Alex Rodriguez Goes On Vacation For All Of 2014!

[Yankee4Life]

Alex Rodriguez gets SLAMMED! Arbitrator hits Yankees slugger with full-season ban, plus postseason

Link to article.

LInk to ESPN story.

Link to story on MLB.COM.

Fredric Horowitz’s decision endorses MLB’s accusations that A-Rod scored an array of performance-enhancing drugs from Biogenesis, a now-shuttered Miami-area anti-aging clinic operated by Anthony Bosch, and employed thug tactics in obstructing commissioner Bud Selig’s investigation into the biggest doping scandal in baseball history. By Teri Thompson, , Michael O’keeffe , Christian Red AND Nathaniel Vinton / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published: Saturday, January 11, 2014, 11:47 AM Updated: Saturday, January 11, 2014, 2:10 PM

Charles Cherney/AP Alex Rodriguez slams the arbitration process as he vows to take the fight to federal court.

He’s out.

Alex Rodriguez, once Major League Baseball’s biggest star, was slammed Saturday with an historic drug suspension that encompasses all of the 2014 season, including the postseason, and will cost the Yankee third baseman $25 million in this year’s salary, plus millions in any performance incentives he would have earned.

The ban comes after a year of vicious attacks on Major League Baseball and the Yankees, public denials that he acquired massive amounts of performance-enhancing drugs from a seedy Miami dope den, and millions in legal bills from a team of high-profile lawyers, crisis managers and private investigators.

Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz struck the 14-time All-Star and three-time Most Valuable Player with the 162-game suspension, plus the offseason, in an endorsement of MLB’s accusations that Rodriguez scored an array of PEDs from Biogenesis, a now-shuttered Miami-area anti-aging clinic operated by Anthony Bosch, in clear violation of the game’s collectively bargained drug program.

Rodriguez announced the suspension -- the longest drug suspension in the history of the program -- Saturday morning in a long statement in which he denied having used performance-enhancing drugs in the period in question and calling the ruling an “injustice,” invoking what he called a “threat to guaranteed contracts,” and vowing to take the fight to federal court.

Corey Sipkin The ban from the arbitrator is the longest PED-related suspension in the history of baseball.

“The number of games sadly comes as no surprise, as the deck has been stacked against me from day one,” Rodriguez said. “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.”

MLB, the Players Association and the Yankees cited their respect for the arbitration process.

“The MLBPA strongly disagrees with the award issued today in the grievance of Alex Rodriguez, even despite the Arbitration Panel's decision to reduce the duration of Mr. Rodriguez's unprecedented 211-game suspension,” the union said in a statement. “We recognize that a final and binding decision has been reached, however, and we respect the collectively-bargained arbitration process which led to the decision.

Handout The statement released Saturday by the Major League Baseball Players' Association.

MLB said that while it believed the original 211-game suspension was appropriate, “we respect the decision rendered by the Panel and will focus on our continuing efforts on eliminating performance-enhancing substances from our game.” The Yankees said they “respect Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, the arbitration process, as well as the decision released today by the arbitration panel.”

For the 38-year-old Rodriguez, the ruling represents a death blow to his already PED-tainted career, even though the decision by Horowitz reduces the 211-game ban baseball commissioner Bud Selig imposed in August and is based on non-analytical evidence -- Rodriguez has not failed a drug test since baseball’s 2003 survey testing year. He clearly will not take that small victory as a sensible stopping point in his legal crusade, however, and will continue his battle. Rodriguez has already commenced a lawsuit against the league and others he claims have conspired to frame him as the most tainted ballplayer since Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

He may also find himself heavily involved in the federal investigation into Bosch and Biogenesis out of southern Florida, a probe that has already resulted in investigators interviewing players linked to the clinic.

Horowtiz’s decision comes about seven weeks after Rodriguez stormed out of his grievance hearing on Nov. 20, professing that he had been treated unfairly. The walkout saved him at the last minute from going under oath with denials.

Assuming the suspension stands -- it is highly unlikely a judge would interfere with a ruling issued under binding arbitration -- Rodriguez’s suspension is immediately effective, meaning he may be shut out from spring training as well as the actual season, depending on how Horwitz’s ruling is interpreted.

Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily News A-Rod greets his supporters in September in Manhattan as he fought his initial 211-game ban.

The decision wraps up a tumultuous process that began Aug. 5, the day Selig banned Rodriguez for doping and interfering with MLB’s Biogenesis probe. While Rodriguez immediately elected arbitration, more than a dozen other players implicated in the scandal accepted their bans. Most of them have already served 50-game suspensions (Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun accepted a 65-game suspension) and are now free to take the field in spring training. (If Rodriguez is allowed to show up at spring training, the Yankees could simply send him across the street to the minor league camp).

The arbitration process was a slow-motion disaster for Rodriguez, the best-paid player in baseball and once its biggest star. Evidence in the case suggests Rodriguez continued using steroids and human growth hormone long after he vowed he was clean -- even after his relationship with Canadian HGH guru Anthony Galea embroiled Rodriguez in the federal grand jury probe that made Galea a felon.

