New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez is seemingly on a mission to alienate himself from everyone and anyone in an attempt to clear his name. Now that his suspension has been reduced to 162 games, A-Rod has turned his attention toward suing both Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association.
Rodriguez’s decision to sue MLB makes more sense than his decision to sue the MLBPA, which chose to allow him to hire his own legal team and lead his own defense. The MLBPA had to weigh getting involved with A-Rod’s case against supporting those players in the union who want stricter performance-enhancing drug investigations.
In a 90-minute conference call the day A-Rod sued the MLBPA, Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reports that players from the union “overwhelmingly agreed that Alex Rodriguez should be kicked out of the MLBPA.” Players pay $65 per day during the season for union dues, and most of them are probably furious that their money will now be spent in connection with A-Rod’s witch hunt.
“That’s what everyone was thinking,” one unnamed player reportedly said. “We wanted to get on this call and not let him back. [To say,] ‘This is our game and we don’t want you in it.'”
Rodriguez’s legal team has alleged in federal court that the MLBPA “completely abdicated its responsibility to Mr. Rodriguez.” Unfortunately, it is not possible to just kick A-Rod out. That said, it should be noted that not a single MLBPA member defended Rodriguez during the conference call. One player told Yahoo! Sports that A-Rod should be concerned about players taking matters into their own hands if he returns to the baseball diamond.
“When he gets up to bat, you can hit him and hit him hard,” the player said. “That’s what I’d do. He sued us. Jhonny Peralta and Nelson Cruz screwed up. You know what? They owned up to it. They took their medicine.
“[Rodriguez] needs to be scared of coming back and facing people he sued. If he can’t fear the wrath of getting kicked out or not being included, he’s going to be forced out.”
Other players said they respected A-Rod for fighting his suspension the way he saw fit but ripped him for turning on his “brothers.” As you can see, Rodriguez is losing friends left and right. He probably should have taken the 50-game suspension deal that the MLB reportedly offered him last spring, but we’re not surprised he didn’t. A-Rod only cares about one person — A-Rod.
