Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast - Effectively Wild Episode 252: Yankees Beat Writer Andy McCullough on the Absurdity of Alex Rodriguez

Episode Date: July 26, 2013

Ben and Sam talk to Star-Ledger beat writer Andy McCullough about the experience of covering the Alex Rodriguez story, and how it will all play out.

Can we just talk about Luke Ochevar? I thought that's what this call was about. Good morning and welcome to episode 252 of Effectively Wild, the daily podcast from Baseball Perspectives. I am Ben Lindberg, joined by Sam Miller, and we are joined by another guest. Two guests in one week, Sam. It's like late night around here. And our guest today is one of the best beat writers around, one of the best beat writers to follow on Twitter, certainly. And he is Andy McCullough, the Yankees beat writer for the Star-Ledger. Hello, Andy.

Hey, guys. That intro was not necessary, but thank you. It was neither necessary nor accurate, so good start. Yeah, well, we had to figure out some way to say who you are or people would wonder who we were talking to. That's good. So you're in Texas now. You have an early flight in the morning. We will not keep you too long. Sam requested the first question of this interview, so I'm going to let him have it.

Yeah, so I wanted to know, when you go to a party and somebody asks you what you do and you tell them that you cover the Yankees, what is the first question that most people ask you? Whoa, you get to go to Florida for two months, which is how they define the worst part of the year, which is spring training. That kind of hasn't changed since I started covering the Yankees this year.

For some reason, people are just obsessed with their own idea of what spring training is and not understanding that it's just this sort of hell. You mean you don't get put up in the finest accommodations and experience all the culture that Tampa has to offer? Yeah, it has nothing to do with Tampa. I liked Tampa. Actually, I liked Port St. Lucie, too, when I was covering the Mets. It's just the monotony and the drudgery of getting up at 7 in the morning and going to watch a game that doesn't matter. Every interview with the pitcher, the first question

is, how did you feel out there? What were you doing? I was working on stuff. Okay? and how did you feel out there, and then what were you doing? I was working on stuff, okay? So, yeah. So, unfortunately, but in terms of what I get asked the most about the Yankees, probably Alex, just kind of the Alex stuff. People want to know, like, are they actually going to suspend him for life?

You know, all this sort of stuff that I just don't know. Oh, no, I'm crossing off questions. Keep going. I'm crossing these out fast. What else are we not supposed to ask you? So are you, while we talk to you, do you have like one ear? Are you streaming WFAN right now in case a rat astrologer comes on and says that the planets are aligned for him to come back tomorrow? It's two days in a row now where I've just kind of been,

yesterday at noon I just came back from lunch. I just was on Twitter and I saw someone, I think it might have been John Bernhardt, just RT'd someone who said, oh my God, Alex Rodriguez's doctor is on the fan right now. And I said, oh, well, this should be interesting. And then I was finishing up writing today and I saw on twitter again

someone was like oh my god alex rodriguez is on the fan right now so just i have a just a kind of a radar for it now i guess which is just twitter yeah i was looking at your your timeline and from from early today to late tonight and you can follow andy at at mccullough s l m cC-C-U-L-L-O-U-G-H-S-L. And it's just, it's like this litany of A-Rod related tweets, and you can just kind of sense your descent into depression or wanting to write about something else at this point throughout the day. And you wrote a guest piece for Baseball Perspectives not too long ago, and you talked about how your days sort of start with getting up

and reading what everyone else wrote and catching up on all the news and just being followed around by this crushing fear that you are missing out on some story constantly throughout the day. Yep. So how has that been the last couple of days when there's just been breaking news coming through unusual channels at all times? I have to be honest. I guess my sort of natural sort of depression seeped through at Twitter, but I've actually felt more invigorated the last couple of days than I had on this entire road trip.

