A-Rod Cuckoo for Coconut Water (with Madonna's Blessing)

When a person invests heavily in something, they generally are expecting to make their money back — and then some. But New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez seems to be working some new business angle that hasn’t been discovered before: investing in one product while endorsing its competitor.

Coconut water has been "the next big thing" for a while now, with ABC News and other trend-watchers picking up on the trend more than a year ago, as consumers started ditching their sports drinks and vitamin-infused water for a more "natural" thirst-quencher.

Rodriguez has been a longtime investor in coconut-water maker Zico. But Zico’s main competitor for the top spot in what CNBC calls a $200 million industry, Vita Coco, just announced that Rodriguez was endorsing their product, which brought in $0 million in 2010.

Rodriguez would not discuss the endorsement deal with CNBC, although he did say via a statement, "I don't discuss my personal investments. What I will say is that since Zico changed their formula to concentrate, I felt that the taste and functionality was compromised and that's when I started to only drink Vita Coco. I love the taste and purity of Vita Coco."

Needless to say, the folks at Zico were a little confused. “Alex has been an investor for a couple years," Zico CEO Mark Rampolla said. "And it's not chump change either. It's a hell of a lot more money than I ever invested in the company."

Vita Coco (which also recently signed Rihanna) claims that Rodriguez came to them “looking to do something this year because he's such a big fan of the brand," Vita Coco CEO Michael Kirban told CNBC. Not coincidentally, Vita Coco is part-owned by Madonna, who was romantically linked with A-Rod after her break-up with British director Guy Ritchie. The statement above? Read to CNBC by his business manager, Guy Oseary, who also happens to be Madonna's business partner.

Rampolla pointed out that his company has been sending Rodriguez the product for months — to his home, his locker room, his spring-training facility, and even on the road when he’s traveling — as requested by Rodriguez.

“Not only do we have video of Alex drinking our product from concentrate, but we have him recommending it,” Rampolla said. “Our product from concentrate has the same nutritional value and has the same profile and, according to Nielsen, it is the number one coconut water SKU in New York."

Rampolla told CNBC that the company would be happy to refund the money he’s put into the company if he feels he’s made a better choice. After all, Zico has a slew of other athletes endorsing it, including New York Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, and Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett, who's featured on the brand's Facebook page touting the Zico pledge.

Perhaps that pledge, for celebs, should include "not switching coconut water brands to endorse."