No Suspensions Announced Today

How much longer will this guy haunt us?

Steven Marcus of Newsday tweeted that MLB is not expected to announce the suspensions involving the Biogenesis investigation today.

You may be thinking that the timing of the suspensions is a bit fishy, seeing as how the trade deadline is on Wednesday. Well, Jon Heyman of CBSports reports that the deadline is "no factor when it comes to the timing of announcements related to the case." Personally, I don't think MLB would screw over teams by announcing suspensions at this time on purpose. This entire ordeal is bad for baseball, and Selig & Company probably just want to get it done ASAP. Either way, this is shaping up to be a crazy week for baseball fans.

As for how things are shaking out in regards to Alex Rodriguez, multiple people at The Daily News are saying that MLB will offer ARod a plea deal, in which he'd be suspended for the remainder of this season, and all of next season. If Alex does not accept the plea deal, MLB will attempt to have him banned for life.

Chances are the suspension would fall somewhere between  "rest of 2013 and all of 2014" and "life", which seems to happen whenever a third party is brought in to settle things. Sort of like arbitration cases. It would be great if ARod were banned for life, as the Yankees would not only be off the hook for the remaining 4+ years and way-too-much-money, but be rid of the drama. But a 150 game ban, which seems to be the worst-case scenario, would save the team over $30 million in terms of the Luxury Tax, which would be huge when it comes to getting under the Luxury Tax threshold.

Meanwhile, the Yankees continue to look for help at third base, which is a smart thing to do as Rodriguez has said he'll appeal any suspension handed down to him. Although first-time offenders are allowed to play during an appeal, it's believed that MLB would challenge that in this case. That means the Yankees may not get ARod back, and could be stuck with what has been the worst production out of third basemen in the American League (going by wOBA and wRC+).