I know that sounds counterintuitive, but I felt much more demoralized, I guess, in Boston writing game stories than – I don't know. I think I'm just learning to embrace kind of the absurdity of this whole situation and just kind of trying to – it helps, I guess, when you're able to report more things and get more information and learn more stuff. things and get more information and learn more stuff. And, you know, I feel like I felt like, you know, not that there's no real horn tooting going on here, but I was able to talk to the doctor, you know, yesterday, like right after I got off the fan, I called his office and got ahold of him. And so that, you know, in terms of just like this, the reporting thing, I felt good because I had done something. I had an interview with him.

I put it online and then, you know, and people were reading that. And so, you know, that then I was reading about other people, you know, so it's sort of like almost one of the rare times when I'm semi out in front on something, even though he'd already, you know, obviously gone on the fan. So I didn't have the anxiety and now it's just kind of, I just, I'm just sort of ready, I think for anything crazy to happen. And so that's, you know, it just went, I think a friend of mine who used to cover the team

just kind of suggested just embrace kind of how absurd it can be and not try and get too upset about it because, you know, people love reading about it. People love reading about Alex Rodriguez. You know, they're just fascinated by him. And, you know, he's, you're always going to get sort of people wanting to talk about him wanting to read about him and so if you can you know writing about him is good i guess if you can sort of get past just kind of how ridiculous the whole situation is and just understand that you're going to have some days blown up because of stuff going on yeah and and there are a rod stories year round really but it seems like a lot of the a rod stories are non-stories really

that just get made into stories because they're a rod right but this one is kind of an interesting story i mean it's it's absurd and it's crazy but it's it's kind of intriguing even for people who maybe are more interested in what's happening on the field than all the kind of off the field drama this kind of has something for everyone right and i think this is the absurdity of this is not kind of the uncertainty of this is how it's playing out you know in terms of radio interviews and you know the sort of bizarre media tour that the doctor went on yesterday but the actual sort of crux of the argument is it's not that absurd i mean alex just basically does not trust the Yankees anymore in terms of his medical care. I mean, he was, but, you know, the Yankees are upset with him about that,

and no one's really hiding it anymore. I mean, they're not, you know, they're just every time they, you know, they sort of all get on a conference call and say, okay, we're all on the same page, and then, you know, it just explodes, like, a couple days later. So it is, I mean, in terms of, like, how it affects the 2013 Yankees on the field, you know, who knows, because Alex is obviously facing, you know, the biogenesis stuff, and it's unclear how that's going to work out, whether he's going to fight, whether he's going to accept it, or, you know, or what, but in terms of just, you know, I mean, this is the highest-paid player in baseball,

and he's basically in, you know, at the very least, a cold war with his organization. You know, that's pretty obvious. I mean, he was asked today if he trusted the team, and he said, I'd rather not say, which is, you know, which is all you need to know. And Kasper was asked if he was mad at Alex, and he said, I'm not going to comment. You know, so you don't need to do much inferring there to understand kind of the resentment. There's a lot of resentment on both sides. And that makes it just an interesting thing to cover because it's not –

they played a baseball game last night. I think they lost 3-1. It was very, very boring. They still play baseball games? Yeah, Hiroki Kuroda is still really good. He pitched another good one today. But, you know, it's one of those things when you cover, so from my perspective, and I hope,

and I know some readers don't feel this way, but just from my perspective of when you're churning out game-related content day after day after day, you know, there's a monotony to that. And so this story, as goofy as it is, has been just kind of like almost an energy boost, boost i guess at this sort of the midway point that sort of exhaustion point of the season and is this is it really about his medical care is all this distrust really about his medical care or is that just you know a kind of a convenient place for them to fight like this

is like you called it a cold war this is like kind of like vietnam because they don't actually want to go like nuclear on each other, right? I think, yeah, I think that's actually a good way of framing it, yes. I mean, I don't think, this didn't start with his medical care. You know, this didn't start with the quadriceps injury. This is a, you know, a longstanding relationship that's kind of deteriorated over time with, you know, the opt-out 2007 and, you know, the sort of appearance of his cousin, Yuri, who was involved in the original sort of steroid stuff from back in Texas,

