It’s hard to find a single person on the planet actually rooting for Alex Rodriguez. There’s no doubt he used performance enhancing drugs for a substantial part of his career. Now the New York Yankees are trying to do everything in their power to get their own player suspended, so they can avoid paying him the money they foolishly decided to give him.

In the meantime, while the whole negotiations for his suspension (who the well negotiates a suspension? What kind of league is this? Why is anyone asking Rodriguez and his agents anything about what they’re willing to do to somehow cut through the length of the suspension?), A-Rod is acting like his comeback with the Yankees in Chicago is right around the corner.

He hasn’t played once for the team this season, recovering from yet another injury, but his recent AA stints, with him getting a home run on his rehab start, make it look like he’s ready to go. Like the suspension that’s coming his way isn’t going to keep him out of baseball for this season and the next, taking away around $35 million of his salary, unless lawyers and unions interfere. Rodriguez, if you haven’t noticed the denial he’s in, is going to appeal every step of the way.

I feel great. It was great to see a lot of pitches and play back-to-back days. I also got some action at third base and I’m ready to go. I’ve been on the field for the last five and a half hours, I haven’t heard anything.

My focus is to play baseball. I was excited to be playing tonight and even more excited about Monday. I can’t wait to see my teammates. I feel like I can help us win and be a better team and I haven’t seen a lot of my brothers in a long time. As far as any of that stuff, I’m going to let those guys take care of what they take care of and I won’t address anything like that.

It’s interesting to see how the Yankees are hoping to get away from this one unscathed. The funny thing is that if a team is stupid enough to offer a deal to a player after he opts out of the already biggest deal in the history of baseball, they shouldn’t be able to walk away with this. Yet behind the scenes they’re hoping Rodriguez is banned for life from the game, and after all the appeals and the dust settles, they won’t owe him another dime in salaries.

But the way baseball treats offenders, it’s hard to imagine anyone getting banned for life. Not after the legal battles will begin. A-Rod got himself a huge deal, the biggest in history, and he isn’t planning on letting his past cheating or his declining form and injuries keep him away from that money, or the meaningless and hopeless chase after the home run record, which itself is tainted in every possible way by the doings of Barry Bonds.

Images: Source