New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez dropped his lawsuits against Major League Baseball, MLB commissioner Bud Selig and the MLB Players Association on Friday. A-Rod was initially seeking to overturn his 162-game suspension and bring the case to federal court, but it appears he has had a change of heart.
“We have been informed that Alex Rodriguez has reached the prudent decision to end all of the litigation related to the Biogenesis matter,” MLB said in a statement on Friday, via ESPNNewYork.com. “We believe that Mr. Rodriguez’s actions show his desire to return the focus to the play of our great game on the field and to all of the positive attributes and actions of his fellow Major League Players. We share that desire.”
Rodriguez had his suspension reduced by an arbitrator from 211 games to 161 games last month. He had previously threatened to sue MLB if the suspension was not overturned completely. A-Rod also stormed out of one of his arbitration hearings and later said he was disgusted with the “abusive process” the league was putting him through.
Now, all of a sudden, A-Rod has decided to withdraw all of his suits. Given how adamant he was about fighting the suspension before, you have to assume some sort of deal was reached. I highly doubt pressure from the MLBPA would make A-Rod do a complete 180-degree turn.
“Alex Rodriguez has done the right thing by withdrawing his lawsuit,” the MLBPA said in a statement on Friday. “His decision to move forward is in everyone’s best interest.”
Perhaps A-Rod realized like the rest of us that he had no shot of getting his case all the way to federal court. Either that, or there is much more to the story.