and the team sort of barred him from events, and he showed up a couple years later and stuff like that. But yeah, you're right. This is kind of like what – this is the island, for lack of a better word, that she was into to go to battle on whether or's there's a strain in his left quadriceps. So it's kind of a satellite for the entire skirmish or entire sort of whatever. I'm using too many metaphors here. And it seems like it's kind of the perfect mix of personalities to to sustain this story for a while. Cause you have a rod who really just sort of seems to never have had the greatest self-awareness or always seems to have a knack for, uh,

making things worse whenever he does anything. And then you have Cashman who's kind of like become sort of a cowboy in the last few years. Like he, it feels like like he survived the George Steinbrenner era and no one expected him to. And now he's like living on borrowed time almost. So it's like, there's, he'll say anything.

He'll be a lot more frank than a lot of general managers will. So I guess that is, that is kind of propelled this story forward where you had the, you know, A-Rod saying his, his rehab timeline a couple of weeks ago, and then Cashman kind of coming off with the off-the-cuff comment to Andrew Marchand that sort of started this recent thing.

Yeah, is Cashman, I mean, is the perception within the organization that Cashman is doing great? Does he come out of this looking better or worse, do you think? I think with the Yankees, it's always just about trying to survive. You know, it's a very, I mean, there's, you know, it's, you know, Cashman emerged from a very, very competitive, you know, almost Machiavellian environment, it seems like, you know, to kind of have the power he has now. And so I think obviously, you know, the house time runner was probably upset

with Alex publicly telling his player to, you know, am I allowed to curse on here? Yeah, sure. You know, he told Alex to shut the fuck up, as everyone knows. I don't know. Whatever. But, yeah, so, you know, I don't think that won him points with the front office, but I think, you know, this is – it's always part of the evaluation. it's always part of the evaluation. I think it's tough to really rate Cashman in a negative light in terms of what the team has done over the past 15 years under his watch.

So I've lost the thread. I'm sorry. No, I think, yeah, I don't think – I know there's – I think there's frustration with, you know, how this all played out, and I think there was some frustration with Cash sort of, you know, lashing out the way he did. But I think, you know, it's – there's so much animosity, I guess, between the two sides that, you know, it's hard to sort of see, you know, the Yankees, you know, fighting internally about this, I guess, considering, you know, what they're going through.

Yeah, we've, I mean, we've talked about this with other GMs on this show where, I mean, clearly A-Rod looks worse. It seems to me he looks worse and worse every day. But, you know, he's a ball player. He's not supposed to necessarily be a good dude. I mean, you know, he's, he got here because he's basically sociopathically driven to hit baseballs, not because he's like a good guy, right? Whereas like a front office, like their job is to manage the sociopaths. Their job is to take these like kind of, you know, a weird varied mix of people who all

have, you know, weird drives and strange, you know, quirks and such and, you know, weird drives and strange, you know, quirks and such. And, you know, kind of be the adults in the room. And so normally you would think like a GM who's kind of off the reservation or whatever in this way, you'd think, oh, wow, he doesn't have control. But, I mean, like it seems like Cashman's kind of in a position where he's like everybody's rooting against A-Rod right now. And he gets to be like the head of the A-Rod resistance. We have so many metaphors going on here. Someone's going to map out the metaphors, and it's going to be brilliant.

We get to Craig Robinson, the guy who does the first flop, or whatever, the infographic on this. I think, to be fair, I mean, Cashman has kind of shut it down in terms of saying crazy things since he popped off to Marchand. I think he's, you know, he was, we did a conference call today in which he was asked a lot of specific things that probably could have given him an opportunity to go off on Alex,

and he just, you know, wouldn't say anything. So I think, you know, I think he does have a reputation for the past few years for saying more and more things off the cuff. I mean, you know, when Alex admitted to using steroids, I guess, in 2009, you know, Cashman called him and compared him to Humpty Dumpty and said, you know, we have to put him back together again. I mean, he's always been, you know, a great quote. I think he's just dialed it back recently.

