What if Alex Rodriguez Ties and/or Passes Babe Ruth in 2016?

This time last year every media outlet, every camera, every microphone and every person’s full attention was on Alex Rodriguez for all the wrong reasons. Alex was preparing for his first full season in the Major Leagues since missing all of 2014 with a steroids related drug suspension and was also preparing to not only tie but pass Willie Mays for fourth place on the all-time home runs list for MLB. The drama only started in March of 2015 but this time around the attention will be on Alex for a different set of reasons. Can he be a leader in the Yankees clubhouse? Can he mentor the young guns the Yankees are currently stockpiling on the roster and can he come close to matching the production he put out in 2015? And in the same breathe what will happen if and when Alex ties and passes former Yankees great Babe Ruth?

I pose the question because the Yankees and Alex had a bit of a debate, let’s call it a debate anyway, over his $6 million home run trigger bonus when he tied Mays on the all-time list. The Yankees refused to pay Alex the money for reasons that have been beat into the ground more times than we’d all like to remember or admit and in the end the team and Alex decided to donate a portion of the money to a charity of Alex’s choice to settle the discussion. Will there be a peaceful resolution this time around or will Alex want the money that was written into his contract?

I don’t pretend to know the current financial situation that Alex is in after all the legal fees he accumulated and such but you would have to think that he could still “use” an easy $6 million in his bank account. The problem here, and I mentioned this last year as well, is that he set a precedence last season when he agreed to donate the money. In the eye of an outsider that seems like Alex admitted at least some wrongdoing or guilt in the situation while allowing himself to forfeit the money. What makes him any less “wrong” or “guilty” or any more “worthy” of the money this time around just because he seemingly turned his life around and his career both on and off the field?

For all I know the Yankees may simply write the check and not bat an eye lash but if the history of the situation is any indicator of the future I just can’t see that happening. I may be exaggerating a little bit but it seems like the whole organization would stop and bend down in front of you to pick up a nickel so imagine what they would do for $6 million in change? I can see another fight on the way and it’s going to come down to whether the Yankees want to get out “Yankee Way’d” by Alex Rodriguez again or not.