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Bye Bye ARod


Maxman

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http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/yanked-suspensions-a-rod-week-article-1.1413283

 

Major League Baseball officials told union leaders during a meeting at the Players Association’s Midtown Manhattan offices on Tuesday that they plan to suspend Alex Rodriguez and eight other players who allegedly obtained performance-enhancing drugs from a South Florida anti-aging clinic.

 

Most of the players will be suspended for 50 games, but some – including the Yankees’ embattled superstar – face stiffer penalties for lying to MLB investigators or interfering in baseball’s year-long Biogenesis investigation.

 

Not all of the players linked in media reports to Biogenesis face discipline, sources have told The News.

 

Two former Yankees - Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera and Oakland A’s pitcher Bartolo Colon – will not be punished because they already have been suspended as a result of their links to Biogenesis and its owner, self-styled “biochemist” Anthony Bosch.

 

Other players may not be disciplined because MLB investigators could not dig up enough evidence to warrant penalties.

 

It remains unclear how many of the players will accept the suspensions and how many will fight MLB’s decision, although A-Rod’s attorney, David Cornwell, has indicated that Rodriguez will appeal the looming suspension.

 

Tuesday’s sit-down represents one of the last steps before Rodriguez and other players linked to the now-defunct Coral Gables clinic will be formally disciplined in what will be the most aggressive and comprehensive anti-doping action in the history of the sport.

 

MLB is expected to announce the suspensions by the end of the week.

 
baseball.jpg STEVE NESIUS for New York Daily News A-Rod may want to run and hide by the end of this week, as sources tell the Daily News that is when he and eight other Major Leaguers will be suspended for connections to Biogenesis.

MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred and other baseball executives huddled with Players Association officials and the players’ representatives to inform them about the pending suspensions, sources familiar with the meeting told the Daily News.

 

In the case of Rodriguez, sources say that MLB investigators have gathered overwhelming evidence that he used performance-enhancing drugs in 2010, 2011 and 2012. MLB officials are believed to have gathered hundreds of emails, text messages and phone records that prove the aging third baseman continued to use banned drugs long after he acknowledged in 2009 that he used steroids from 2001 to 2003, his years with the Texas Rangers.

 

The investigation that will likely result in Rodriguez’s suspension began in August 2012, when the Daily News reported that Cabrera and his associates attempted to avoid a 50-game suspension for doping by claiming that a legal product had caused a positive drug test.

 

MLB investigators quickly determined that Cabrera and his associates were bluffing, in part because a website for the product Cabrera claimed had caused his positive test had been created shortly before he met with baseball officials.

 

That investigation ultimately resulted in the suspension last week of former National League MVP Ryan Braun for the remainder of the season.

 

Rodriguez had his longest workout at the Yankees’ Tampa complex since team physician Christopher Ahmad diagnosed him with a Grade 1 strain of his left quad on July 21. The aging infielder – Rodriguez turned 38 on Saturday - didn’t look like an athlete suffering from a quad injury on Tuesday; he showed far more mobility and energy during agility drills, wind sprints, batting practice and infield practice than he displayed during his minor league rehab assignment earlier this month.

 

Rodriguez, who has missed the entire 2013 season after hip surgery in January, is scheduled to play in a simulated game on Thursday and could join the Yankees as early as Friday in San Diego. But at this point it seems unlikely that Rodriguez will ever step foot on a major league diamond again.

 

If Rodriguez indicates that he will appeal his looming suspension to stay on the field and protect his contract, commissioner Bud Selig is prepared to invoke his rarely used right to suspend a player to preserve the integrity of the game – a power enshrined in Article XI, Section A1b of the game’s collective bargaining agreement. Doing so would effectively bypass the joint drug agreement between MLB and the union. Such a suspension would be effective immediately.

baseball.jpg STEVE NESIUS for New York Daily News Rodriguez takes ground balls on Tuesday, but it is likely all for naught.

While Rodriguez could theoretically appeal such a suspension within 30 days, Selig himself would be the one to review the appeal in a hearing and “render a written decision as soon as practicable” afterwards. All told, that process could potentially keep Rodriguez off the field deep into September.

 

If the punishment Selig were to impose in such a scenario was excessive, Rodriguez could turn to another provision of the basic agreement that gives him the opportunity to ask arbitrator Frederic Horowitz to review it; Horowitz, however, does not have the right to stay A-Rod’s suspension.