But you're right. I mean, yeah, this is it's a sort of war when if you take up sides against Alex Rodriguez, you're usually going to win the public opinion just because fair or unfair. You know, Alex is not well perceived by the public. And that's so it's a convenient position to have, I guess. So where do you stand? There have been a lot of conspiracy theories, I guess, about the Yankees stalling and making up injuries and not being eager to get them back at the same time as they're maybe trading for Alfonso Soriano and kind of not having a right-handed hitter who can hit. I mean, the lineup that they had on Thursday night that managed to scrape a couple of runs together was just kind of an unbelievable-looking lineup.

So clearly they could use Alex Rodriguez even in his diminished state. But, I mean, do you give any weight to that kind of stall tactic theory? No, I don't know exactly what they benefit. I mean, people on their side, you know, sort of insist that, you know, the other side that the, you know, the sort of claim that's been floated, I guess that they're just kind of collecting insurance money.

I mean, people on the Yankee side kind of insist that that's not true. They don't get that much insurance. And so I don't know. This is one of the things where there's so many voices that you're talking to, different types of people day in and day out, that it's hard to kind of get a real good sense of what exactly is going on. So you hear a lot of the conspiracy theories and stuff, and some make more sense than others, but it's all very hard to suss out, I guess. I don't really have, to be honest, I mean, to be perfectly frank, I don't really have a definitive, you know, one I'm in favor of or one, you know, that makes the most sense. I think, you know, they're all, it's just that there's, with Alex, it just seems like there's always a lot of stuff floating around and it's hard to make sense of what exactly is going on.

Yeah. A couple of weeks ago, we did an episode where we did a draft of players and we tried to... I listened to that yeah right so sam uh in this draft of where we we tried to draft the least productive players for the most amount of money sam went out on a limb and took alex rodriguez uh and if he doesn't get into a game this year then there will be a penalty for that do you uh what's your sense he just has to get into one game for sam to be off the hook there. He just needs to be announced.

He doesn't even need to play. Yes. What did he say? He just needs to be a pinch runner, right? Right, yeah. He just needs to appear in a game. Yeah,

I, gosh, I mean, it's so hard to say. You know, it seemed like he was so close a week ago, and now they've pushed,

they've stalled it another week. Just for fun's sake, yeah, I think it would be great for him to get in some games. I think it would just be so interesting to see kind of how he reacts to the environment, how the fans react to him, sort of how he plays. So I think it would be really interesting if he played. So I think it would be really interesting if he played. I think that would be far more interesting than him, you know, maybe getting suspended or disappearing.

I think him playing is the most interesting outcome that can come from here. And he, you know, from what he's saying and what his people are saying, he really wants to play. The Yankees counter to that is, you know, he was the one who initially raised the quad injury. So it's, you know, it's, as I said, it's strange. So going back to the first question, when you said that

people ask you, you know, is A-Rod going to get banned for life, and, you know, you have no idea, do you genuinely not know that much more than is reported, or that is, like, kind of publicly known, or do you guys all have like this extra layer of stuff that you know you know but you either can't report because you heard it off the record or you can't report because it's you know it's third-hand information and

maybe it's just gossip um i would say like in a case like this where quite frankly i mean like i'm not you know like the new york gillian news i team has done a fantastic job you know covering stuff like this for years. I'm not in that position. I don't particularly know a lot about the world of drugs and the investigators and all that stuff. In something like this, I don't particularly know a lot more than what's only reaching a certain level of people. a certain level of people. To your point, though,

when you cover baseball, you hear tons of stuff all the time from players and agents and execs and scouts. A lot of it you just can't print because it's third-hand. It's this, that, and the other thing. There is a mass of information that you know but can't really use,

but it doesn't really apply in this case just because that's you know this is a world i never really delved in and the hard part about covering in the story um you know when you're in my position you know i've only been this is my fourth year i guess covering baseball so you know um i'm not particularly i'm not like you know i'm not joel sherman i'm not buster olneyNeill, Ken Rosenthal, or Don Heyman, or all these guys who are so well-sourced. I'm sort of forced to kind of do what I can. And so it's difficult to try and crack into a world that's as complex

as kind of the steroid sort of reporting aspect while still writing game stories every day and writing early and doing all the, you know, the busy work that comes with the job itself, I guess, which is my excuse for why I suck. How many reporters are there right now who can walk up to A-Rod and get 10 minutes with him in the clubhouse before the game? I guess it kind of depends on the day.