The voluminous text messages and detailed descriptions of an extremely close relationship between Rodriguez and Bosch were apparently too persuasive to allow Horowitz to significantly reduce the suspension. “The 211 games made sense when Selig issued it,” said one source of MLB’s original suspension, “because they wanted him out of the game in 2013, too. But this is validation of their program. Of all the guys that were suspended, he was the biggest violator.”

Rodriguez’s involvement with Bosch and Biogenesis also destroyed his relationship with the Yankees -- he has sued Yankee team doctor Christopher Ahmad, accusing him of misdiagnosing a hip injury that led to surgery last January -- and may have torpedoed any lingering hope Rodriguez had of getting into the Hall of Fame.

Kendall Rodriguez/for New York Daily News Alex Rodriguez takes another big hit in his battle with baseball as arbitrator gives Yankee slugger 162-game ban, plus the postseason.

“He would have been better off admitting he got drugs from Bosch and tried to make a case for 50 games as a first-time violator,” said a baseball source who has closely followed the case.

Instead, Rodriguez publicly denied a relationship with Bosch, at one point describing him as a “consultant,” and escalated his attacks on the arbitration process.

By Nov. 20, after claiming to be outraged that Selig wouldn’t be forced by Horowitz to testify, A-Rod walked out of the negotiating session, hopped in a waiting car and headed straight to the studio of radio host Mike Francesa, where Rodriguez adamantly denied doping beyond the years in which he has already confessed to using steroids (2001-03, when he was with the Texas Rangers).

Those claims contradicted voluminous evidence of drug use, including a stream of electronic communication between Rodriguez and Bosch, who authenticated the messages while testifying at MLB’s behest during the arbitration and is believed to have provided detailed descriptions of injections gone awry, schemes to avoid the drug testers and records of payments for drugs.

In an apparent gesture toward transparency, Rodriguez’s PR rep vowed in November that Rodriguez’s legal team would release MLB’s evidence for public consumption, but never followed through with that promise.

Andrew Theodorakis/New York Daily News Alex Rodriguez was originally given a 211-game ban for his role in baseball’s Biogenesis scandal before appealing the decision.

It’s unclear what the arbitrator’s ruling means for Joe Tacopina, the bombastic lawyer A-Rod hired to lead an army of lawyers and public relations wizards to fight the ban. Tacopina, who told a television interviewer that Rodriguez didn’t deserve a single inning of suspension, worked hard throughout the fall to reframe the Biogenesis scandal as a story about MLB’s anti-doping enforcement tactics even as Rodriguez’s team put on a limited defense of their client in the arbitration room.

Meanwhile, MLB was presenting the results of the most intense investigation in the history of its drug program. The Biogenesis scandal had erupted in the summer of 2012, soon after MLB banned former Yankee Melky Cabrera, who tested positive for testosterone and then orchestrated a bizarre cover-up scheme that involved a fake website. Cabrera, a Biogenesis customer, was assisted by an employee of Seth and Sam Levinson’s sports agency.

MLB’s Department of Investigations deployed numerous agents and resources during its months-long probe, and ultimately 14 professional baseball players were suspended in the case. Among them was Braun, the Brewers star who successfully appealed a 50-game ban after testing positive for synthetic testosterone in 2011 but later confessed when his name surfaced in media reports as a Biogenesis client and accepted a 65-game ban.

Bosch was only faintly familiar in baseball circles when the Daily News first reported A-Rod’s association with Bosch and MLB’s interest in him on Jan. 26, 2013, three days before a Miami New Times report linked Rodriguez and numerous other baseball players to doping through Bosch and his Biogenesis anti-aging clinic. When former slugger Manny Ramirez was suspended 50 games in 2009 for a doping violation, Bosch’s father, Pedro, was reportedly the source for a banned female fertility drug that Ramirez had obtained and used. A DEA probe into Pedro Bosch and his son ensued.

When the New Times report was published, Rodriguez’s name was the biggest in the litter, and came on the heels of the slugger’s second hip surgery in four years. Enmeshed in the most extensive doping scandal since BALCO, Rodriguez was banished from his team while he rehabbed the hip and dealt with the fallout from Biogenesis. His PR flack at the time issued a statement saying the documents published in the New Times were “not legitimate.”

In the ensuing months, as the MLB Biogenesis probe heated up, a cast of oddball characters surfaced in the saga -- everyone from former Biogenesis employee Porter Fischer, who gave the stolen Biogenesis documents to the New Times, to Bosch, who went from MLB target in a lawsuit to MLB informant, to Tacopina, the attention-grabbing attorney who joined Rodriguez’s legal team late in the summer of 2013.

The Biogenesis investigation represented an unprecedented step by Selig, who has been accused of turning a blind eye to steroid use during the 1990s and early 2000s, to clean up a game that has been hit hard by performance-enhancing drugs. Several high-profile players failed drug tests in 2012, including Melky Cabrera, Guillermo Mota, Bartolo Colon, Marlon Byrd, Yasmani Grandal and Carlos Ruiz. Those incidents led MLB and the Players Association to revamp the drug-testing program to include the more sophisticated carbon isotope ratio exam that can detect the presence of exogenous testosterone in a player's urine sample.

