Tom Verducci takes on A-Rod

SI's lead baseball writer has an interesting take in Scorecard this week. Quite complimentary of MLB.

"'Judge me from this day forward,' (Rodriguez sang.) MLB has done just as he requested."

I've been spending time pondering whether the commissioner's office overstepped its bounds in levying a 211-game suspension, but I am rethinking that now that an independent journalistic heavyweight like SI has weighed in with nary a mention of that aspect of the story. I will find a link later today, or perhaps pull a few more excerpts.

Great work as always by Verducci, a model of independence in journalism.

 

OK, I'm being obtuse. Obviously.

It is journalistic malpractice that Verducci gets to write pro-MLB columns for SI on this topic without a disclaimer that he also gets a paycheck from Major League Baseball via the MLB Network.

It defies explanation.

 

Here's the link:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20130805/alex-rodriguez-suspended-biogenesis-legacy/index.html

Agreed. Much Verducci's work comes off as bought and paid for. It's a good read though. But it ignores what seems like at least a partial motive for the lengthy suspension - the millions in savings the Yankees (a team whose success MLB is heavily invested in) would reap. And the assumption that Jeter is clean expressed as fact is getting a little tired. I have no idea if Jeter really is clean, but I'd think any independent journalist would at the very least have suspicions.

 

Verducci come clean for all the prose he penned earlier about A-Rod, one of many false idols he helped create? Or no?