Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. For weeks A-Rod has beaten around the bush in regards to his defense against Bud Selig and the Yankees. However, A-Rod's new lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, is now using the Yankees front officce for BP with some serious allegations of wrongdoing. Tacopina, whose list of high-profile clients includes many of the most controversial New Yorkers, is attempting to turn the tables and draw the attention away from A-Rod's reputation by painting the Yankees as the deceitful operation.
Via New York Daily News:
“We have basically had enough,” Tacopina said Friday. “The process is being perverted when they act the way they do to make their case. They are pushing Alex to his limit.”
He added: “The legacy of George Steinbrenner would be horrified. This is the New York Yankees. This isn’t some thug-culture club.”
However, Tacopina's comments about the extent of the Yankees collusion makes his previous comments seem like a spat The most rattling allegations may have been the accusations of malpractice made against the Yankees and Dr. Bryan T. Kelly.
During the 2012 playoffs, Tacopina said, the Yankees hid from Rodriguez that a magnetic resonance imaging test had revealed that he had a torn labrum — essentially a hole in his hip — and continued to play him, even though he was struggling mightily.
“They rolled him out there like an invalid and made him look like he was finished as a ballplayer,” Tacopina said.
Asked Friday how much better his swing is this year compared with last year, Rodriguez said, “I shouldn’t have been out there last year.” After Saturday’s game, he elaborated, saying, “I think in hindsight, just comparing how I feel this year compared to last year is much better.”
Rodriguez learned the extent of his injuries in the off-season, and the Yankees sent him to Dr. Bryan T. Kelly, a prominent surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. Tacopina said Kelly later told Rodriguez that before the operation, Levine told Kelly, “I don’t ever want to see him on the field again.”
“It sent chills down Alex’s spine,” Tacopina said.