You know, I mean, if he's in a decent mood, he'll talk to you. And if he's not, he'll walk right past you. I mean, that's kind of what – to be honest, like, he was not at spring training. That's when I started covering the Yankees. I've spoken to him once when I was on a rehab assignment with him in Reading, and we talked for 45 seconds, and most of it was him shaking his head. him in Reading and we talked for 45 seconds and most of it was him shaking his head. Like he was sick or something?

Like he has Parkinson's? He was shaking his head and we were talking about Robinson Cano getting hurt in the All-Star game and his reaction was just him shaking his head over and over. Oh, so he was unhappy. He was like, you were asking him about that. Okay, so he was not shutting you down. No, no, no. I guess I misphrased that. I was like, what was your reaction?

And he just shook his head for 20 seconds. How do you put that in print? I didn't. I think I tweeted it out. I mean, you just say, I don't know. He didn't write what happened, I guess. It was weird. So it's impossible to predict really what will happen tomorrow even.

But is there any scenario in which this relationship is repaired to the point that the next four years on his contract will not be this every day? I mean, is there any way which i mean does he stay there is it like you know people have have talked about uh like the brewers should release ryan braun which seems kind of crazy but uh yeah but with a rod maybe to the point that he's a distraction and not as productive a player, you start to, is that even a consideration? Is that totally far-fetched? I mean, what do you think happens here long-term? Yeah, I mean, I would guess, and this is, again, just a guess,

but I would guess that at some point in the next five years, the Yankees cut him a check and just ask him to leave. And that's, you know, obviously it's a total guess, but that's just sort of thinking how is it possible. They just said how is it possible they could do this for five more seasons. Like how can you possibly go through this every day, especially when his value as a player might be, you know, like nonexistent. So, yeah, I mean, you know, you could foresee a scenario where, you know, like, nonexistent. So, yeah, I mean, you know, you could foresee a scenario where, you know,

whatever, he gets dropped with a 150-game suspension or something, you know, which is one number that's been thrown out, and he takes it. He does, or he decides to fight it, and he misses all in 2014. At that point, you know, they've already paid most of the freight on the contract. I think they've already paid, like, $175 million of the $275 million. So, you know, there's about $100 million left. And then, you know, so maybe like, you know, whatever, $50 million, $60 million. That's something maybe you cut a check for rather than $100 million.

You know, I think it was $114 million starting this year, you know. But who knows? I mean, you know, maybe he fights the suspension. His appeal wins. And, you know, he plays okay down the stretch this year, and he comes back next year. Like, you have to remember, I mean, how good a baseball player Alex Rodriguez is, you know?

Like, we wouldn't be having any of these discussions if he wasn't, like, the best baseball player of his generation, you know? Like, he wouldn't be worth the time. Just because, I mean, it's just, it's a testament to all everything he's accomplished in his career that, you know, that he's even in this position. He goes crazy that sound with this, with this huge contract and all that, you know? So, you know, it's not,

it's not inconceivable that he's like, you know, he plays a, he's a youthful player in three years playing 120 games a year, you know, mostly aging and stuff like that. I mean, it's not, like, maybe just you guys, but it's not to me, right? Well, don't you think it also sort of seems like we're only talking about this partly because he's also declined so much? I mean, I feel like if he were still an MVP candidate, the Yankees would still basically be thrilled to get in the lineup at the car and would be you know like they do

whatever they needed to do that kind of s smooth the way for him to get into the lineup i mean i feel like this is all really just a carryover from joe gerardi pinch hitting form repeatedly in the postseason benching it yeah yeah i think i think i i i i i agree with that but uh... i it but i think also you know when you're talking about elite-level talent, it's worthwhile. When they're dead cats, they might bounce for a little bit longer like a 7, 8, 9 win player. I think he was like a 3 win player maybe last year. I could be wrong about that, but I feel like he was about a 3 win player. He had like a 7, 8 OPS, which is, you know, decent in this run scoring environment.

