Well, it appears the days of contrived Alex Rodriguez controversies have returned. With Spring Training now only five weeks away, word has gotten out that A-Rod is planning to win the third base job in camp. Actually, according to some reports, Alex considers the third base job his and it’s Chase Headley who has to win it away from him camp.

At least that’s what someone close to Rodriguez has said. From Steven Marcus:

“Alex’s mind is that job’s not Headley’s, it’s Alex’s to lose,” the source said. “That’s what he thinks. Alex is going into training camp thinking that he is the starting third baseman, that if there’s a competition, Headley’s got to win it from him. It doesn’t matter about the money, what they signed Headley for. This guy [Rodriguez] can play.”

Meanwhile, a presumably different person close to A-Rod wasn’t as firm, instead saying Alex is simply preparing to play, not take away anyone’s job. From Kevin Kernan:

“Alex is looking at this season as a fresh start,” one friend said. “He’s prepared to do the best he can in his role as a DH, but he is also preparing to play third base, knowing there will be times that Headley needs a break.

“He knows that Joe Girardi is a manager who likes to have options and wants to keep all his players fresh, so he knows he will get some time at third, and he feels being used in that way is good for the team overall. Everyone can get a break.

Believe who you want. I really don’t care. The most important thing is that A-Rod is preparing to play and be a factor this coming season, including at third base in some capacity.

This, of course, is a good thing. Make no mistake, the Yankees want no part of Alex and wish he’d just go away, but if they are stuck with him, they want a motivated A-Rod, not an apathetic A-Rod. They want a player with ambition who wants to prove everyone wrong. They don’t want someone who’s going to half-ass it.

The Yankees have gone to great lengths to marginalize Rodriguez this winter, most notably by signing Headley but also by signing Stephen Drew to increase infield depth. Drew’s an able body who can play third in an emergency. They aren’t counting on A-Rod to be that emergency guy at the hot corner.

If Alex is going to play any sort of regular role for the 2015 Yankees, he’s going to have to earn it, and that begins in Spring Training. A-Rod has been posting photos of himself working out on Instagram — which makes him no different than, like, 50% of all athletes — and I have zero doubt he will come to camp in great shape. That’s just who he is. Showing up is only step one, however.

There’s nothing A-Rod can do at this point to fix his image or change the way people think about him. His image his beyond repair. And the Yankees have made it clear there is no third base competition. The job is Headley’s. A-Rod says … or, rather, people close to A-Rod say he wants to play a big role and that’s great. He’s motivated and he wants to contribute. That can only be good for the Yankees.

It’s no secret that the Yankees and A-Rod are amidst a tenuous stretch in their tumultuous relationship. It’s been ten years since the Yanks acquired the star — ten years of playoff problems, opt-out operas, drug dramas. After 2007, the Yankees could have walked away from A-Rod, but the two sides just couldn’t quit each other. So here we are in 2013, and A-Rod, 38 next month, is under investigation for shady dealings with the Biogenesis clinic and trying to work his walk back from yet another hip injury.

The latest round of trouble began a few days ago on Twitter when A-Rod, instead of logging off, decided to post a note that his doctor had cleared his hip. The Yanks were supposedly eying a July 1 rehab date, and Alex seemed to jump the gun. It was innocuous enthusiasm from a player who could help his team, and it inspired Yanks GM Brian Cashman to say, on the record to ESPN NY, that Alex needs to STFU. Yesterday was a day of apologies wherein Cashman admitted to overreacting, and A-Rod clarified that he just wants to play.

Today, we have not one, not two, but three anonymously sourced articles all alleging that A-Rod, the Yankees or both are out to commit some form of insurance fraud.

ESPN NY:

NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez believes the New York Yankees do not want him to return this season, and perhaps ever again, a source told ESPNNewYork.com. According to the source, Rodriguez thinks the Yankees are deliberately slowing his return to their active roster in the hope they can have him declared medically unfit to play this season, enabling them to recoup 80 percent of his $28 million salary through insurance.

Daily News:

According to sources close to the ongoing drama surrounding the star-crossed Yankee third baseman, Rodriguez and his advisers are so concerned that Major League Baseball’s drug posse is quickly closing in on him that they have racheted (sic) up the timetable for him to return to game action. Once he’s back playing in rehab games, the sources say, he could then claim he is physically unable to perform because of the serious hip injury he is recovering from, “retire” from the game, and still collect the full amount of his salary — $114 million over the next five years.

“It’s all about him getting his money and not losing it to suspension,” one source close to the situation told the Daily News. “He knows he’s never going to the Hall of Fame. All that’s left for him is to make sure he gets his money — all of it.”

One way to do that is for Rodriguez to return to game action, find he can no longer perform up to his standards, then retire before he’s hit with a suspension without pay. A player who retires because he is physically unable to perform, even if he’s later suspended, would still get the full amount of his contract.

The Post:

Alex Rodriguez informed Yankees officials in Tampa yesterday he isn’t ready to begin a minor league rehab assignment because his surgically repaired hip isn’t up to the task, a source told The Post last night…The source also said he has heard speculation Rodriguez could use the hip problem to retire. That would allow him to collect the $114 million owed to him. Should Rodriguez retire because of a medical problem, he would avoid a possible suspension by MLB in the Biogenesis mess. The Yankees would also be able to collect 80 percent of the $114 million from insurance.

This is, of course, tabloid drama at its finest. A-Rod and the Yanks had a disagreement in the middle of a time period where the Yanks are regretting handing out $275 million to a 32-year-old with baggage, and everyone is now trying to get back at everyone else. A-Rod, a fierce competitor, wants to get back on the field, and he wants his money. The Yanks, desperately in need of any offensive production, would love to escape A-Rod, but for better or worse, they need him if they want to stay in the playoff race. Generally, these stories strike me as a load of hooey.

What won’t happen, despite what various reports say, is a quick resolution to any of the medical drama unless it involves a quick rehab and return to the field for A-Rod. We’ve been down this road before where the muckrakers in the press allege some form of insurance fraud, and if the Yankees and/or A-Rod do plan to pursue a medical out, it won’t be leaked so publicly. For A-Rod to retire and for insurance to cover his contract, some very powerful insurance companies that don’t look kindly upon those who try to bilk them out of dollars will get involved. A whole slew of doctors will examine A-Rod, and policies will be combed through by the finest lawyers around. If ESPN NY thinks the Yanks want to get out of their contractual obligations due to PED concerns, just imagine how the companies that have insured the remaining $114 million on A-Rod’s contract feel.

Sports media will have a field day with this stuff today. The FAN was already all over last night before I went to bed, and as many say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. But this isn’t even smoke. It’s a bunch of would/could/should that has no basis in the way baseball, business and the law work. A-Rod may be a pain that the Yanks want to rid themselves of, but it’s a marriage both partners need right now. No amount of anonymously sourced conspiracy theories can change that.