 

So invoking the Article XI would effectively sideline A-Rod for much of the remaining season. MLB is also expected to hit Rodriguez with an additional suspension for doping.

 

By using Article XI, Selig would risk a federal court case or a reopening of the collective bargaining agreement. If the Players’ Association decides to reopen the CBA to negotiation, the union would still find it difficult to defend Rodriguez because many of its players have abandoned support for the Yankees’ disgraced third baseman.

 

Another possibility is for Rodriguez to follow Ryan Braun’s lead and settle for a suspension that would take him off the field for the rest of this year and possible the entire 2014 season as well. A-Rod would serve the ban without collecting pay, but would still have a chance to collect the remaining $60 million the Yankees would owe him from 2015 to 2017.

 

But it is unclear if MLB officials would even agree to such a penalty.

 

Cornwell told ESPN radio on Monday that MLB officials had not then approached Rodriguez’s advisers about a settlement, but he never ruled out a potential deal, saying instead that A-Rod was focusing on what to do after a suspension is handed down.

 

“We are focused on an appeal,” Cornwell said.

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How can you be this bad at getting steroids? I could make a phone call and have whatever I need by Monday and I don't have half a billion. I could care less about these guys juicing cause baseball gets boring and homeruns are cool, but this man should be banned and then put down for pure stupidity.

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ARod is going to sue MLB and the Yankees and walk away with half a billion dollars in salary and defamation compensation.

 

That is okay because then the Yankees will have insurance to pick it up.

Getting that contract off the books is the primary goal here.  There are free agents to buy.  Jeter needz more rings.

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That is okay because then the Yankees will have insurance to pick it up.

Getting that contract off the books is the primary goal here.  There are free agents to buy.  Jeter needz more rings.

 

Enjoy 2014. 

 

If MLB had such a slam dunk case for lifetime ban and that is what they actually wanted, then Bud would have crushed Alex's throat already.

 

The Yankees will save next year's salary, but they will end up paying him from 2015 whether they play him or not until 2017.

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Enjoy 2014. 

 

If MLB had such a slam dunk case for lifetime ban and that is what they actually wanted, then Bud would have crushed Alex's throat already.

 

The Yankees will save next year's salary, but they will end up paying him from 2015 whether they play him or not until 2017.

 

Well that is still a considerable savings.  He is on the DL so they have insurance that has paid his salary all year.  So this year and next they are absolved of the worst contract in sports history.

 

That helps.

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How can you be this bad at getting steroids? I could make a phone call and have whatever I need by Monday and I don't have half a billion.

 

Could it be they thought this guy had new steroids for which there are no tests yet?  Just guessing.

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Well that is still a considerable savings. He is on the DL so they have insurance that has paid his salary all year. So this year and next they are absolved of the worst contract in sports history.

That helps.

Except when he appeals and they have to pay him anyway. And insurance of that magnitude isn't cheap.

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Well that is still a considerable savings.  He is on the DL so they have insurance that has paid his salary all year.  So this year and next they are absolved of the worst contract in sports history.

 

That helps.

 

The Yankees are now the Royals and have to count pennies?  Funny how the kids do not like to spend the money like dad. 

 

They have 62 million tied up in 5 players with the options for Jeter (3 or 8 million) and Cano unsigned.  That 189 million 'cap' is coming up quickly.

 

It is a repreieve, but there are still future hits for A-Rod.

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The Yankees are now the Royals and have to count pennies?  Funny how the kids do not like to spend the money like dad. 

 

They have 62 million tied up in 5 players with the options for Jeter (3 or 8 million) and Cano unsigned.  That 189 million 'cap' is coming up quickly.

 

It is a repreieve, but there are still future hits for A-Rod.

 

Yes, that is what I said.  Thanks for putting it in different words and calling it your own.  :)

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Except when he appeals and they have to pay him anyway. And insurance of that magnitude isn't cheap.

 

This doesn't make sense.  They already paid the insurance.  So if ARod is suspended the rest of this year and next, that means the Yankees saved his salary for those two years.  Some would come from insurance, some would come from not paying ARod. 

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This doesn't make sense. They already paid the insurance. So if ARod is suspended the rest of this year and next, that means the Yankees saved his salary for those two years. Some would come from insurance, some would come from not paying ARod.

He's not going to be suspended that long.

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Yes, that is what I said.  Thanks for putting it in different words and calling it your own.  :)

 

I love the irony here.  Not with you, but the situation. 

 

You can not blame the Yanks for trying to get out from under the contract. 

