Who would’ve thought that Alex Rodriguez would be the reason the Cubs clubhouse went from good to great. In case you’ve been living under a rock the past week or so, Rodriguez shared some ill-timed comments regarding Yu Darvish during last Sunday’s nationally televised game between the Cubs and Cardinals.
Here's Alex Rodriguez making shit up about Yu Darvish and the Cubs. pic.twitter.com/3KmUyCc6Nu
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) July 30, 2018
I was watching this game and was confused by the entire rant for a couple of reasons:
- Arod speaking as if he’s around the Cubs everyday and players are telling him things.
- The claim that Cubs players have lost respect for Darvish because he was hurt.
- Players respect a guy like Chatwood who gets shelled everyday?
- He’ll never get back the respect of his teammates. When did he lose it?
- “It’s not good inside that clubhouse right now.” Says who?
I’ve never really been a big fan of JLo’s boyfriend as a player or as an analyst so I kind of just laughed off his dumb ass comments. However, players inside the clubhouse were none too pleased with the former steroid users trashing of their clubhouse.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon was the first to voice his displeasure.
“These [national broadcasters], they see us two or three times here. They’re not in the presence of all of our guys. They really have no business making those kinds of comments.”
Next, Darvish’s agent called the comments “classless” and “unprofessional” and earlier today, Cubs President of Baseball Operations, Theo Epstein, put Rodriguez in a symbolic body bag over his asinine comments.
Epstein went on the Mully & Haugh Show on 670 The Score this morning and shared that he reached out to Arod via text message to express his disdain for the cheater’s comments.
“He defended himself, but it didn’t really resonate with me. But it is what it is. Look, I think from time to time when you’re dealing with national media, there’s going to be guys who pop in who don’t get the full picture of the way things are going. That’s a big platform, so it can become a big story if they get something a little bit wrong. I think he thinks he’s right. And we think he’s wrong.”
Epstein also brought up the fact that Arod’s stupidity has actually HELPED the Cubs as a team rally around their big free-agent signing. I’m not saying Arod was trying to fracture the Cubs clubhouse but those are some pretty big accusations to just be throwing around on national TV. I also found it scummy as hell to take a shot at a guy who’s on the DL trying to get healthy and then claim that his teammates lost respect for him because his rehab wasn’t going quick enough.
Almost as scummy as a player throwing your teammate under the steroid bus in 2013 just to take the heat off of you.
Epstein wasn’t done throwing blows at Arod and ended his train of thought with this,
“You’re never more sympathetic than when you’re attacked by someone who’s sort of polarizing to begin with,” Epstein said.
The ESPN Sunday Night Baseball crew that Arod is a part of is mediocre at best so if the Cubs are unfortunate enough to draw that crew again, I’ll be sure to listen to the soothing sounds of Pat Hughes on the radio. I’d rather listen to Hughes than have to listen to Arod make shit up out of thin air again. The guy seriously said that players respect pitchers who get shelled every outing MORE than they respect a teammate who’s on the DL.
It’s unconfirmed, but I think I may know who Arod’s sources are that keep telling him what’s going on inside MLB clubhouses.
Maybe these were Arod’s sources who told him that the #Cubs clubhouse was pissed at Darvish? pic.twitter.com/xXCbUzkhwi
— Adam Nissen (@nissen54) August 2, 2018
