Look, there are dirty players in Major League Baseball. We know this. There are players that have admitted guilt, such as Melky Cabrera and Bartolo Colon. There are players that were on a list that have denied any knowledge of what they were accused of and there are players that were told they failed a test, denied it, fought it, won, only to come out later and admit to wrongdoing and taking illegal substances and wasting everyone's time. That was Ryan Braun. Then... there are guys like Alex Rodriguez... the lightning rod. The one that offers something very black and white when you look at him. Half the world hates him. The other half like him. Whatever Alex Rodriguez did, he did. I remember when he admitting doing substance from the D.R., talking to Peter Gammons and trying to set the record straight. After he came clean, life went on and ARod came back, just in time for the Yankees to win the 2009 World Series. Many of us thought the mess was over. Many of us thought the guy cleaned up and matured and "became of Yankee." I was one of them. Then came Biogenesis... and the dark cloud came back, not just over Alex, but on several players who showed up on a list.
A list. A list of names and no direct proof that we know of when it came to failing any test. Now yes, a list of names in a lab that is connected to illegal substance is critical evidence, but doesn't a player need to fail a test to be suspended for 50 games? Isn't that part of it too? Now look, I'm not defending ARod here. This situation stinks to high heaven. I'm very disappointed in what has happened to this great game, to my son's heroes that I'm not going to even tell him about 60 minutes tonight. It's sad, it really is... But much like when Bud Selig went on David Letterman and told the world during an "active investigation" that he knew ARod's fate, what in the hell was Major League Baseball thinking speaking out on 60 minutes 1 day after the suspension was handed down?
Wouldn't the evidence and ruling speak for itself? Why did Rob Manfred and Bud Selig and even Tony Bosch ever agree to do an interview after the fact? If I'm a player on that Biogenesis list, or just a player in general that heard Tony Bosch suggest that "all players do it", I'm not very happy right now... I'm pissed. More importantly, if I'm the Player's union, I scream from the rooftops. I almost feel like there's a violation of some kind here... Am I wrong?
Now, luckily for me... as I was writing this tonight, the Player's Association released a statement in regards to both Rob Manfred and Tony Bosch appearing on 60 minutes. It reads:
"It is unfortunate that Major League Baseball apparently lacks faith in the integrity and finality of the arbitrator's decision and our Joint Drug Agreement, such that it could not resist the temptation to publicly pile-on against Alex Rodriguez... It is equally troubling that the MLB-appointed Panel Arbitrator [Manfred] will himself be appearing in the '60 Minutes' segment, and that Tony Bosch, MLB's principal witness, is appearing on the program with MLB's blessing."
Good, at least I know I'm not losing my mind. But what will happen next? I'm sure they'll look into legal counsel, because this stinks.
More over, while watching Manfred tonight on 60 minutes, I found it unusual that he described a bank transfer that Alex made to Bosch's attorney. A transfer Bosch returned, but Manfred called it a "bribe." But doesn't the bribe go the other way too? Doesn't MLB paying for Tony Bosch's security, dropping their case against him and offering him protection to cooperate and take down 1 "big fish" the same thing?
Couldn't Anthony Bosch just say whatever MLB wants him to say even if there wasn't evidence to back it up? After all, they are cooperating to bring down Alex together. It's payola... a bribe, an exchange of some kind, isn't it? What makes Bosch the guy holding the evidence? Wasn't he the same guy who denied everything early on? What... now he's spilling his guts, but only because he's "afraid for his life"... hmmm. A bribe is a bribe... that's my opinion.
I have always questioned this case, and while I don't get the see any true evidence, I found it strange that when 60 minutes asked Bud Selig point blank about what evidence he had against Alex, he literally couldn't answer. This is what Selig said:
Selig: "In my judgement his actions were beyond comprehension. And I'm someone who's now been in the game 50 years."
Pelley: "Never seen anything like it?"
Selig: "I haven't. No."
Pelley: "And so you decided to make an example of him."
Selig: "I wouldn't call it an example. I think the penalty fit what I saw as the evidence."
Pelley: "What was it about the Alex Rodriguez case that was an outlier for you?"
Selig: "Scott, as I looked at everything on all the players... then I got to Alex Rodriguez. You put all the drug things on one side and then all the things that he did to my... impede on an investigation and really do things that I really have never seen another player do. I think 211 games was a very fair penalty."
So what were the "things" he did? And this list, with the "drug things on one side", was Alex the only one? I mean, I hate to keep bringing this up, but I will... Other players have been accused of drug use here too. Francisco Cervelli, was for example, and he'll be our backup catcher in 2014. I mean, what did we learn from what Bud Selig said in that short interview? I learned nothing. I mean, if you're going to talk about all the bad things Alex did, we'd like to see it, or at least I would.
And let's go 1 further; clearly I'm not the only one that feels as though Alex is being made an example here. Scott Pelley made a good statement suggesting Selig was making ARod an example. It's true, it appears that way.
Now look, I don't know what will happen next. Alex Rodriguez will try and fight this suspension on the Federal level. He probably won't get far, but I'm no lawyer. I'm a dad with a kid who's trying to understand who the real heroes are. Luckily, my son loves Derek Jeter, but he also liked Alex. Now there is too much to weed through and too much disappointment.
Hey, I'm tired. Tomorrow's another day. No doubt though, with the player's union now mulling legal action over the appearance of Rob Manfred and Tony Bosch on 60 minutes, it about to get crazy...
ARod news? Yup... it never goes away.
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