Alex Rodriguez is a new kind of Mariners villain after Jeff Kent's NSFW rant

Of all the things anyone could have had on their 2026 spring training bingo card, nobody had Seattle Mariners fans finding out they have something in common with Jeff Kent: a grudge against Alex Rodriguez.

The grudge Mariners fans have is born of emotional pain. Even if there wasn't (and still isn't) a good case for why he should have turned down $252 million, it still hurt when he left Seattle for the Texas Rangers in 2000. Even a quarter-century later, A-Rod isn't revered in Seattle despite ranking fourth on the Mariners' all-time WAR list.

Kent's grudge, on the other hand, stems from the more traditional kind of pain. As in, actual physical pain from when A-Rod hurt Kent's knee with a hard slide in 1998, as the newly elected Hall of Famer revealed in decidedly NSFW fashion during a spring training broadcast on Sunday:

For what it's worth, the historical record supports Kent's cause. The incident in question happened on June 9, 1998 and sidelined the star second baseman with a sprained knee until July 10. The San Francisco Giants went 11-13 during his absence and ended up finishing 1.0 games behind the Chicago Cubs for the National League's lone wild card spot.

Jeff Kent adds more villainy to Alex Rodriguez's Mariners tenure

Granted, this is one of those cases where it's worth considering the source.

Kent was not a well-liked player in his day for a variety of reasons, most of which trace back to the simple reality that he did not present himself as a likeable person. He famously had beef with Barry Bonds and was often blunt when he spoke, even when talking about his own teammates. And while he talked a good game about professionalism, he didn't always practice what he preached.

Ever heard anyone in baseball refer to someone as having "the ass?" Well, Kent is basically a living embodiment of that expression.

To his credit, though, nobody can accuse Kent of trying to rewrite history. He made his displeasure with Rodriguez's 1998 slide known at the time, telling the media: "I didn't think it was that bad until I got home and saw the replay. Now I think it was cheap. There's no need for that."

Further, Rodriguez himself was no angel even if you set aside his messy divorce from the Mariners and, you know, all the PED stuff. He did occasionally do dirty and dirty-adjacent stuff on the diamond, whether we're talking slapping balls out of gloves or using bush league tactics on pop-ups.

It was mostly during his New York Yankees days that Rodriguez's reputation shifted, going from uber-talented golden child to something more like a cancer on baseball. But thanks to Kent's loose lips, we now know that at least one person had it out for him even during his Mariners days.

We will say this in Rodriguez's defense: While he was always big for a shortstop, no reasonable person would ever refer to him as a "fat ass." At least not in 1998, which was his 40-40 season.