Schadenfreude 158 (A Continuing Series)

Mike Vaccaro, Post:

There are exactly 1,200 men who occupy slots on 40-man rosters across major league baseball. Many of them have spent time in their careers saddled on various disabled lists: the 15-day, the 60-day, the new 7-day concussion DL.

And every one of them, as the injury begins to heal, as the ache starts to fade, as the time draws near to play baseball again, feels a genuine sense of happiness and relief. Maybe they're disposed to share those feelings on Twitter, especially if they are new to the medium.

And there are 1,199 of them who would never find themselves embroiled in a controversy based on that relief. There is only one of them capable of doing that.

His name is Alex Rodriguez.

Roger Rubin, Daily News:

Apparently, A-Rod isn't the only four-letter word in the Bronx these days.

The controversial slugger ignited another Yankee firestorm Tuesday, firing off a tweet that resulted in GM Brian Cashman dropping an F-bomb on his highest-paid star.

"You know what? When the Yankees want to announce something, (we will)," Cashman told ESPN New York. "Alex should just shut the f--- up. That's it. I’m going to call Alex now."

Cashman was reacting to A-Rod proclaiming via Twitter that he had received medical clearance from his hip surgeon to play in rehab games. ...

There has been no end to the Rodriguez aggravation this year for the Yankees. He is the biggest name embroiled in Major League Baseball’s investigation of the now-shuttered Biogenesis anti-aging clinic in Miami, which is suspected of distributing performance-enhancing drugs to a number of players ...

Mark Feinsand, Daily News:

A-Rod tweeted a photo of himself from the weekend with Dr. Bryan Kelly, informing his adoring fans that he had been cleared to begin playing in rehab games.

"Visit from Dr. Kelly over the weekend, who gave me the best news the green light to play games again!" A-Rod tweeted. ...

Only Rodriguez could turn a positive story into a negative one this quickly.

Dan Martin, Post:

Even from Tampa, Alex Rodriguez has figured out a way to anger the Yankees. ...

Even before this flareup, team brass has grown increasingly irritated with Rodriguez, who followed a miserable postseason by having a second hip surgery and then found himself in the crosshairs of an MLB investigation into performance-enhancing drugs. ...

No matter what problems Cashman and the rest of the organization have with Rodriguez, he still has four years remaining on his contract and a divorce remains unlikely.