A-Rod Hates Him Some Texas

It appears that A-Rod's learned something before he's done like Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

New York Daily News' John Harper sat down with Rodriguez for a one-on-one interview in which they discussed his reasons for staying in New York as well as his recent split with agent Scott Boras and more interestingly, his regrets over picking the Texas Rangers over the New York Mets in 2000.

Rodriguez named his regrets over his move to the Rangers as being a factor among others in his decision to cut Boras loose to negotiate his return to the Yankees.

"I went for the contract when my true desire was to go play for the Mets," Rodriguez said of his decision to ink his $252 million deal with Texas eight years ago.

As A-Rod looked back on the events of the past offseason, he seemed haunted by the idea that in breaking free of the Yankees he could have made another decision based strictly on money and wound up as .unhappy as he was in Texas for three years.

The three-time MVP says that at some point after his opt-out decision in October, he realized he could have been heading for a similar scenario, with Boras dictating his next destination.

"So to make the right decision just feels really good," Rodriguez said, "versus being taken down a road where I'm like, 'Oh, my God, where am I? Oh, $400 million to play in some place I hate? Great, I'll blow my --- head off.'

Let's play gotcha for a second. Well done for saying what he thinks but wow. He hated Texas enough to give up $252 million to play for the Mets or end it? That's rough. I mean the Rangers suck and Dallas ain't that great but damn. That's some cold, honest shit right there.

Rodriguez also indirectly acknowledged one of his biggest knocks.

"If people want to question why I did it, I don't care because it made me happy. If I had gone to Team X, Y or Z, it wouldn't have made me happy. It would have been because Scott wanted me to go - it would have been for the most money. And then I'm always going to be known as a guy who always wanted the most money."

...If I had gone to Detroit or someplace and I don't win, people are going to hammer me, because there's no loyalty, and by moving again, I don't represent anything. Instead, I'm planting my roots here and saying I want to win with one team and represent something as a Yankee the rest of my career. I think it's the right way to do it."

No one questions his ability ... until October. He's one of the greats in the game but he is known or thought of to be about the money to a large percentage of baseball fans. An opt-out would have sealed that impression and kept him from the one thing it seems he wants the most besides a ring which is the love of the fans.

There's no reason to not take A-Rod at his word especially in light of his actions over the past months. He even says, "'That was me - and now it's not,' he said. 'That's the difference between being 24 and 32. And that's what I'm proud of.'"

Now A-Rod needs to come through in October otherwise he'll never be considered a Yankee by New York fans. Incidentally, this is another reason why the majority of Yankee fans are donkeys. The Yankees wouldn't even have made it to the postseason if A-Rod didn't carry them on his back most of the season. It's amazing how fast they turned on him (not entirely unwarranted at the risk of contradicting myself) and forgot that they could have been sitting around talking about how fuckin' awesome Jeremy Shockey's tattoos are because the baseball season was over. Ah they probably do that anyway when they're not talking about how Chad Pennington really has a good arm.