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Sunday, July 28, 2013
AS the Performing Enhancing Drug Suspensions loom this week - does A- Rod take a deal or insist or fighting out a losing case ? Reading between the lines , it seems the hammer on the PED suspensions and A- Rod's fate should be known as quickly as August 1......
If Alex Rodriguez refuses deal from MLB, Bud Selig is expected to pursue lifetime suspension
According to a source, if A-Rod accepted a settlement that would call for him to be suspended for the rest of this year and the entire 2014 season without pay, he would still have a chance to collect the $60 million the Yankees would owe him from 2015 to 2017.
Armed with voluminous evidence they believe would warrant lifetime banishment, Major League Baseball officials hope to know by Monday if Alex Rodriguez will agree to a deal that would effectively end the Yankee third baseman's career but possibly preserve a big portion of the remaining $100 million on his contract.
If Rodriguez and his representatives reject a deal, the embattled superstar's suspension could be announced as early as late Monday or Tuesday. A source close to Rodriguez says the player is sticking to his story that he has done nothing wrong and is unwilling to cut a deal.
The strong indications are Major League Baseball will announce all the suspensions in the Biogenesis case this week, including one that could cover the rest of this year and all of next season for Alex Rodriguez, The Post has learned.
It always has been MLB’s plan to announce the suspensions at one time for the 15-plus players believed to be facing sanctions in the performance-enhancing drug case. MLB went early with Ryan Braun’s suspension because of his willingness to accept the penalty without appeal.
It is expected other players will do the same this week. To that end, Rodriguez’s representatives met with MLB officials in the past few days, The Post has learned. It is believed A-Rod’s camp was trying to gain a better understanding of potential penalties. However, a member of Rodriguez’s team told The Post yesterday it is “unequivocally untrue” that Rodriguez is seeking a settlement.
REUTERS
TIME RUNNING OUT: Alex Rodriguez was all smiles in Tampa yesterday on his 38th birthday, but he won’t be smiling if commissioner Bud Selig hands down a significant suspension for A-Rod’s reported involvement with the Biogenesis clinic.
It is believed MLB wants to make the suspensions formal this week before teams reach the point at which they have fewer than 50 games to play. The penalty for first-time offenders who fail a PED test is 50 games.
MLB apparently is willing to give the same sanction to first-time offenders in this case, in which the evidence does not come from a failed urine or blood exam, but rather from an investigation. The thinking is MLB wants to provide the first-time offenders this carrot: Don’t appeal and you can serve the entire suspension this year and start with a clean slate for next season.
Rodriguez does not fit into this category. It has become evident MLB is going to demand Rodriguez’s punishment far exceed Braun’s. That is because MLB believes the combination of being a user and obstructing the case demands a much stiffer penalty — especially because Rodriguez has admitted to previous drug use from 2001-03 and because MLB believes Rodriguez subsequently lied to its investigators in previous interviews about his usage.
Bud Selig was at the Hall of Fame ceremonies in Cooperstown this week and was said still to be mulling what punishment to deliver Rodriguez. It is conceivable he could ask for permanent banishment, akin to Pete Rose. But the belief is no matter the level of evidence — and it has been portrayed that MLB has substantially more evidence on Rodriguez than it does on Braun — it would be hard to convince an arbitrator, if Rodriguez appeals, that Rodriguez’s first suspension should be for life.
Alex Rodriguez’s quest to return to the Yankees continues today in Tampa, Fla.
NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez (left quad strain) will participate in fielding drills and hit soft toss and off a tee today in Tampa, Fla., general manager Brian Cashman said Friday.
Cashman provided terse no comments to a series of questions involving the embattled third baseman, one day after Rodriguez went on WFAN radio to proclaim that he was ready to return and dodging a question asking if he trusts the organization.
But he is following a team protocol that will keep him sidelined until at least Aug. 1.
Cashman did not answer questions involving possible disciplinary action regarding Rodriguez, who did not notify the team before seeking a second medical opinion. He also passed on a question asking if the team ordered Rodriguez to curtail his media appearances.
"Feel free to reach out to Alex and ask him because, you know, that’s something that’s hard to keep up with and follow," Cashman said in an apparent dig. "I can just provide you the facts and that’s what I’ll continue to do."
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