Alex Rodriguez: Hall of Famer?

There were plenty of people who were happy to go along without questioning with Braun, too, though it was closer to being balanced, perhaps because there was no evidence of PED use before the suspension that was eventually overturned. We already knew Rodriguez had used because he admitted it.

 

Madden's claim is absurd. It is illogical that you could get three-steps for one time being caught using a PED. The way the provisions work is that a player gets suspended the first time for 50 games. Here's another problem with that pretzel logic - Manny Ramirez was caught a second time, and baseball decided not to punish him because he "retired". How could Selig justify a lifetime ban for A-Rod if he didn't follow through with Ramirez?

If baseball has evidence that A-Rod distributed steroids, it should turn that over to police and let the legal system handle this. If they had this evidence earlier, they should have suspended him in May or June. It seems awfully strange to wait until A-Rod is ready to play to make plans for the suspension.

 

I thought that the progressive penalty was predicated on a prior penalty, not # of times caught. In order to receive a 100 game suspension you would have to have already served a 50 game suspension.

 

That was my understanding as well, but I wouldn't be shocked to see MLB try to bend the rules or even circumvent its own policies in these cases. They have public opinion on their side an the MLBPA seems more than happy to turn on players facing charges of PED use.

 

That was what I thought, but Madden described it differently today on the Boomer and Carton show. Basically saying that A-Rod is facing three "counts" of PED violations. Craig Carton questioned him on it, asking if that's the case, then why would Selig introduce the "best interest" clause, rather than just using the collectively-bargained PED punishments. Madden said Selig may go that route to avoid the inevitable appeal because he doesn't want to see A-Rod on the field, as a symbol of the Biogenesis scandal, while everyone else has accepted their punishments.

 

Having read a little more about this over the last few days, I think Selig could justify the longer ban based on A-Rod getting in the way of MLB's investigation.

There's part of me that just wonders how much the Yankees are encouraging Selig to make the suspension longer.