Cashman: Yanks Should Rally Around A-Rod

From ESPN:

"I think we've gone through so much of the Alex stuff that, you know, if anything, maybe this brings people closer together," Cashman said Monday during a conference call to announce Andy Pettitte was returning to the team in 2009.

"There's always going to be some controversy that surrounds this club," Cashman said. "The best way to try to deal with it is, I guess, rally around each other the best you can if there's real feelings there."

Cashman said that when Rodriguez became a free agent after the 2007 season, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Pettitte all urged him to re-sign A-Rod.

"That was real," Cashman said. "It was offered up."

Yesterday in the NY Post, Johnny Damon expressed his support for his third baseman and his former manager:

"Unfortunately, when books come out, no good comes of it . . . I know Joe has a lot of respect for Alex. I haven't talked to Joe, but I know what happens when books come out.

"Alex is a great teammate," Damon said. "We have his back."

Speaking of Pettitte, he claims he's never heard anyone use the term A-Fraud:

"I have never one time heard of the term 'A-Fraud' until I saw that rolling on the TV, I guess this morning or whenever they started reporting it," said Pettitte, who rejoined the Yankees for the 2007 season. "If it did go on, it went on before I was there."

I'm not sure I believe that - I go to about 20 games a year and hear it yelled out by the crowd all the time - but hey, I give him credit for being a good teammate.