I agree that talking about Rodriguez that way to the press looks unprofessional, and I am wondering what Al was trying to accomplish. He may have made those comments as a bull in a china shop, cluelessly and without thinking and unconcerned of the effects, which some might conclude. Or, maybe Al was trying to send a message to Rodriguez and his agent along the lines of, "hey, we're embarrassing you here, you can put a stop to that by getting back to us." That could be considered unprofessional in its own way, too, but at least there would be a point behind it.
I think it's also possible that Al was laying some public groundwork for Ilitch to terminate the contract, whether in advance of petitioning Baseball (and the Players) to simply allow us to void it, or perhaps as a ploy to create more favorable terms for settling it for an undisclosed amount that's more in the Tigers' favor. If the Tigers can in a public way successfully portray Rodriguez as being continually unresponsive to them, that may strengthen their case to have the contract simply voided without penalty to them.