Like he was still a good baseball player. And if he could remain a 3 win player for a couple more years, which is a huge caveat, he still has value for anything. So, yeah, I mean, it does kind of start, I mean, the idea that he was completely useless as a player, like done,

didn't really surface until the playoffs, you're right. But he was hurt then. So, you know, who knows? Seems so tame in retrospect. How will they repair this relationship after he was pinch hit for by Raul Bañas? How can they come back from that? All the things that have happened since then.

That seems like the most minor story that could possibly come out. Remember when he got the number from the... Oh, yeah. I barely remember. There's so much to keep track of there that's why yeah i've been uh one of the kind of one of my assignments recently is i've been kind of preparing you know b matter for a story in case you know he gets suspended or whatever in case you know he you know he's out for the season just something to kind of you know go through his you know like a long sort of you know like a like a career obit almost you know, is out for the season, just something to kind of, you know, go through his, you know, like a long sort of, you know, like a, like a career obit almost, you know, like summing up his career.

And so it's been fascinating just going back and reading all the old clips and just all these kooky, you know, controversies, you know, some of them and most of them, a lot of them, I would say just kind of ridiculous, you know, like the, the, the photo shoot where he's kissing the mirror. That was a good one. Yeah. Uh, the Bronson Arroyo thing, yelling hot, third base, running across Dallas Braden's mound.

Oh my gosh, I forgot that was him. That's great. Yeah, all these things that if anyone else had done, you'd be like, oh, that was a weird thing. But because it's Alex, it's a big deal. And it's something part of that. You know, he almost, he feels some sympathy for the guy that, you know, he can't do anything goofy without being completely mocked for it. You know, like stunning shirtless in Central Park and, you know, all this stuff.

So it's fascinating just to look back at some of these stories and just, you know, it's an interesting saga in the most boring way to put it he makes he's made page six for having dinner like literally going to a restaurant ordering food leaving and it's a story somehow or yeah like doesn't say thank you to the waiter or something uh something like that there was a there was a last last october i did sort of a tongue-in-cheek thing and talking about how the how a rod and the yankees are like the feel-good story of the season and one of the things that that i pointed out was that a rod when he was

like 16 he was the best high school player in the country and there was this old story of him you know playing you know as like a high school junior and everybody like all the fans hated him because he was so good and they would like boo him if he struck out and so like my point was just like this poor guy has been hated for no reason for like decades and like just think how hard that's got to be but it's getting to the point where now i'm like oh no they saw something that i just missed like they were just they were incredibly prophetic and so i i honestly don't know whether we did this to him like whether we made a rod what he is or whether we just like we're we being like the collective we we're just really good at perceiving it and i still don't know that

i'm not sure i'll ever know that i would say it's uh it's not that the sort of collective universal conscience is is good at perceiving these things. I think the treatment for a long time was pretty unfair. We did it, yeah. We're the monsters. I don't even know. I just think it's like, you know, like the fixating on the performance in the playoffs, you know, that maybe, you know, 10 years later, maybe there's sort of an understanding that just how fickle the playoffs can be and how, you know, it's understandable

that you won't play well for 15 and a half, but it became kind of like, you know, his, like, a black mark against him that he struggled. And I don't even know how badly he struggled. I mean, I know obviously, like, in 2006, he had a beef and stuff like that, but I think, you know, he's a guy who's withstood a lot of criticism

