Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman Not Comfortable Around Alex Rodriguez

There aren't many people on Alex Rodriguez's side these days, and according to The Star-Ledger's Andy McCullough, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman isn't even comfortable associating with the controversial third baseman.

According to McCullough, Cashman doesn't trust the club's highest-paid player in the wake of the Biogenesis scandal. Said Cashman:

"

I'm not comfortable talking to Alex about this because we feel we are in a litigious environment. ... Hello, goodbye, and that's it. Because anything else, I don't want to be distorted, to be quite honest.

"

Rodriguez is currently appealing a 211-game suspension handed down by Major League Baseball earlier this month. According to Big League Stew's Mike Oz, if the suspension is upheld, it could cost Rodriquez close to $30 million in salary.

It's not difficult to see why Cashman or anyone inside the Yankees organization would have a tough time trusting Rodriguez. After all, in early 2009, Rodriguez admitted to using steroids during a three-year period while he was with the Texas Rangers.

Rodriguez's production has taken a serious hit in recent years thanks to age and injuries. He turned 38 this summer, hasn't batted over .300 since 2008 and hasn't hit more than 18 home runs in a season since 2010.

A former rising star with the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers in the 1990s and early 2000s, Rodriguez has played the past 10 seasons with the Yankees since being traded by the Rangers in February 2004. 

He is currently in the sixth year of a 10-year, $275 million deal signed after the 2007 season that is supposed to pay him $29 million in 2013, according to Spotrac.com.

Considering Rodriguez has cast a shadow of disgrace on the Yankees franchise in addition to failing to live up to his massive contract, it's no surprise that Cashman is keeping a distance between himself and baseball's most controversial player.

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