Jay Z Associate Talked A Rod Out Of Retirement

Alex Rodriguez was said to be considering retirement rather than facing a lengthy steroid suspension and suspension appeal before an associate of Jay Z talked him out of it. Desiree Perez, a nightclub manager in New York and an associate of Jay Z, convinced A Rod to not only fight Major League Baseball but also take the Yankees to court. What could have been...

Reports say that A Rod wants to be a player agent, possibly for Roc Nation, and the speculation is that this is the reason he fought the suspension.

Michael Pineda Appeals To Major League Baseball

David Phelps will be taking the mound in place of Michael Pineda tonight against the Seattle Mariners. Pineda tried to appeal his suspension to Major League Baseball and maybe get his suspension thrown out or lowered but to no avail. At least he tried though, right?

A Rod Drops Appeal, Will Not Attend Spring Training

Alex Rodriguez has announced that he will drop his appeal and lawsuits from his 162 game suspension and will accept his season long suspension and move on. A Rod has dropped both lawsuits against Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association, accepting his faith and the decision of arbitrator Frederic Horowitz. A Rod has also announced that he will not be attending Spring Training camp this season, which is not bad news that's for sure.

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association each released their politically correct responses to the news today and they can be seen below:

MLB: “We have been informed that Alex Rodriguez has reached the prudent decision to end all of the litigation related to the Biogenesis matter. We believe that Mr. Rodriguez’s actions show his desire to return the focus to the play of our great game on the field and to all of the positive attributes and actions of his fellow Major League Players. We share that desire.”

MLBPA:  “Alex Rodriguez has done the right thing by withdrawing his lawsuit. His decision to move forward is in everyone’s best interest.”

MLBPA Members Want To Kick Alex Rodriguez Out

On January 13, 40 members of the MLB Players Association met on a conference call and the topic was Alex Rodriguez and trying to oust him from the union. The quotes coming from Yahoo Sports and Jeff Passan and Tim Brown are absolutely disgusting. See below and see the original article HERE:

"We wanted to get on this call and not let him back. 'This is our game and we don't want you in it."'

[Alex]  "needs to be scared of coming back and facing people he sued."



I am going to try and stay in the middle here but come on, really? The players association members want to kick Alex out of the union? Why not just kick him out of baseball? That's called collusion, something that is illegal in the game of baseball. I wonder why the MLBPA couldn't kick him out, by their own words they could not do it legally. I wonder if this has more to do with the recent lawsuit against the MLBPA for their lack of support in his Biogenesis appeal and less to do with his "repeated PED use" that has never caused him to fail a test. I hate to say witch hunt, it's not a witch hunt, it's just a petty back and forth game going on and it's giving the game and everyone involved, including the fans, a bad name.

Tacopina Says "God Like" PED Users Are In Boston

Joe Tacopina told @ESPN_Colin he did not want to name other players accused of PED use, "but some of them are God-like in Boston right now."
— Neil Best (@sportswatch) January 14, 2014

In case you missed it and have been living under two rocks in the past week or so Alex Rodriguez was suspended for 162 games and essentially lost his appeal with Frederic Horowitz and Major League Baseball. Now he is taking it to court suing both the MLB and the MLB Players Association trying to get the ruling overturned or reduced. While he is waiting for that to play out we may have the makings of another Jose Canseco on our hands...

Alex's lawyer Joe Tacopina was on Colin Cowherd's ESPN show today and foreshadowed a possible outing of other PED users. Tacopina subtly suggested that some of the current PED users are "god like" players playing in Boston. Immediately David Ortiz comes to mind as well as Dustin Pedroia, more likely the former than the latter obviously, with a few other possibilities. This is about to get really REALLY fun I have a feeling.

Here is the quote from Tacopina:

Joe Tacopina told @ESPN_Colin he did not want to name other players accused of PED use, “but some of them are God-like in Boston right now.”

A Rod To Sue MLB And MLBPA Next

Alex Rodriguez has been sue happy all offseason long and is far from done as it was announced that he would be taking Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association to court to try and get his suspension overturned. Alex disagrees with the fact that he used banned substances at least three times and tried to impede the investigation twice.

Independent League Invites A Rod To Play In 2014

To nobody's surprise the Long Island Ducks of the Independent League have invited Alex Rodriguez to play for them in the 2014 season. This comes from Mark Herrman from Newsday as Alex plans on taking his fight to the Supreme Court to try and get the suspension overturned. Alex has also said he plans on attending Spring Training this season, something I do not think MLB or the Yankees can prevent, so that should be distracting interesting.  Here is a quote from the Ducks GM and President Michael Pfaff:

"While some MLB suspensions have been honored by the Atlantic League in the past, if Alex Rodriguez were unable to participate in the Major Leagues this season, we would be open to exploring giving him a chance to play, stay sharp and compete." 

Alex Rodriguez Banned 162 Games

Arod gets 162 games
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 11, 2014

The suspension has finally been announced, and Alex Rodriguez got the ban reduced. However, going down to 162 games from 211 wasn't enough, and ARod will continue to fight the ban by heading to federal court.

It's been said that Supreme Court judges do not have much leeway when it comes to overruling arbiter's decisions, so I don't expect this ban to be reduced any further. And honestly, I think our government has better things to do than get involved in Major League Baseball.

I should also point out that Alex will not be able to hit six more home runs this season, which would trigger one of his bonuses of $6 million. So the Yankees will essentially save $33.5 million, not just the $27.5 million the AAV of Rodriguez's contract is worth. Then again, I suppose Alex could play in the postseason and hit a half dozen homers, but I highly doubt the Yankees would put him on the playoff roster after sitting all season (Joel Sherman tweeted that his suspension includes the postseason).

