up? Or you're just not searching?

You have the nerve to bring up the Hall of Fame, when you know that steroid users have already been inducted? If you don't know, then you should know. You're the journalist, right? Right???


I mean, here is a list from Wikipedia. ARod doesn't stand out. The Daily News says he stands out, but that's just because the Daily News decided he stands out.

Like, did you even know that Wally Joyner took steroids? Say it ain't so,Wally World!


We don't know how many players actually took the cover up to the next level ... that's because they were never caught. That is kinda what "cover up" means.

Gold Glove ... no, really ...

I know it's Spring Training, but I can instantly think of two similar botched plays by Cespedes while he has played for the Mets ... and one of them was in the World Series ... and Cespedes has only played about 60 games for the Mets.

He's inviting snark.

"Alex Rodriguez was doing so well staying out of the headlines too, rehabilitating his image, but now out of nowhere he looks and sounds like the old A-Rod, letting the world know that he’s retiring after the 2017 season.

What, a one-year retirement tour wouldn’t have been enough?"

That report has already been disputed, but who cares?

Nobody, that's who.


"Yes, he’s inviting snark again, something A-Rod seemingly had worked hard to avoid by staying on message since his return from suspension."

Worked hard at avoiding snark?

Or worked hard at avoiding inviting snark?

That sounds like quite a burden in either case. I'd hate to avoid snark ... or invite snark, for that matter ... or even avoiding inviting snark.

 
"So it’s possible he answered the question from an ESPN reporter on Wednesday without really thinking of the stir it would create. A-Rod did make a point later to backtrack a bit, telling Daily News beat writer Mark Feinsand that nothing regarding retirement was a certainty.

Whatever he meant to say, the retirement talk raises the obvious question about whether his image rehab can affect his Hall of Fame case."

If only Cooperstown had a Hall of Snark.

This is getting tedious.

It has been a long time since Sabathia has been a good pitcher.

The entire time, he has been talking endlessly about how he is emulating Pettitte and adapting his pitching style to accommodate a lack of a mid-90s fastball.

350 wins to go

This made me laugh out loud.

ARod probably is a baseball genius. He also demonstrates a superior knowledge of baseball history ... if that even matters.

But he sure hasn't demonstrated leadership skills, social skills, communications skills, or baseline intelligence in any other arena.

So what you're saying is that nothing changed.

"Major League Baseball rescinded Chase Utley’s two-game suspension Sunday so you can pretty much circle May 9 as the date when Utley will get the real penalty for the dirty slide that broke Ruben Tejada’s leg last October.

That’s when the Mets start a four-game series in Los Angeles with Utley’s Dodgers. Think there’ll be another installment of baseball’s particular brand of frontier justice?

You bet.

By not suspending Utley — he deserved something, didn’t he? — you could argue MLB has passed the buck on disciplining Utley and made the Met pitchers mete it out. There’ll be pressure on them to adhere to one of baseball’s old codes. That’s the way players think."

So if Utley had served a two-game suspension and missed two games against, let's say the Colorado Rockies.

That two-game suspension would have satisfied the Mets?

The two most important legs in the Yankees' universe.

Jacoby Ellsbury hit a stand-up triple in Spring Training:

"The two most important legs in the Yankees’ universe carried Jacoby Ellsbury from home plate to first base, on to second and then third for a stand-up triple.

As the leadoff hitter and center fielder toured the bases in the fifth inning against the Red Sox at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Saturday, manager Joe Girardi had a degree of concern."

Brings back good memories to a lot of Yankee fans.