There is an old fable about a man who, while walking on a cold day, came upon a snake lying on the side of the road, nearly frozen to death. Taking pity upon the creature, the man picked the snake up and placed it inside his coat and against his body, using his own warmth to bring the snake back to life. As soon as it recovered, the snake bit the man and began to slither away. Collapsing to his knees, mortally wounded, the man looked at the snake in disbelief.

"Mister," said the snake, "you knew I was a snake when you picked me up."

The New York Yankees have picked themselves up a snake. All bets are on now to see how long it will take for Alex Rodriguez to bite them.

If there's one thing that's become abundantly clear over this off-season, it's that A-Rod is only out for A-Rod, and that his word means nothing. No matter which side of the "good for baseball/bad for baseball that the richest team has the best player" debate, there's no denying A-Rod's track record.

He got upset in Seattle because he wasn't THE man, having to share the spotlight with Ken Griffey and Randy Johnson. He told Seattle he wanted to stay, then hit the free agent market. He claimed all that winter that he just wanted to play for a winner, but spurned offers from several winning ball clubs to sign with Texas for a record $252 million. The unofficial word in New York at that time he had declined the Mets' offer because they had refused to cave in to A-Rod's numerous marketing demands.

After three losing seasons in Texas - caused in great part by the lack of flexibility his own contract allowed the team - A-Rod talked publicly about wanting to fulfill his obligations to the Rangers... while behind the scenes, he had his agent Scott Boras begin talking to the Red Sox about a deal. After that deal fell apart because the union wouldn't allow the restructuring of his albatross-like contract, A-Rod was made the captain of the Rangers and talked again about being committed to Texas. But as soon as the opportunity arose to head to the one team that can afford that ridiculous contract, A-Rod initiated talks with the Yankees.

Nothing in A-Rod's history indicates that he is anything remotely resembling a team player. This guy is all about himself. He doesn't like sharing the spotlight, he can't handle losing (even when it's his fault), he says one thing and does another. It's not new in this deal - Rodriguez has behaved like a selfish, spoiled little brat. The man's word isn't worth even one of his 252 million dollars.