The New York Yankees should have taken Alex Rodriguez off the payroll years ago, according to real estate czar Donald Trump.
"What I don't understand is why did the Yankees keep paying him for the last two years? They should've stopped paying him," Trump told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
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"He was so bad when he was playing the season before last. He couldn't hit anything."
Trump's criticism came as Bombers' third baseman Alex Rodriguez reportedly stormed out of his arbitration meeting over his 211-game suspension by Major League Baseball over the Biogenesis drug scandal, calling it "an abusive process."
Rodriguez has strenuously denied allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs supplied by Biogenesis.
"For him to say he hasn't been taking is a joke. Look what happened since he hasn't been taking. He became an average baseball player," Trump said.
"All of his life, he's doing these great things and then the Yankees."
Trump also slammed Rodriguez as a good neighbor.
"He's lived in my buildings. The people that work in the buildings did not like him," Trump said.
"I have many athletes living in my buildings . . . and I'd say to the doorman, how do you like him? They loved Derek Jeter, they loved so many of the athletes. They loved Derek. They don't like A-Rod. And that tells me something, when the people in the building don't like him."
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