Nothing personal, just business.
Commissioner Bud Selig said he wasn’t out to make an example of Alex Rodriguez in trying to suspend the Yankees third baseman 211 games for his role in Biogenesis, but wanted a punishment that fit the crime.
Selig, interviewed for a “60 Minutes” segment that aired Sunday night, defended his decision to go hard on Rodriguez, even as other Biogenesis offenders received much lesser penalties.
Independent arbitrator Fredric Horowitz reduced the suspension handed down by Selig to 162 games. Rodriguez would also be ineligible for the postseason.
“In my judgment, [Rodriguez’s] actions were beyond comprehension,” Selig told interviewer Scott Pelley. “And I’m somebody who’s now been in the game over 50 years.
“As I looked at everything on all the players and then I got to Alex Rodriguez, and you put all the drug things on one side and then all the things that he did to impede our investigation and really do things that I had never seen any other player do, I think 211 games was a very fair penalty.”
But Rodriguez’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, said Selig’s facts are wrong.
“It’s almost the exact opposite,” Tacopina said. “Major League Baseball went on an effort and a campaign to obstruct justice by forcing and compelling witnesses, threatening witnesses. They have the gall to accuse Alex Rodriguez of obstructing the investigation? I mean, it’s laughable.”
MLB’s chief operating officer, Rob Manfred, took issue with the notion Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch was a paid witness. But Manfred acknowledged MLB paid for Bosch’s lawyers and security guards following a threat on his life.
“I think that Mr. Bosch’s credibility on these issues, whatever his motivations, whatever we did for him, was established by his willingness to come in, raise his right hand, testify, and by the fact that he had all sorts of evidence that supported everything that he said,” Manfred said.
Tacopina issued a statement after the “60 Minutes” segment.
“Every MLB player, and indeed every fan, should not only be disgusted by tonight’s Salem Witch Trials display, but they also should be deeply troubled by what it portends for the future trampling of players’ rights, and the distraction and damage this will cause to the game,” the statement said. “Alex will continue to fight to vindicate his rights — among the fans, and in a genuine judicial forum.”