"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice

The Verdict

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The Rodriguez decision: 162 games.

[Picture via: Kitty en classe]

41 comments

1 Ara Just Fair   ~  Jan 11, 2014 12:10 pm

And there it is. I hope someone smarter than I am can help explain how this affects the Yankees budget this year regarding the $189 million threshold and all that jazz. See ya' in 15, Alex.

2 Mattpat11   ~  Jan 11, 2014 12:12 pm

The shame of it is there are no good guys in this story.

3 seamus   ~  Jan 11, 2014 12:14 pm

Good. He deserves it. We need a third baseman though. I'd be ok with nunez. Spend the money on Tanaka and ride the erraticness at 3b. haha.

4 Mattpat11   ~  Jan 11, 2014 12:24 pm

[3] Holy hell, no to Nunez.

5 Hank Waddles   ~  Jan 11, 2014 12:31 pm

So here's the question -- will we ever see him play again?

6 Simone   ~  Jan 11, 2014 12:44 pm

He is a nasty cheat who deserved the suspension, but too bad that it is without pay. I hate that the Yankees are getting out of paying him. They should have to pay him every penny of that idiotic contract that they agreed to pay him.

7 monkeypants   ~  Jan 11, 2014 1:25 pm

[5] Yes, somewhere.

8 monkeypants   ~  Jan 11, 2014 1:27 pm

[1] I think it's straightforward: his entire salary is gone from the payroll minus some small amount for his signing bonus. But even with ARod counting $0, the payroll is already bumping up against $189.

9 The Hawk   ~  Jan 11, 2014 1:49 pm

[5] I agree in principle but in practice, I'm glad they'll have more money to spend, or get under the threshold.

10 GaryfromChevyChase   ~  Jan 11, 2014 2:46 pm

Very tough to get an arbitration decision reversed in court. Almost impossible to get a TRO which would allow him to play pending a legal appeal.

11 thelarmis   ~  Jan 11, 2014 2:48 pm

Along the lines of [1], can someone tell me why we don't regain a player on the 40-man roster, even though A-rod is off for the season, and it'll remain at 39?

How soon until we sign Mark Reynolds?

12 monkeypants   ~  Jan 11, 2014 3:28 pm

[11] According to wikipedia:

Players who were on the 40-man but are placed on the 60-day disabled list are taken off the 40-man until the time on the DL is over. The same applies to players who are suspended.

13 thelarmis   ~  Jan 11, 2014 5:14 pm

Thanks, mp!

14 Sliced Bread   ~  Jan 11, 2014 5:46 pm

quel dommage. what a drag.
I guess the evidence against him is solid.
he'll do exile in style that's fer shers.

15 Ara Just Fair   ~  Jan 11, 2014 5:56 pm

[8] Thanks.

16 monkeypants   ~  Jan 11, 2014 6:36 pm

Just saw on Candian Sports Centre (yep) that ARod is allowed to participate in spring training while suspended, according to the rules, and that fully he plans on doing so. Let the circus begin!

17 Alex Belth   ~  Jan 11, 2014 7:15 pm

16) God, that's so weird. Just walk away for the season, dude.

18 monkeypants   ~  Jan 11, 2014 8:03 pm

[18] And here is some confrmation from CBS: http://tinyurl.com/m4se3sh. The money quote for me:

The Yankees would likely be able to limit his playing time during Grapefruit League play by saying he won't help the team in 2014 and they need the time for active players to prepare, but that wouldn't stop the circus. A-Rod's presence alone will cause that.

Tee-hee.

19 Sliced Bread   ~  Jan 11, 2014 8:17 pm

yeah, it's best that he goes away quietly now, does the Rocky thing in exile; raw eggs, one-armed push ups, 100,000 jabs at frozen sides of beef, and all that - comes back next February stronger, leaner, spiritually enlightened, financially pissed off, and ready to make the most of his final baseball years.

The Centaur of Attention (TM) has not taken his last trot around the bases, far from it, and the Yankees can't possibly trade him, far from it.

20 Alex Belth   ~  Jan 11, 2014 8:41 pm

19) That's so funny!