and has still accomplished so freaking much in his baseball career. I think sometimes it's worthwhile to remember that. Like I said, the only reason Weeks can still talk about it, the main reason he generates such interest is just what a tremendous baseball player he was. I think that's going to get lost. I think it has been lost. I don't think people talk about that anymore. And, you know, you can make arguments, whatever,

about whether he's chemically enhanced and he's admitted to using it for at least a three-year period. Baseball, you know, obviously expects he's been doing things otherwise. But regardless, I mean, I think it's kind of a shame that maybe the only memories of this guy are going to be kind of these last just ridiculous years, I guess. 114 games and probably the best player that I've watched kind of first hand on a day to day basis was Alex Rodriguez

when he came over and won an MVP award he was probably the best player I have watched just kind of at that level so last question wait a minute I want to have something too my last question

I have nowhere to go. I'll just stay up all night for my flight, four hours. My last question. So when you sign on to be a beat writer in the New York market, you are signing up for a certain amount of this sort of story, I guess. And, and like you said, maybe that's not the worst thing in the world. You always have something to write about. So how does this, this is your first year on the Yankees beat, but you covered the Mets for three years. And that was a very dysfunctional period for the Mets. So how does this compare, I guess, to kind of crazy, absurd, off the field stories of people not communicating well? How does this rank after your three years of covering the Mets? I would think this

specific mid-month long period or so since basically the stuff with A-Rod and Twitter and stuff like that happened has probably been the craziest and the weirdest. It's funny. I was actually talking about this with Dave Waldstein who covers

the Yankees for the Times. We were both on the Mets beat in 2010. Dave's a 30-year veteran in the business. 2010 was my first year covering a team, and I had no idea. It was the most dysfunctional team ever. I just had no idea. I just thought it was how things went. Guys would just openly demand trades, sitting around in the clubhouse. Francisco Rodriguez beat up his father-in-law.

Jerry Manuel was asked how he would welcome Gerard back to the team the next year. Jerry said, I'm here next year. It was just crazy. We joke about these things, some guys who cover that team. At the time, I had no, that that was a crazy team, that there was, you know, like Jose Reyes like strained an oblique and the team told him to only bat like right-handed, like to stop switch hitting essentially.

So he could stay in the lineup. Like it was just silly things like that were happening all the time, and I just thought it was like how it worked. So I'm still sort of getting a register for what's normal and what's not normal, I guess, you know, when you're covering teams. All right. So then here's my last question.

And it's not something you actually know or would have any reason to know, but he needs 115 homers. How is that different from the other questions? He needs 115 homers to tie bonds. What sorts of odds would it take for you to bet on him? What's that, like, the Kevin Malone joke from the office? Like, if anyone gives you 1,000 to 1 odds, take it. I don't know.

I mean, he needs 115. Yeah, like 1,000 to 1, I wow that's just that's so many home runs that is a lot of home runs he's 18 last year and he played most of the year um so that would be i mean yeah he's 18 last year you know he got hurt a lot it's hard to foresee him playing 150 games in a season ever again between just the injuries and his age. The power is probably going to go down. I think if he could be a useful player,

it would be because he improved his on-base skill and not because the power was still there. So I just, yeah, I don't know. I'm not good at math. 500 to 1? 100 to 1 doesn't seem right. 100 to 1 does not seem right. Really?

So if someone offered you $10,000 against your 100? $10,000? Well, I'm calculating my own salary, right? Let's do it right here. Sam, you want to? Yeah, you guys got that kind of scratch, right? You have an advertisement yet? I wouldn't give any better than 30.

If I were actually, if I were offering it to you, I wouldn't give any better than 30 to 1 yet. 30 to 1? Really? Who puts money on 30 to 1? I mean, 30 to 1 seems like a thing that happens on occasion. I think it's not.

I mean, 30 to 1 is a thing that happens every 30 times. And it seems... Is that how it works? I told you I'm not good at this. A 1 in 30 chance seems fairly... I mean, you know, it seems reasonable to me. I mean, maybe he gets... You know, maybe he gets...

