A-Rod: "I Love New York"

In a recent interview with SI.com's Jon Heyman, Alex Rodriguez discusses his love for New York, how he desperately wanted to remain a Yankee, and how he never believed he would end up signing elsewhere.

Heyman mentions that six teams were all ready lined up to start the bidding war for A-Rod had he remained on the market. The teams include the Giants, Dodgers, Angels, Mets, Red Sox, and Tigers.

Also in the article is a description of the negotiation process that went on between Rodriguez and the Yankees that included Rodriguez, his wife Cynthia, and her brother Constantine Scurtis. The negotiations concluded with a meeting between Rodriguez and the Steinbrenner brothers, where he professed his love for the Yankees. "This time, it was no negotiating strategy," writes Heyman. "He meant every word of it." He also wrote:

A-Rod was so thrilled to be back, he seemed to barely care about the money anymore. Faced with the thought of having to move on, he lost interested in the loot.

Rodriguez triumphantly called Boras from the meeting with the Steinbrenners. He mentioned some hope for incentives but didn't seem to care too much about them. Boras nonetheless pressed for $30 million in very attainable home-run milestones and finalized the contract language.

Here are some of A-Rod's quotes from the article:

"Mentally, I never did see myself going anywhere else,'' Rodriguez said in a recent interview with SI.com.

"New York brings out the best in you. And the worst,'' Rodriguez said the other day. "You have to be able to look in the mirror and be honest with yourself I didn't want to go to a place and hide and have my weaknesses be swept away. New York has made me a better man. And it's made me a better baseball player.

"I love New York. My family loves New York. I love the Yankee family,'' he added. "I finally had gotten to a situation where I was feeling comfortable with everything there is to New York -- from the players to the coaches to the fans. My relationship with the fans has come full circle.''

"Proving my loyalty to the Yankees was very important to me,'' Rodriguez said to SI.com.

"I just don't think there's anything more special than putting the uniform on and playing for the Yankees."

"The history of the pinstripes .... There's nothing like it,'' Rodriguez said. "I respect this uniform more than I can say.

He's pretty much been saying all this stuff since he resigned, which is what he's supposed to do. Personally, I think that in part, this interview was done to butter-up those Yankee fans who may still be angry at him for opting out in the first place.

I do hope he means what he says, though. But more importantly, I hope he hits 50 HRs and drives in 140.