You've Got a Friend in Me: Derek Jeter Backs A-Rod

Derek Jeter says all his Yankees teammates support Alex Rodriguez, called 'A-Fraud' in Joe Torre's new book.

While Jeter hasn't read the new book entitled The Yankee Years, he is full aware of comments directed towards Alex Rodriguez and the drama revolving around the book.  Jeter recently spoke with SI.com and had this to say:

"I'm just curious as to why people keep asking the same questions over and over. We've been down this road before. Alex is a teammate. I support him. Our whole team is behind him. We all support him. And we're looking forward to a new season. To be quite honest with you, it's old hearing the same questions.

"It's something that's been addressed before in the past. Everyone's moved beyond it. And it doesn't really need to be addressed again."

With the spotlight shining bright, the Yankees always had their share of distractions, that is only if they allow them to be distractions.

Alex Rodriguez has done a good job of turning a blind eye to any sort of controversy surrounding him and his team, such as he did with his recent divorce and the Jose Canseco allegations, Rodriguez has left off the field stuff off the field and refuses to talk about personal matters while wearing pinstripes.

Like Rodriguez, all of the Yankees are expected to perform and win to the highest standards, so much being that anything less then a World Series ring is unacceptable.  Jeter also touched on that:

"I don't know how you can say 'more' pressure because every year we're expected to win a championship. That's the bottom line. So I don't know how you could have 'more' pressure than winning it all, you know what I mean? So every year, it's the same expectations for us and that won't change."

Meanwhile, Alex Rodriguez continues to be the better man in the situation and has his mind focused on the upcoming World Baseball Classic where he will support the Dominican Republic this year instead of USA during the inaugural WBC in 2006.

Along with the WBC, spring training and the regular season is right around the corner.

On Mar. 7, when Alex Rodriguez plays in his first game of the WBC, I am sure reporters will surround him like usual. How he handles those questions, and the ones during spring training, will set the tone for the entire season.