NO COMMENT: Alex Rodriguez is not expected to offer answers when he meets with MLB investigators today regarding the Biogenesis scandal. (
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It has that “movie climax” feel, doesn’t it?
Alex Rodriguez, cornered after all these months. Facing tough questions. Let’s envision him nervously licking his lips, gulping loudly while drinking his glass of water and mopping his sweaty brow, too.
Makes for a great scene, doesn’t it?
Too bad it’s entirely fictional.
When A-Rod meets today with Major League Baseball investigators to face questions about his alleged ties to Biogenesis, he will be doing little more than checking a proverbial box in this process. The big steps are yet to come. And those might not fully play out even by the end of this season. In other words, Rodriguez’s greatest immediate concern should not be his troubles with the law, but rather his health.
Nowhere in baseball’s collective bargaining agreement are players required to meet with the commissioner’s office when asked. Nevertheless, the players association traditionally recommends players appear when asked. Rodriguez already has met so many times with baseball’s cops, going back not only to illegal performance-enhancing drug allegations but also to his underground poker games, that he should have one of those “Get a free sundae with your 12th visit” cards.
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Now, it’s one thing to meet with MLB folks and another thing altogether to engage them in a dialogue. This session serves as a fishing expedition for the investigators — like an interrogation room. They can throw out questions without disclosing exactly what they know, or where they got their information.
And just like that setting, a player needs only to decline comment on all matters to avoid incriminating himself. This is precisely what A-Rod is expected to do, and it will be an indicator of nothing besides sound legal advice.
To draw conclusions from a player’s silence represents the height of ignorance. Why should a player help out his inquisitors in an arena that favors them? If Rodriguez and his fellow Biogenesis suspects are suspended, which could happen as soon as this month, then the appeal process will allow the players to properly confront their accusers — including the ability to cross-examine them — in front of an independent arbitrator.
The appeal hearing is where the real action occurs. Today is just a step to a dance to which everyone knows the moves.
After departing today’s powwow, A-Rod will resume his rehabilitation, with the target of rejoining the Yankees by July 22 in Texas. He might be a suspended player by then, yet by appealing, he will be able to keep playing until arbitrator Fredric Horowitz hears the appeal then rules on it. And because baseball is expected to suspend many players, it figures to take a while for verdicts to come down, with punishments (if there are any) perhaps not served until the 2014 season.
(And just to clear up any confusion, if Rodriguez is found guilty, he will lose a pro-rated portion of his salary even if he is physically unable to play. A debilitating injury doesn’t inoculate a player against discipline.)
Most players want a game free of illegal PEDs as much as fans, owners or anyone else. However, most players also appreciate the importance of due process. No matter how guilty a player may seem, he is entitled to state his case and challenge the evidence presented against him. Just as Ryan Braun did last year when he successfully overcame a positive drug test.
kdavidoff@nypost.com