 

Yes Yankees, you did not assist MLB in the A-Rod witch hunt.  We know what you mean.  *wink* *wink*

 

It is the matter that for years, Yankee Nation would trumpet George spends his money.  Now, that the sons are in charge they are tapping the brakes on the spending of 'their' money.

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I love the irony here.  Not with you, but the situation. 

 

You can not blame the Yanks for trying to get out from under the contract. 

 

Yes Yankees, you did not assist MLB in the A-Rod witch hunt.  We know what you mean.  *wink* *wink*

 

It is the matter that for years, Yankee Nation would trumpet George spends his money.  Now, that the sons are in charge they are tapping the brakes on the spending of 'their' money.

 

Not entirely true.  Nobody (Yankee fans) has a problem when they spend good money.  But this contract is so bad.  They should have walked away from him the second he opted out.

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Isn't it the rest of this year and all of next year? Doesn't that give the Yankees like a 50 million dollar savings?

It's whatever the arbitrator decides now. And it's not going to be more than 100. And they knew he did roids and signed him anyway. It's crap that they'd save ANY money.

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Not entirely true.  Nobody (Yankee fans) has a problem when they spend good money.  But this contract is so bad.  They should have walked away from him the second he opted out.

 

Max I think the Yankees business model has changed.

 

George was likely the last of a dying breed.  An owner that spent, regardless of cost, to be competitive.

 

Granted, the Yankees pockets are the deepest so it is not like he was spending his money like Ewing Kaufman did for the Royals back in the 80s/90s.  

 

Who would have thought the Yankees might be financially responsible one day. 

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And being serious -- myself and many Yankee fans that I have talked to all want the same thing...ARod gone.  He is terrible for the sport.  He is a cheater.  And he is a black eye on the Yankees and MLB.  I hope the Yankees waive him and eat the 60 million or so they owe him.

 

You can't have him around the team when he is in his 40's, has no benefits on the field and has that contract.  He is a cancer, so hopefully the Yankees do the right thing and walk away regardless of price.

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I find myself rooting for Arod more than ever. It's not his fault the Yankees gave him the contract when they knew he was using.

Hell, steroids are legal in the DR, MLB has known about this forever and now are getting tough? We've known for years all of the Dominican players were juicing as it's engrained in the culture down there.

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And being serious -- myself and many Yankee fans that I have talked to all want the same thing...ARod gone.  He is terrible for the sport.  He is a cheater.  And he is a black eye on the Yankees and MLB.  I hope the Yankees waive him and eat the 60 million or so they owe him.

 

You can't have him around the team when he is in his 40's, has no benefits on the field and has that contract.  He is a cancer, so hopefully the Yankees do the right thing and walk away regardless of price.

 

Baseball contracts are guaranteed.  There is no getting out of it.  They're stuck because they decide to sign him for a bajillion dollars.  Reap the whirlwind.

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Baseball contracts are guaranteed.  There is no getting out of it.  They're stuck because they decide to sign him for a bajillion dollars.  Reap the whirlwind.

 

Yes baseball contracts are guaranteed, that is why the Yankees would have to eat the 60 million or so that is left after his suspension. That was my point.

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You mean eat it as in cutting him? You think they'd do that?

 

No.

 

If they have any hope to lessen the damage of those last three years, it is to trade him to a Houston and let him DH.  If the Astros give th eYankees .25 cents on the dollar, the Yankees could save themselves 15 million.

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You mean eat it as in cutting him? You think they'd do that?

 

I hope.  Would they?  I am not sure, but I do think there is a chance.  He is a cancer and the way this year is going the Yankees need to change directions. 

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I hope.  Would they?  I am not sure, but I do think there is a chance.  He is a cancer and the way this year is going the Yankees need to change directions. 

 

Too bad the Yankees do not have a locker room presence to sit him down and get him in line.

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He is never in the locker room hard to do that when he is on the DL all the time.

 

Really?  :face:

 

He is Derek F'ing Jeter. 

 

As I said many years ago when the Sox and NY media were taking shots at A-Rod, Derek could kill that if he was a true leader.

 

His silience speaks volumes to his leadership.  He has none. 

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Really? :face:

He is Derek F'ing Jeter.

As I said many years ago when the Sox and NY media were taking shots at A-Rod, Derek could kill that if he was a true leader.

His silience speaks volumes to his leadership. He has none.

Totally, the Yankees could definitely use some leadership lessons from the team that had to hire Bobby Valentine

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