Attorneys for Major League Baseball accused Alex Rodriguez of “a brazen attempt to circumvent the ongoing arbitration process” in a motion filed Friday to dismiss A-Rod’s lawsuit against MLB and commissioner Bud Selig.
As per the orders issued Thursday by Manhattan federal Judge Lorna Schofield, both sides filed motions to defend their positions: Team A-Rod wants its case moved from federal court to state court, while MLB wants the lawsuit eliminated altogether.
MLB based its argument on the notion Rodriguez’s beef should be handled within the confines of baseball’s collective bargaining agreements. Hence its allegation Rodriguez was trying to use the legal system to bypass the discipline he has coming to him. Rodriguez is in the middle of appealing a 211-game suspension by MLB, which features allegations Rodriguez used multiple illegal performance-enhancing drugs multiple times and obstructed MLB’s investigation.
Rodriguez’s lawsuit, MLB argued, is grounded in complaints that MLB violated the game’s collective bargaining agreement.
“Indeed,” the MLB motion reads, “in a brazen attempt to circumvent the ongoing arbitration process, the Complaint actually seeks to have a court decide that the 211-game suspension was inappropriate — precisely the grievance that is before the Arbitration Panel. These claims cannot be resolved unless the Court interprets the collectively-bargained agreements.”
Team A-Rod’s motion contends MLB is flip-flopping from the lawsuit that has proven critical in the Biogenesis investigation. MLB sued Biogenesis owner Anthony Bosch and other South Florida figures and accused them of aiding players to violate the Joint Drug Agreement; Bosch agreed to help MLB in return for being dropped from the lawsuit. MLB, Rodriguez’s motion reads, “has taken a 180-degree turn.”
The MLB motion countered that accusation by contending its Biogenesis lawsuit differed from Rodriguez’s lawsuit because Bosch was not part of the CBA and thus could be legally accused only through state court.