If he went to Coors right now and was in good shape and played out the last four years of his contract or whatever. How many does he have? Four more. Four more, yeah. So, I mean, it's not inconceivable he could get 100. I mean, he'd have the incentive to keep playing.

I mean, look at Britney Spears right now. Seriously, she's at the top of the charts. I mean, she's got a $100 million contract to play in Las Vegas. She is killing it. And, I mean, four years ago it $100 million contract to play in Las Vegas. She is killing it. And, I mean, four years ago, it seemed impossible. That much money? Yeah, yeah, yeah, seriously. Google $100 million in Britney Spears.

She's doing it. I have to look that up. She's not a bad comp, actually, for A-Rod, I guess. She's not a bad comp. Well, yeah, you could argue with, you know, did we ruin her? Or was she always this way? There's a great story about her. This is as off-topic as possible.

There's a great story about her in Rolling Stone from 2007 or something. I'm going to butcher the woman's last name. It's by Vanessa Grigidorios or something that kind of details her downfall, and it has a lot of these kind of similar factors in there. It's like a fascinating look at It's just like kind of what went wrong. And it goes into a lot of issues being sort of criticized for things that might have been outside her control and at some point just kind of became a monster. And that's not to say, obviously, Alex is a monster, but you can see kind of how these

sort of things happen, I guess. So that was pointless. But okay. So 30 to 1. Oh, man, I have like 10 Britney stories that are way more pointless that I'm just like, I'm literally gripping the sides of the chair to keep from telling them. Well, I'm predicting that A-Rod will show up with a shaved head

wearing some baggy sweatsuit tomorrow. That will be the next development. If he comes at you with an umbrella, be wary. All right, if Kevin Federline shows up in the Yankees clubhouse, I will be sure to send out an APB. We'll have to do part two of this. Be wary. If Kevin Federline shows up in the Yankees clubhouse this weekend, I will be sure to send out an APB. We'll have to do part two of this. A-Rod from 2008 to 2011, his 32 to 35 seasons,

mostly healthy-ish, hit 111 home runs. He has four years left on his deal, and he'll be, what, 38 to 41. So I think I'm with Andy on the odds being. Ben, I'm not saying even odds. I'm saying 30 to 1. You have to appreciate what 30 to 1 is. It's not high enough. You and I can make the easiest $50 of our lives and just book it for Sam.

And in seven years, we'll have $50. And hopefully that'll still be worth $50 of our lives and just book it for Sam. And in seven years we'll have $50 and hopefully that'll still be worth. Wait, you're only, so wait, you're going to put up a dollar 70 to my 50 or you're going to put up 50 to my dollar 70 or you're going to put up 50 to my, wait, which, which side am I taking? You're taking the yes side. Do I put up more money or less money in this? No, you, okay. You're putting up yes side. Do I put up more money or less money in this? No, you... Okay, you're putting up $100. I'm putting up $100 and you're going to pay me $3,000?

Yeah, yeah. Well, it wouldn't be legal for us to make this deal. All right. Off the air. Send me a direct message. I'll come in off the air. Maybe just edit the entire podcast. Just end it with Britney Spears.

All right. We got through an entire interview without asking a Yankees beat writer about the Yankees, really, about the AL East, about their playoff hopes, about the trade they just probably made. And that's fine because there's more interesting stuff to talk about. So thank you, Andy, for coming on on short notice late at night when you have to get up early. And you should all read his stuff at the Star Ledger and follow him on Twitter at MCCULL, O-U-G-H-S-L, McCullough SL.

And we wish you the best of luck as you try to keep up with this story. Yeah, it should be fun. Thanks for having me on. All right. That's it with this story. Yeah, it should be fun. Thanks for having me on. All right. That's it for this week. Send us emails at podcast at baseballperspectives.com. Rate and review us and iTunes if you have the time, and we will be back next week.

Have a wonderful weekend.