Sentencing from the Biogenesis scandal is expected to dominate sports this upcoming week. With Ryan Braun already suspended until his huge contract kicks in next season, the baseball world will be focused on the biggest name of all, A-Rod.
Alex Rodriguez has been contacted by MLB to make a quiet deal prior to the release of any of the evidence collected from the investigation. Baseball analysts feel that everyone other than A-Rod has decided to quietly accept a 50-game ban that will end their regular season play. The same analysts feel that Rodriguez has negotiated to sit out the rest of this season and the next.
MLB and the New York Yankees may not want Rodriquez apart of baseball anymore even though they are partially responsible for the mess he is in.
The Yankees in 2007 gave him a $275 million deal, the richest in baseball history surpassing the $252 million record he also held. That same year, he went on national TV with Katie Couric on 60 minutes to deny any PED allegations, only to admit fault in 2009. No suspension, but he was awarded the Babe Ruth Award for being the postseason MVP as the Yankees won their 27th World Series.
Even though he was never officially named as one of the 104 players that tested positive to PEDs in 2003, after the Balco investigation he worked it out with MLB and the Yankees to tell on himself. Not only did he do franchise a favor by saying he only used during this Texas Rangers years, but for the league he became the poster-player to assure fans that the game is clean now.
Now with more evidence that A-Rod continued using performance enhancing drugs the parties that stand to lose the most want him to do what is best again and play along. They want him to accept a ban from baseball that at the age of 38 is more like an early retirement. The truth is nobody in the business of baseball can throw any stones in the translucent glass house that MLB thinks it created.
Alex Rodriguez may never make the Hall-of-Fame or break the home run record, but he has the opportunity to pay back the fans by fighting any suspension he is given. Then fans may see everyone has red hands.
