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Alex Rodriguez Boycott? Slugger Lit Up on Twitter by Former Yankee Brandon McCarthy

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02 AUG 2016: New York Yankees Designated Hitter Alex Rodriguez (13) in the dugout during the 7th inning of the game between the New York Mets and the New York Yankees played at Citi Field in Flushing,NY. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)

Former Yankee and journeyman starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy had some harsh words for Alex Rodriguez via Twitter overnight on Thursday. Taking exception to comments the superstar turned steroid poster-boy turned broadcaster made regarding the league’s potential implementation of a salary cap in the next collective bargaining agreement, McCarthy blasted the all-time slugger, rallying other players to implement a boycott against Rodriguez.

McCarthy was responding to comments that Rodriguez made during preparations for Sunday Night Baseball, when he said “The only way it’s going to happen is if they get to the table and say the No. 1 goal, let’s get from $10 to $15 billion and then we’ll split the economics evenly. But that’s the type of conversation instead of fighting and fighting against each other because there is too much competition out there right now.” Which people took to mean he was in favor of implementing a salary cap.

Rodriguez is in an interesting position to be voicing this opinion. As a player he made nearly $500 million and benefited tremendously from the MLB Player’s Union, but he is several years into retirement and his broadcasting career and is one of the bidders in the current sale of the New York Mets. Union chief Tony Clark said “Alex benefited as much as anybody from the battles this union fought against owners’ repeated attempts to get a salary cap. Now that he is attempting to become an owner himself his perspective appears to be different. And that perspective does not reflect the best interest of the players.”

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For his part, Brandon McCarthy engaged with fans and others who responded on Twitter, elaborating on his point and making his thoughts about ownership known. He pulls no punches in the follow ups either, again calling Rodriguez a liar and suggesting that he is anti-player.

Alex Rodriguez either took the messages from McCarthy to heart or realized that he’d put his foot firmly in his mouth with his salary cap comments. The image-obsessed slugger released a statement that said “When I was asked about the CBA expiring in 2021, I answered honestly, but never mentioned the word salary cap.” The full statement was posted to ARod’s Twitter account.

Alex Rodriguez is still in contention to buy the Mets, another move following directly in the footsteps of Derek Jeter, who purchased the Marlins and who Alex Rodriguez has desperately wanted to be for his entire career. He continues to work for ESPN through the process but will not cover any Mets games. It will be interesting to see if his stance here and his potentially becoming an owner have any impact on relationships with players other than McCarthy.

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