Alex Rodriguez

No player in New York Yankees history has made it harder to feel a single, clean emotion. Alex Rodriguez hit 696 home runs, won three MVPs, carried the team to a World Series in 2009, got caught cheating twice, lied about it both times, and somehow still ended up in the broadcast booth cracking jokes with Big Papi. A-Rod was the most talented -- and the most complicated -- player to ever wear number 13 in the Bronx.

The Trade That Changed Everything

The Red Sox almost got him first. In December 2003, Boston had a deal in place, but the MLBPA killed it because the salary restructuring violated CBA rules. A few weeks later, the Yankees swooped in. On February 15, 2004, they sent Alfonso Soriano and Joaquin Arias to Texas and absorbed roughly $179 million of A-Rod's $252 million contract. That's an absurd amount of money, even by Yankee standards.

Here's the part that gets overlooked: Rodriguez was the best shortstop on the planet, and he voluntarily moved to third base so Derek Jeter could keep playing short. He never publicly complained about it. But that decision -- generous as it was -- created a tension that never fully went away. You can't be the better player at the position AND the one who moved, and have everyone just forget it.

The Numbers in Pinstripes

Those MVP years were ridiculous. In 2005, he hit .321 with 48 homers and 130 RBI. In 2007, he put up .314 with 54 bombs and 156 RBI -- the kind of season where you just laugh at the box scores. He was, by every measurable standard, the best player in baseball. And fans at the Stadium STILL booed him.

October: The Worst and Best of Him

Here's where it gets messy. The 2004 ALCS Game 6 slap play -- when A-Rod literally swatted the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove and got called for interference -- remains one of the most embarrassing moments in franchise postseason history. (The Yankees blew a 3-0 series lead to the Red Sox. I don't need to tell you how that felt.) In the 2006 ALDS, he hit .071 against the Tigers. Joe Torre dropped him to eighth in the lineup. Eighth. For a guy making $25 million a year.

Then came 2009. Whatever you think about A-Rod -- and I've thought plenty -- that postseason run was one of the greatest individual performances I've ever watched. He hit .365/.500/.808 with 6 homers and 18 RBI. Walk-off home run in Game 2 of the ALDS. Clutch hit after clutch hit. The Yankees won their 27th title on November 4, 2009, and A-Rod was a massive reason why. He didn't just show up in October -- he carried the freakin' team.

The PED Problem

I'm not going to sugarcoat this, and I'm not going to pile on either. Here's what happened.

In February 2009, A-Rod admitted he used testosterone and Primobolan from 2001 to 2003 while playing for the Rangers. He said he was sorry. He said it was only those years. A lot of us wanted to believe him -- especially after that 2009 postseason made it easy to move on.

Then Biogenesis happened. In 2013, evidence showed Rodriguez had used PEDs through at least 2012, directly contradicting everything he'd said four years earlier. He didn't just get caught again -- he got hit with obstruction charges for witness tampering and purchasing documents to cover his tracks. MLB handed him a 211-game suspension (reduced to 162 on appeal), and he sat out the entire 2014 season. He was the only player to receive an enhanced penalty. That part wasn't bad luck. That was earned.

The Opt-Out, the Comeback, the End

Let's not forget the opt-out stunt. On October 28, 2007 -- during Game 4 of the World Series between the Rockies and Red Sox -- Scott Boras dropped a press release announcing A-Rod was opting out of his contract. During the freakin' World Series. It was designed to hijack the news cycle, and it worked. Everyone hated it. He re-signed anyway for 10 years and $275 million.

The comeback was quieter. On June 19, 2015, Rodriguez hit his 3,000th career hit -- a home run off Justin Verlander -- becoming the first player in history with both 3,000 hits and 600 homers. His final game came on August 12, 2016. The Yankees released him, and he retired with 696 home runs, fourth all-time.

Here's the thing about A-Rod: he gave you every reason to love him and every reason not to, sometimes in the same week. 696 home runs. A ring. Two PED scandals. The greatest postseason run any Yankee third baseman has ever had. You don't get to pick and choose which parts of Alex Rodriguez happened. They all did -- and that's what makes him impossible to look away from.