Brian Cashman: I’m not comfortable talking to Alex Rodriguez anymore

The relationship between Alex Rodriguez and New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is about nothing but business these days. A-Rod is a player on a team that Cashman is in charge of, and there is not much to it other than that. How do we know this? Cashman said it himself over the weekend when he told reporters he doesn’t say more than “hello” to A-Rod these days.

“That’s about it,” Cashman said, via the Boston Globe. “I’m not comfortable talking to him anymore. I don’t want to be distorted. I’m not comfortable talking to Alex because I feel we are in a litigious environment.”

On Saturday, a report was published saying Rodriguez’s lawyer Joe Tacopina is accusing the Yankees of trying to sabotage his client in an attempt to force the third baseman to retire from baseball. Team president Randy Levine has denied the accusations and challenged Tacopina and A-Rod’s camp to “put up or shut up.” Cashman echoed some of Levine’s comments.

“Is it an unusual circumstance?” he asked. “Absolutely. Are any of these people happy with these allegations that continue to get thrown? It’s odd. It’s odd and it’s false, but we still have to go through the motions.”

Cashman was asked about Rodriguez “declaring war” against the Yankees organization, to which he noted that A-Rod’s finger-pointing extends far beyond the team’s front office.

“It’s not just Yankees management,” Cashman said. “He’s putting it at the level of our trainers, at the level of our medical staff … the whole organization.”

While many will argue that Rodriguez has every right to appeal his 211-game suspension (and he does), this has become much more than a performance-enhancing drug case. A-Rod is attacking the credibility of the Yankees.

“He’s fighting an appeal and he has rights to have his say, but clearly, it’s a lot of extra stuff and frustrations and distractions that we didn’t bring upon ourselves, I know that,” Cashman said. “I can’t speak for others, but I know it’s definitely a distraction for me. I’ve got a lot of extra work from this stuff. It’s very frustrating.”

Actually, I’m sure Cashman can speak for others — he just doesn’t want to. The A-Rod drama is obviously a distraction for the Yankees. They were able to overcome the drama that played out on Sunday night to defeat the Boston Red Sox, but stuff like that wouldn’t be happening without Rodriguez around. It doesn’t matter how many home runs he hits, the Yankees would love to wash their hands of A-Rod and move on.