A-Rod's Lawyer, Yankees President Randy Levine Drop Verbal Gloves
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez feels he's being treated unfairly by a tag-team comprised of Major League Baseball and the New York Yankees organization.
A-Rod has sought the services of lawyer Joseph Tacopina in an attempt to fight back. Tacopina claims that the Yankees played Rodriguez last October without informing him that he was carrying a torn labrum. The lawyer has accused the Yankees of sabotaging A-Rod's health.
"They rolled him out there like an invalid and made him look like he was finished as a ballplayer," Tacopina told the New York Times.
"We have basically had enough," Tacopina said on Friday. "The process is being perverted when they act the way they do to make their case. They are pushing Alex to his limit."
"The legacy of George Steinbrenner would be horrified," he said. "This is the New York Yankees. This isn't some thug-culture club."
Tacopina alleges that Yankees president Randy Levine told Dr. Bryan Kelly, who was set to perform hip surgery on Rodriguez in January that, "I don't ever want to see (A-Rod) on the field again."
Levine responded to Tacopina's allegations by offering to release the Yankees' full medical records. He then challenged A-Rod to release his records of treatment with Anthony Galea, who was convicted of smuggling HGH in the United States from across the Canadian border.
"The one medical issue we can't confirm is [Rodriguez's] treatment by Dr. Anthony Galea. We obviously didn't know he was being treated by Dr. Galea," Levine told WFAN baseball insider Jon Heyman. "We didn't authorize it. Since [Rodriguez] has put his condition into play, he should release his records with Galea."
MLB Executive Vice President Rob Manfred accused A-Rod and his representatives of creating a circus atmosphere.
"The bottom line on this," Manfred said to the New York Times, "I have yet to see Alex Rodriguez or any of his representatives say that Alex Rodriguez didn't use P.E.D.'s. They've adopted a strategy to make a circus atmosphere of irrelevant allegations."
Meanwhile, Tacopina feels that A-Rod is not deserving of any suspension time. Rodriguez is currently appealing a 211-game ban.
"I will sit here and tell you this: Alex Rodriguez should not be suspended for one inning, let alone 211 games," Tacopina told the New York Times.
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