He overcame a broken home, raised his industry’s salary roof twice, helped redefine the way we think about our athletes and, if Major League Baseball’s current allegations are true, repeatedly beat the tests in what professes to be the toughest drug-enforcement program in North American professional sports.
Alex Rodriguez has a resume of accomplishments, a narrative that can match up with anyone’s in his field.
In his current gambit, however, A-Rod might have found his match. Kudos to him for betting on himself. But I sure as heck wouldn’t bet on him this time.
The Yankees’ beleaguered third baseman drew his daily headlines Friday with his boast to ESPN New York in an interview Thursday. Said A-Rod, hours after his arbitration hearing against MLB concluded: “We crushed it. They had nothing.’’
But the more telling quote was this: “The only thing that concerns me is the process.’’
Yup, as ESPN’s Lester Munson pointed out succinctly in a web piece, Rodriguez must be the first baseball player who has decided he has a better shot in an actual courtroom than in an arbitration hearing room.
Phase 2 of Operation Save-Rod, that venture into real court, won’t go into overdrive until Phase 1 has completed. Two sources confirmed Rodriguez and the Yankees probably won’t learn the status of the player’s 211-game suspension until early January. Here’s the timeline:
1. Both MLB and Rodriguez have until Dec. 11 to file written briefs to independent arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, and another 10 days after that to file replies to each other’s briefs.
2. Once Horowitz has received all of that information, he has 25 days to issue his decision.
Hence the January projection, and that’s more bad news for the Yankees, who are anxious to gain the financial flexibility of a Rodriguez suspension as they try to get their 2014 payroll under $189 million. Rodriguez’s likely attempt to gain an injunction to block the suspension, should it be upheld or reduced, would further delay the Yankees’ ambitions, even if a judge quickly shoots that down. And you wonder how many high-profile free agents will be left by the time the Yankees are finally ready to fully open their checkbooks.
Oh, and to close one other door: There was no massive release of information from the hearing Friday by Team A-Rod, as promoted. There might never be. Team A-Rod could hold a news conference next week. Stay tuned.
Back to Rodriguez and his complaining about “The process.” The process that has proven eminently fair to players — too fair, many people on the management side will tell you.
Not surprisingly, Rodriguez’s PR strategy of turning Bud Selig into the villain has succeeded, at least based on my communication with fans. Plenty of folks are complaining about Rodriguez’s lack of due process, his supposed right to confront his accuser.
It’s complete bunk. This is a private worker issue, not a private citizen issue. Rodriguez is fortunate to belong to one of the country’s most powerful unions. His “due process” comes in the presence of Horowitz.
Besides, I’m not exactly sure what Team A-Rod thought would occur with Selig taking the witness stand. Were the attorneys hoping for a re-enactment of “A Few Good Men,” with Joseph Tacopina asking, “Did you order the Code-Rod?” and Selig screaming, “You’re damn right I did!”?
Will a judge believe Rodriguez had his rights deprived by Selig’s absence? Never say never. But it sure seems unlikely.
If there’s “overwhelming” evidence Rodriguez hasn’t used illegal performance-enhancing drugs since his already confessed 2001-03 period, as Tacopina told WFAN on Friday morning — the attorney reasserted Biogenesis owner Anthony Bosch only gave Rodriguez legal supplements — then Rodriguez should be good to go. The suspension will get eliminated, and he can drop his lawsuit against MLB.
Instead, the A-Rod side behaves as if the fix is in and its best chance is in court. Virtually no one outside the Team A-Rod cocoon sees this strategy going well. There’s just too much history that courts don’t like diving into binding arbitration battles.
Rodriguez has defied conventional wisdom many times previously; shoot, even in this saga, he has muddied up MLB in impressive fashion by digging up interesting dirt about baseball’s investigation.
This time, though, he likely has raised the bar too high for even himself. He looks like he’s on the verge of getting crushed.