A-Rod's New Lawyer Claims The Yankees Wanted His Hip Surgery Botched

Alex Rodriguez has hired a new lawyer named Joseph Tacopina, and he's accusing the Yankees of asking the doctor performing Rodriguez's surgery to make sure Rodriguez remained hurt and never played for them again. Tacopina is a lawyer who's made his reputation with outlandish statements, so this accusation doesn't really have any weight without evidence.

For what it's worth, here's Tacopina's explanation in the New York Times:

During the 2012 playoffs, Tacopina said, the Yankees hid from Rodriguez that a magnetic resonance imaging test had revealed that he had a torn labrum — essentially a hole in his hip — and continued to play him, even though he was struggling mightily.

“They rolled him out there like an invalid and made him look like he was finished as a ballplayer,” Tacopina said.

[...]

Rodriguez learned the extent of his injuries in the off-season, and the Yankees sent him to Dr. Bryan T. Kelly, a prominent surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. Tacopina said Kelly later told Rodriguez that before the surgery, [Yankees president Randy] Levine told Kelly, “I don’t ever want to see him on the field again.”

“It sent chills down Alex’s spine,” Tacopina said.

Rodriguez asked Kelly if Levine’s comment was a joke, Tacopina said, and was told that “it wasn’t a joke.”

Yankees president Randy Levine dismissed these allegations as "specious and completely false," adding that he would release transcripts of his phone calls with Kelly if desired.

Tacopina also called the Yankees a "thug-culture club." No word as to whether or not he spends his free time as a Yahoo Sports commenter.

[ NY Times]

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