MLB used every means at its disposal to bring the players it believed were using PEDs to justice, filing what was considered to be a longshot lawsuit against Bosch and others involved in Biogenesis, and purchasing damaging Biogenesis documents from Bosch’s associates. Without subpoena power, MLB faced an uphill battle in convincing witnesses to cooperate -- but once the lawsuit was filed, and the defendants’ lawyers’ fees began to pile up, the wall of silence crumbled.

Bosch became a cooperating witness after MLB agreed to drop him from the lawsuit, pick up his legal bills and indemnify him as long as he provided them with credible evidence and information.

Now it looks likely that the 38-year-old third baseman will be near 40 by the time he is allowed back on the field, assuming his health allows him to return. The Yankees still owe him about $84 million -- minus the 2014 salary -- on a contract that doesn’t expire for four and a half more seasons but Rodriguez has endured two hip surgeries in the last five years, including one last January, and is markedly diminished as a player.

If he heads to court, as he says he will, Rodriguez faces millions more in legal fees and the prospect of having to testify. As one source told the Daily News last week: “It’s great to feign outrage and file something. But once the ball starts rolling, you could lead yourself into criminal exposure. Is he going to testify that he never got performance-enhancing drugs?”

* * *

OFFICIAL STATEMENTS RELEASED ON A-ROD RULING:

ARBITRATOR NOTIFIES MLB, MLBPA OF ALEX RODRIGUEZ DISCIPLINE

Rodriguez Suspended for Entire 2014 Regular Season and Postseason

Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz has notified both Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association of his ruling that New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez will be suspended for a period that includes 162 regular season games in the 2014 regular season as well as the entire 2014 Postseason.

* * *

Statement of MLBPA regarding the Alex Rodriguez arbitration award

New York, NY, Saturday, January 11, 2013 … The Major League Baseball Players Association today released the following statement regarding the Alex Rodriguez arbitration award.

The MLBPA strongly disagrees with the award issued today in the grievance of Alex Rodriguez, even despite the Arbitration Panel's decision to reduce the duration of Mr. Rodriguez's unprecedented 211-game suspension. We recognize that a final and binding decision has been reached, however, and we respect the collectively-bargained arbitration process which led to the decision. In accordance with the confidentiality provisions of the JDA, the Association will make no further comment regarding the decision.

* * *

Alex Rodriguez Statement on Decision of 162 game ban

“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."

* * *

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL STATEMENT

Major League Baseball issued the following statement today regarding the decision rendered by Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz in the matter pertaining to Alex Rodriguez:

“For more than five decades, the arbitration process under the Basic Agreement has been a fair and effective mechanism for resolving disputes and protecting player rights. While we believe the original 211-game suspension was appropriate, we respect the decision rendered by the Panel and will focus on our continuing efforts on eliminating performance-enhancing substances from our game.”

* * *

STATEMENT FROM THE NEW YORK YANKEES:

“The New York Yankees respect Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, the arbitration process, as well as the decision released today by the arbitration panel.”

[sabugo]

You're saying he wasn't vacationing for the past three seasons?

Dear Alex, you didn't get caught when everyone and their mother knew you were cheating. What goes around, comes around.
Seems like in 2014 we won't have one of those akward moments where we actually have to root for A-Rod (Ryan Dempster how could you do that to us?!)

[Yankee4Life]

You're saying he wasn't vacationing for the past three seasons?

He wasn't but his bat was.

[sabugo]

On more important matters, who's going to play 3rd?

If anybody says 'Nuñez' I'll throw myself off a cliff!

[Homer]

nunez. now shoot a video of it to prove you're not a liar.

[Yankee4Life]

Don't believe Eduardo Nuzez is going to play third base for a minute. The Yankees said the same thing years ago when they tried to convince everyone that Bubba Crosby was going to be their starting centerfielder. Not even Bubba Crosby believed it.

[sabugo]

Oh yeah, whatever happened to that guy Crosby?

Y4L: Sure hope that is true.

Homer: I threw Nunez off the cliff instead. Good enough?

The Yankees and Nunez:

2010-2011: «We see him as our third baseman of the future»

2012-2013: «We see him as our shortstop of the future»

Turns out he was just the Bubba Crosby of the present...

Edited January 12, 2014 by Homer

[Homer]

Homer: I threw Nunez off the cliff instead. Good enough?

that's murder. i'm obligated to report this.

[pitchleague]

On more important matters, who's going to play 3rd?

If anybody says 'Nuñez' I'll throw myself off a cliff!

No, no, no, Who's on first!!!

Seriously, this is great news. Too b ad, he'll probably get his injunction and end up, somehow, able to play anyways

[gotribematt]

It's so sad that so many people are just out to get Arod. I mean how clear can it be that all this suspension is just MLB out to get A rod

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy

[sabugo]

that's murder. i'm obligated to report this.

It's not murder. At the very best it might be illegal dumping of thrash.