Torre Making Light of the A-Fraud Stuff

OK, first I should point out that from a baseball standpoint none of this matters at all, it is clearly nothing but stupid nonsense, but until spring training starts next week this is what we're gonna be talking about.

Second, it's worth noting that Jeter, Pettitte, and Damon have all either said that they didn't hear any of the A-Fraud stuff, or when they did it was merely a joke.

From Tyler Kepner:

Understand this: Torre is not being forthright with his explanation about the infamous A-Fraud reference on Page 245. In his publicity tour for the book, Torre has repeatedly explained that A-Fraud was something said right in front of Alex Rodriguez, by the coach Larry Bowa, a playful reference to whether he was going to play well that night and be A-Rod, or play poorly and be A-Fraud.

Here is the actual passage, as written by Torre and Tom Verducci: “Back in 2004, at first Rodriguez did his best to try to fit into the Yankee culture – his cloying, B-grade actor best. He slathered on the polish. People in the clubhouse, including teammates and support personnel, were calling him ‘A-Fraud’ behind his back.”

Behind his back is the literal opposite of “in front of him.” Torre says he read the book numerous times before publication. Surely he is aware of this important difference.

If you spend time around the team as a beat writer, you hear stuff like that from Yankees personnel. You can’t write it because it’s understood to be off the record, but it’s there. To say it is not is to discredit the reporting of Verducci, who is at the very top of his field, and to deny the blessing given it by Torre, who approved the book’s contents and is responsible for how it reads.

Do teammates like Alex now? Sure, plenty of them do. He helps them win a lot of games, and nobody questions how hard he works or how badly he wants to succeed. That is also conveyed in the book. But make no mistake: Torre is doing more than spinning now; he’s backtracking on the A-Fraud stuff to soften its impact.

I gotta agree with Kepner, Torre is making light of the A-Fraud stuff to "soften its impact," there's no doubt about it. And while it may be "right" thing to do it's not the ... uhhh ... "right" thing to do - if you know what I mean. Tell the truth and people will move over.

Speaking of moving on, whether his teammates like him or not, A-Rod is and will, for the rest of his career, be a Yankee. As soon as he wins a ring he will become A-God in this town. So for everyone's sake, let's hope this is the year this team gets no. 27 and we can close the book on all this A-Rod nonsense.