Major League Baseball

Until real games begin, all this A-Rod talk is exactly that

Published Feb. 26, 2015 9:07 p.m. ET

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Ken Rosenthal

OK, so now Alex Rodriguez is a rookie. Or at least, he feels like a rookie. And he’s trying to talk like a rookie. But if he hits like a rookie . . .

Too soon. The whole thing is too soon.

Rodriguez’s “performance” during the Yankees’ first full workout Thursday meant nothing. His performance in the second, third, fourth and every other workout will mean nothing. His performance in spring training might not mean much more.

We are in waiting mode. We are in lowering-the-expectations mode. We are in imagining-how-Rodriguez-can-again-be-A-Rod mode.

Still, only one thing matters: whether Rodriguez can hit a 95-mph fastball, the type of pitch that that he could not handle when last we saw him pre-suspension, at the end of the 2013 season.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Thursday that Rodriguez will be on the team, citing the three years and $61 million remaining on the player’s contract. Rodriguez, however, said that he feels like he is again 18, trying to impress Lou Piniella with the Mariners, needing to make the 25-man roster.

Words. Nothing but words.

If Rodriguez is physically unable to perform, the baseball discussion will be over, and the Yankees’ battle to collect insurance will begin. But if Rodriguez is simply through as a hitter — something that might not be apparent until after the season begins — the Yankees at some point will face a decision on whether to release him and pay him the rest of his guaranteed money.

For now and the foreseeable future, nothing is clear.

“I wish it was as easy as hitting Danilo’s 55-mph fastball — we can all look like an All-Star at that point,” Rodriguez said, referring to batting-practice pitcher Danilo Valiente. “We’ll see what happens when you have a guy throwing 95 mph.”

A reporter asked, “Are there swings that you take that make you feel confident that you can get to where you are?”

“You can hit 55 mph,” Rodriguez said. “We can all look pretty tough and pretty good with BP. It doesn’t mean anything. Let’s see what happens when somebody’s throwing 95.”

A case of false humility? Or an acceptance of his new reality? The sincerity of Rodriguez’s words is always an open question, but on the field his actions will speak louder than words, particularly now that those actions — presumably — no longer will be chemically enhanced.

The games will tell us. The games usually do.

“The thing he’s probably seen the least of over the past two years is speed – speed of the game,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “Even though it seems slow, there are 10-second bursts, five-second bursts, three-second bursts, where the game is really moving fast.”

Perhaps too fast for a player who will turn 40 on July 27 — a player who has undergone surgery on both of his hips and appeared in only 44 games the past two seasons.

Rodriguez said that former Mariners teammate Freddy Garcia was the only major-league pitcher who threw him batting practice during his suspension, adding the results were “not good.”

He also hit off a batting machine capable of firing balls at great speed but said, “No matter what you do, you can’t emulate the energy of being in a stadium against a big-league pitcher. That is just going to take repetition.”

Both points are valid, but for all of Rodriguez’s training, his body is puffier now and almost certainly slowing down. As for his spare energy, if he no longer can catch up to 95 mph, a performance enhancer from a nuclear power plant won’t help him.

Of course, it’s spring training, and optimism reigns, and Teixeira said Rodriguez “can be a lot better than everyone expects.” Teixeira added that his own goal was 30 homers and 100 RBIs and that Rodriguez, if healthy, could perhaps do the same.

A reporter started relaying the conversation to Rodriguez later, saying that Teixeira envisioned 30-100 for himself, when A-Rod reacted in mock horror.

“You scared me,” Rodriguez said. “I thought you said that for me. Let’s not get crazy.”

But, the reporter continued, Teixeira said those numbers might be possible for you as well.

“I’m glad he’s confident,” Rodriguez said. “I like those numbers for him. I think he’s in great shape. And he’s gluten-free and all that . . .”

Rodriguez’s reference to Teixeira’s new diet elicited laughter. Indeed, A-Rod was in remarkably good spirits for a man who has been ridiculed, suspended and scorned, and why not? He was back in uniform Thursday, back playing the game he loves.

Asked how he would describe his first day to his two daughters, Rodriguez said, “It was like going to Disney World.”

Fantasyland. Adventureland. Tomorrowland.

As always with Rodriguez, it will be an eventful ride.

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