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Harper: A-Rod, Yankees ready to do 'damage'
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Harper: A-Rod, Yankees ready to do 'damage'

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Alex Rodriguez feels big things are in store for himself and the Yankees now that the slugger is ‘clear-headed’ and has unburdened himself of the baggage a season ago associated with his year-long drug suspension.Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

Alex Rodriguez feels big things are in store for himself and the Yankees now that the slugger is ‘clear-headed’ and has unburdened himself of the baggage a season ago associated with his year-long drug suspension.

TAMPA — As a TV analyst Alex Rodriguez demonstrated his baseball acumen for a national audience last fall and received high marks, especially for essentially forecasting the Mets’ downfall in the World Series when he said:

“If the Mets catch the ball, they’ll win.”’

Not that it took a savant to know that the Mets’ defense could be shaky at times, as it proved to be against the Royals, but it was still an insightful prediction of sorts that perhaps few current players would have made in that setting.

Yes, A-Rod knows his baseball. I can vouch for that after years of clubhouse conversations with him, many of them off the record, about the goings-on around the majors.

He’s never short on opinions and they’re often on the money. A couple of years ago he did assure me that Tiger Woods would win more majors, which I wasn’t buying, so maybe he should stick to the diamond.

And A-Rod did have a strong belief in Eduardo Nunez, but on the other hand, he was insistent last spring that Didi Gregorius would shake off the early-season jitters and show everyone how spectacular he could be defensively, which proved to be true.

In any case, all of this is a way of setting up his thoughts on the 2016 Yankees, which he offered on Thursday, oozing optimism about the possibilities. For starters, he is still convinced that last year’s team would have won the AL East had Mark Teixeira not broken his leg in August and Nathan Eovaldi not missed the final month with an elbow injury.

With that as a backdrop, he didn’t make a prediction but indicated a belief that this team should be better than last year’s, if it can avoid major injuries.

“I thought we started something really good last year,” A-Rod said. “We have a really good group in here. We have a good combination of veteran players and young players. This is as good a young talent pool as we’ve had since I’ve been here in 2004.

“And (last year) I thought the Teixeira injury was devastating, and then you add Eovaldi on top of that, who was pitching lights out … we have some unfinished business. I like the feel of this team. There’s a quiet confidence about it.

“You think about Didi and some of our guys, Nathan, they know what to expect in New York, so I expect big years from them. I expect a big year from Tex too. And I thought we had an excellent offseason with the trades we made.”

What A-Rod wouldn’t say is that he expects a big year from himself. That’s not his style anymore — we know that by now.

Since returning last year from his PED suspension, and seemingly doing the impossible by rebuilding the bridges he had burned with anyone and everyone connected to the game, he hasn’t gone off-message in projecting himself as regretful for his mistakes and grateful for a new life in baseball.

In other words, he speaks with his new redemptive image in mind the way he once flaunted his stardom.

Still, you can also sense that he has regained a bit of his old swagger. He’s not using self-deprecation to deflect questions about what he can still do with a bat in his hand, as he did so often last season. He did say the home run he hit on Thursday against the Phillies was “the last thing I was expecting,”’ but that was probably true, considering it was his first swing in a game this spring.

More to the point, in stark contrast to last year at this time, when he was coming back after missing an entire season, A-Rod gives off a confident vibe that he can back up the 33 home runs he hit last season and stay healthy by strictly DH-ing.

“For me the biggest thing is I don’t have any distractions,”’ he said. “I’m clear-headed, I’m coming in with a good attitude every day and I understand I have a purpose. Last year there were just so many unknowns, so many question marks.”
A-Rod went on to say, “I feel light,” which a friend of his said is all about feeling accepted again.

“It’s no secret he has always wanted to be liked, loved, whatever,” the friend said. “Last year he didn’t know if he’d ever be accepted again in baseball. Now he feels comfortable.”

How that translates remains to be seen, especially as he’ll turn 41 this season. But it seems clear A-Rod believes he can “do damage,” as he likes to say, again this season, which is surely no small reason he expresses such strong belief in the possibilities for this team.

Bear in mind, of course, that he doesn’t have an objective outlook here, as he did in the TV studio last fall. No doubt A-Rod is choosing to ignore the likelihood that age and injury could take a major toll on these Yankees again.

Still, he could be right. It wouldn’t be the first time.

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