EDIT: I just came across the statement ARod made in regards to the suspension...

"The number of games sadly comes as no surprise, as the deck has been stacked against me from day one. This is one man’s decision, that was not put before a fair and impartial jury, does not involve me having failed a single drug test, is at odds with the facts and is inconsistent with the terms of the Joint Drug Agreement and the Basic Agreement, and relies on testimony and documents that would never have been allowed in any court in the United States because they are false and wholly unreliable. This injustice is MLB’s first step toward abolishing guaranteed contracts in the 2016 bargaining round, instituting lifetime bans for single violations of drug policy, and further insulating its corrupt investigative program from any variety defense by accused players, or any variety of objective review. 

I have been clear that I did not use performance enhancing substances as alleged in the notice of discipline, or violate the Basic Agreement or the Joint Drug Agreement in any manner, and in order to prove it I will take this fight to federal court. I am confident that when a Federal Judge reviews the entirety of the record, the hearsay testimony of a criminal whose own records demonstrate that he dealt drugs to minors, and the lack of credible evidence put forth by MLB, that the judge will find that the panel blatantly disregarded the law and facts, and will overturn the suspension. No player should have to go through what I have been dealing with, and I am exhausting all options to ensure not only that I get justice, but that players’ contracts and rights are protected through 

the next round of bargaining, and that the MLB investigation and arbitration process cannot be used against others in the future the way it is currently being used to unjustly punish me.

I will continue to work hard to get back on the field and help the Yankees achieve the ultimate goal of winning another championship. I want to sincerely thank my family, all of my friends, and of course the fans and many of my fellow MLB players for the incredible support I received throughout this entire ordeal."

EDIT 2: The Major League Players' Association has stated that they will no longer back Alex Rodriguez, saying the arbiter's ruling is "final and binding". ARod is on his own when it comes to the Supreme Court. Rodriguez has more than enough money to buy the best lawyer's possible, but this is going to hurt his case.

Alex Rodriguez Decision Could Come This Weekend

The decision from arbitrator Frederic Horowitz could come at any second now according to Ronald Blum of the Associated Press. The article states that people familiar with Horowitz think the decision could come down this weekend which would be nice to know going forward. This whole situation is becoming kind of like that Sprint commercial, the decision could come today, but it probably won't, but it might!

ARod Could Seek Injunction & Accept 65 Game Ban

According to the New York Daily News Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez could seek an injunction from a judge if he feels that arbitrator Frederic Horowitz's ruling is unfair, which is very likely. He is obviously very unlikely to get one from a judge but it is right to ask for one and with him suing the world lately why not right? The NYDN also reported that Alex would accept a 65 game or less suspension without a fight which I think is absolutely fair and what he should receive anyway. This would obviously match the suspension that Ryan Braun accepted last summer in the same Biogenesis fallout. Just waiting on you Horowitz.

Heyman: A Rod Decision Won't Come Before 1/10

logically, no a-rod decision likely before or during hall of fame days. so next friday probably is the earliest. #arod
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) January 3, 2014

The Alex Rodriguez saga just continues to be dragged out doesn't it? The A Rod decision on his 211 game steroid suspension appeal is not likely to be announced before the Hall of Fame days are over. The Cooperstown announcements are coming on Wednesday, January 8th so the Yankees may not know the fate of A Rod until next Friday, the 10th.

I get not wanting to put out distractions and take away from the whole hall ceremony but come on now. If that's the case announce the decision now, it's not like Frederic Horowitz doesn't know what he is going to do by now. This has gone on long enough... announce it already.

A Rod Ruling Not Expected This Week

When reports said "early January" in reference to the Alex Rodriguez decision they did not mean this week. The arbitrator that holds A Rod's career, season, and legacy in his hand Frederic Horowitz is unlikely to announce his decision today or tomorrow according to Mike Puma. A Rod has not been informed of anything on the matter either that we have been made aware of so the A Rod watch continues until at least next week.

A Rod 211 Game Suspension Pushed Back A Month

Yesterday we reported that Alex Rodriguez's lawsuit against Major League Baseball for their "witch hunt" against him was pushed back two weeks until November, 7th today we learn that the 211 game suspension will be pushed back a month until the middle of November.

Major League Baseball has completed their case against Alex after eight hearings in front of arbitrator Frederic Horowitz. Unless the case is settled before then we will see Alex and his team of lawyers resume their questioning and the entire legal process on November, 18th.

The only problem I have with this is this will push back our free agent signings back because we will still not know whether we have to pay Alex his $25,000,000 for the 2014 or not when free agency opens.

Alex Rodriguez Hearing On Hold Until Next Tuesday

In the latest Alex Rodriguez saga that will just not go away we learned that the arbitrator in charge of Alex Rodriguez's appeal of his 211 game suspension, Frederic Horowitz, had prior engagements and cannot meet with Alex this week. His appeal is set to resume at the earliest next Tuesday the 15th which means the Yankees offseason plans get put on hold for yet another week at least. Do not worry though we will not have to go without drama I am sure as Alex is still the part of two separate lawsuits, one against Bud Selig and Major League Baseball and the other against the Yankees team doctor Christopher Ahmad. The Bronx is Burning again.

Alex Rodriguez Steroid Suspension Appeal Hearings

The talk of the day will not be all the teams heading into post season baseball but will, in my opinion, be the hearings that begin today for Alex Rodriguez regarding his steroid suspension. As we all know and have had crammed down our throats all season long A Rod is facing up to a 211 game suspension for his ties to the Miami based clinic Biogenesis, subsequent steroid use, and various other allegations. The meetings and such would have been pushed back had the Yankees made the playoffs but they did not so the Yankees off season really begins today as they will soon know how much of A Rod's salary will be off the books, if any, in 2014.