Sports fans in this country will generally pay large amounts of money to see some of the greatest pugilists in the world perform in cities such as Las Vegas, Nevada. Major League Baseball does not take place in a boxing ring, but on a baseball diamond. The boxing ring however seems to be the appropriate venue where MLB commissioner Bud Selig and New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez should hash out their problems. The feud between Rodriguez and Selig could see people in waves flock to the MGM Grand to see them get it on as it appears to be a 12-round fight that will go the distance. The problems between Selig and Rodriguez stem from Rodriguez’s use of performance-enhancing drugs and the longer that this story continues to play out, then the bigger that the eventual black eye will be for baseball.
In 2009, Rodriguez admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-2003 when he was a member of the Texas Rangers. Under MLB’s collective bargaining agreement Selig was unable to suspend Rodriguez for his admission due to the fact that drug testing wasn’t mandatory when A-Rod was a member of the Rangers.
Last summer multiple reports surfaced linking Rodriguez to a Biogenesis clinic in South Florida. Rodriguez was among 14 MLB players that were connected to the clinic. The other 13 players named accepted MLB’s 50-game suspension while Rodriguez has remained defiant. Rodriguez’s reasoning for not accepting MLB’s suspension is the fact that he denies receiving or using PED’s from the South Florida clinic. Selig threw around the possibility of banning Rodriguez for life before ultimately deciding to suspend the embattled slugger for 211 games. MLB claimed that Rodriguez was responsible for recruiting other players to the clinic while trying to persuade witnesses to not come forth and also tampering with evidence.
It did not take Rodriguez long to declare his innocence after Selig’s ruling was handed down last year. Rodriguez immediately went on the Mike Francesca Show in New York City to state his case as he denied everything that MLB accused him of.
Rodriguez appealed Selig’s ruling and he was eligible to play in 2013. In 44 games with the Yankees last season, Rodriguez batted .244 with 7 homers and 19 runs batted in.
Last fall Rodriguez had his arbitration hearing which he left without testifying after independent arbitrator Frederic Horowitz ruled that Selig would not be forced to testify. Last week Horowitz reduced Rodriguez’s suspension to 162 games while also deeming him ineligible for the upcoming postseason. Rodriguez and his legal team which is led by defense attorney Joe Tacopina are now looking to take their fight with Selig and Major League Baseball to federal court as they are now suing MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association.
But most people feel that it will be tough for the courts to rule against MLB due to the fact that baseball’s CBA allows them to be the judge, jury, and executioner over these matters. But does Rodriguez have legitimate claims against MLB?
Rodriguez feels that Selig is out to make him an example of him. According to ESPN.com, Rodriguez and his legal team claim that Horowitz did not allow them to view all of the evidence that was presented by Selig and Anthony Bosch who headed the infamous Biogenesis clinic in South Florida.
This is not a forum for me to paint Rodriguez as a milk drinking choir boy, but if he was denied due process then he deserves his chance.
The majority of MLB players want this problem to go away because they are tired of having to deal with and answer questions about players such as Rodriguez that are linked to performance-enhancing drugs. The players union is acting in the best interests of the majority who want this to go away, but as a due paying member they still have a responsibility to protect Rodriguez. The union and Selig have worked together jointly to clean up the game with little resistance from any player that failed a drug tests. The operative word here is “failed” as A-Rod didn’t fail a test, but he was suspended. Bosch presented MLB with text messages between himself and A-Rod which Selig felt implicated Rodriguez.
Bosch then took to the airwaves in an interview last night on 60 Minutes where he claimed that Rodriguez also paid him $12,000 a month for his services in regards to usage of performance-enhancing drugs.
This has turned into a saga of “no honor among thieves”. Rodriguez put his trust in a man (Bosch) that was acting as a doctor, but he never had a license to practice medicine. Rodriguez has always thought that he was bigger than the game of baseball which was evident when it took an unprecedented $252 million in 2000 for him to bolt the Seattle Mariners in favor of the Rangers. Rodriguez and his former agent Scott Boras then decided that the best time for him to announce that he was opting out of his deal with the Yankees was during the 2007 World Series as he deflected attention away from the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies who were playing in the Fall Classic. Selig isn’t a priest either as he and many others turned a blind eye as to what was going on in baseball during the steroid era because “chicks dig the long ball”.
Rodriguez would be a fool to not exhaust all of his resources in the midst of not having to forfeit his $22 million in salary for the 2014 MLB season and he will take this case to the People’s Court if need be.
The biggest winners/losers in this ordeal stand to be the Yankees. The Yankees were looking for MLB to take care of their dirty work and suspend Rodriguez because they are stuck with his contract through 2017 and they are on the hook for $83 million. The Yankees always have a media circus at spring training which would only be bigger if Rodriguez plans to report to camp and at this point they cannot afford another distraction.
By Bosch going on television to state his case it might give Rodriguez’s claims life as according to U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III, the confidentiality agreement was breached when Bosch took his story to the airwaves. Bosch bit the hand that fed him when he decided to go against Rodriguez so what is to say that he won’t do it to MLB and Selig? Rodriguez will end up being public enemy number one in every MLB ballpark around the country, but Selig is teetering on the verge of turning the embattled slugger into a martyr. There are people that still believe in Rodriguez and the more that evidence comes out against Selig and his beloved MLB the tide will continue to turn in this heavyweight fight. We are at round 8 and Selig thought that Rodriguez was knocked out, but he is showing life after being knocked down. We are going to get our money’s worth in this one because once this fight goes the distance more than likely the truth about Rodriguez, Selig, and Bosch will come to light and that is all that we as a people want.
Source: Baseball-reference.com
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