MLB

Orioles manager Showalter complains that Yankees will benefit from potential A-Rod suspension

If you listen to Buck Showalter, the Yankees will be jumping for joy if Alex Rodriguez is hit with a lengthy suspension by Major League Baseball.

The Orioles manager complained Thursday, according to USA Today, that his division rival Yankees would benefit from such a decision, because they wouldn’t have to pay his $25 millon salary in 2014 if Rodriguez were banned for the entire season. That would cut the team’s payroll under the $189 million luxury tax threshold – which, in Showalter’s mind, allow the Yankees to target his catcher Matt Wieters.

“If [commissioner] Bud [Selig] lets them get away with that, they’re under the luxury tax,” Showalter said. “If they can reset, they can spend again, and I guarantee you in two years Matt Wieters is in New York.”

MLB has not made any announcements about a penalty for Rodriguez’s alleged ties to anti-aging clinic Biogenesis, which reportedly provided performance-enhancing drugs to athletes in multiple sports. Rodriguez reportedly might be willing to cut a deal with baseball, especially since indications are that Selig will seek a lifetime ban if he does not.

Showalter says the Yankees should face the consequences, too, because “they’re the ones who signed him to that contract.”

If the Yankees 2014 payroll exceeds $189 million, they’d be subject to a 50-percent luxury tax.