Imagine living with a two-ton piano hanging over your head, waiting for the rope to snap.
That’s the situation for the Yankees’ third baseman Alex Rodriguez. The proverbial piano is Major League Baseball’s upcoming announcement of punishments in the Biogenesis case: Reports suggest Rodriguez could be suspended for the remainder of this season as well as the entire 2014 campaign.
The possibility of a lifetime ban has even been thrown around.
So Rodriguez, who has yet to play in a major league game this season while recovering from offseason hip surgery, can do nothing but rehabilitate and wait for Commissioner Bud Selig’s decision.
Logically, Rodriguez should lay low, get healthy and try to keep his name out of the headlines. However, logic and A-Rod have never been introduced to one another.
Rodriguez has instead chosen to launch a media assault. He’s not only claimed that he’s already healthy enough to return to the Bronx, but he went on the radio with WFAN’s Mike Francesa, all but accusing the Yankees organization of purposefully trying to keep him off the field despite his good-health claims.
Rodriguez frequently used the word “trust” in the interview. He was asked if he trusted the Yankees’ handling of him, and he danced around the question.
Better question: Why would anyone trust Alex Rodriguez?
At this point, we’re talking about a guy who is more sideshow than ballplayer — a guy whose credibility and likability has been ravaged by a virtual Sharknado of links to performance-enhancing drugs and off-field incidents.
They would never admit it, but the Yankees are desperately hoping Rodriguez gets as long a suspension as possible, with a lifetime ban being a dream scenario. Rodriguez’s contract is a disaster; the Yankees still owe him around $100 million, and it’s unclear if the 38-year-old can be productive at all, much less be worth his nearly $30 million annual salary.
If Rodriguez is suspended without pay, that financial black hole will disappear. A lifetime ban would be the greatest break that the Bronx Bombers have caught since the Red Sox sold them Babe Ruth for $125,000 in 1920.
But as much as they’d love Rodriguez to disappear, the Yankees have no reason to keep him off the field now if he’s healthy.
Regardless of what you think about Rodriguez, the Yankees would be better off with him at third base. He’s more skilled than the combination of Brent Lillibridge, David Adams, Jayson Nix, Luis Cruz and Alberto Gonzalez that they have used this season. It’s been more than a month since a Yankee third baseman has hit a home run.
The Yankees may want Rodriguez to go away, but if he’s healthy and can help the team win right now, then there is no reason to believe they would purposefully keep him off the field.
This injury standoff situation boils down to a he-said, he-said situation, and a question of whether Rodriguez or Yankee management is more believable.  
Considering Rodriguez was already outed as a steroid user, gave a heartfelt apology and is now facing a long suspension for being linked to PEDs again, it’s hard for me to believe anything that comes out of his mouth.
James Moran is a 20-year-old mass communication senior from Beacon, N.Y.