Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's love of his, hometown New York Yankees is legendary.

  It should come as no surprise, then, that Giuliani has a very strong opinion about what to do with the big slugger of the Bronx Bombers, Alex Rodriguez.

   The team opted not to re-sign Rodriguez to an extension this year which will make the third baseman eliglble to negotiate with other teams at the end of this season.

   ``They should definitely re-sign A-Rod. He's one of the best players of this century and also one of the hardest working,'' Giuliani said during an interview last week.

   But he's not Giuliani's favorite player despite having hit 40 home runs and being well on his way to collecting an MVP award.

   ``Derek Jeter is my favorite by far. If I were starting a White House baseball team, he would be the first player I picked,'' Giuliani added.

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