21 The Mick536   ~  Jan 11, 2014 8:53 pm

He continues to be classless. Haven't heard from Tacopina for a while, have we? So, big deal, he beat up the witnesses, all beat upable, for a price. No different from Whitey's lawyer. A-rod reacted the same as Whitey. Tacopina didn't believe in the case; he got a fee and did what he was hired to do. Wrong lawyer for the case, but one right for the client.

[2] Don't need a good guy. Game was debauched.

A-Rod, if I am advising you, go to KC for $250,00 and play yourself to death. I will travel to see you.

22 Greg G   ~  Jan 12, 2014 12:05 am

His suspension does not make the Yankees a better team. They saved some cash, and if they get under the cap. Calou caleigh!

The cash could help them land Tanaka, but they will likely exceed the cap to do it.

If they had this decision come earlier in free agency, maybe they try harder to land Cano? This free agent class was lackluster and what is left is pretty horrible. So even with extra cash, where do they spend it?

The new posting system totally screwed the Yanks plan. Under the old rules they could have blown every team out of the water and remained under the cap presumably. Now they have to blow Tanaka away with a huge deal and I think it is frought with peril. This kid has a lot of innings under his belt and it could be another lenghty huge contract ala CC, Tex and Arod that is already weighing the Yanks down.

I got no love for ARod, and I feel that he did cheat and deserved to be punished. This might be a frame job, but he deserved some punishment for past transgressions, sort of like OJ finally going to jail.

14) ARod will be exiling in style. Money fight!

19) Ecellent post! Centaur of attention is great!!!

23 Mr OK Jazz Tokyo   ~  Jan 12, 2014 3:24 am

[19] Centaur of Attention™ is brilliant.

Total hit job by MLB. The MLBPA should be ashamed, giving the owners and Commish the ability to PAY for dirt on players is horrendous. Always find it amazing how many people in sports choose to side with over-bearing management against the workers in cases like this. I hope A-Rod wins in court.

24 Mr OK Jazz Tokyo   ~  Jan 12, 2014 3:29 am

[23] AND, the fact that MLB leaked supposedly confidential test results is a disgrace. The way baseball colluded against Bonds and now the totally absurd 162-game suspension for A-Rod..truly awful.

[11] Having to watch Mark Reynolds play baseball at 3B instead of A-Rod is the icing on this urinal cake.

25 Dimelo   ~  Jan 12, 2014 5:15 am

[23]
Always find it amazing how many people in sports choose to side with over-bearing management against the workers in cases like this.

Agreed. I am by no means an ARod fan, but I don't see how what MLB did was in any way legal. I have no doubt in my mind ARod did PEDs, but in order to find out about someone's illicit behavior you have to go through illegal means, that does seem like the proper way a business entity should be conducting...i don't know...BUSINESS.

Nevertheless, I will not be missing ARod.

I surely hope the Yanks can figure out a way to pry the Padres 3rd baseman.

26 monkeypants   ~  Jan 12, 2014 8:45 am

[23] choose to side with over-bearing management against the workers in cases like this

I think mamny people, myeself included, have a hard time fitting the conflict between horrible billionaires and primadonna celebrity millionaires, into the standard management-worker matrix. I tend to save that sympathy for workers in the mine or the foundary or the like.

27 Simone   ~  Jan 12, 2014 9:56 am

[23] I happen to agree with you. I cannot stand A-Rod's cheating lying ass and think that he should have been suspended, but I find it unacceptable that he won't be paid during the suspension. The Yankees should never be off the hook for his salary.

Marvin Miller was outraged that the players opened the CBA to agree to those PED penalties. The players always were their worse enemies. Miller is the reason that they have everything that they do today and they won't put him in the Hall so everything they lose going forward, they deserve.

28 seamus   ~  Jan 12, 2014 9:58 am

[23] Generally I am with you. I know here i'm somewhat impacted by my pure dislike of the guy at this point.

29 monkeypants   ~  Jan 12, 2014 12:38 pm

[27] and they won't put him in the Hall so everything they lose going forward, they deserve.

Or is it that they *can't* put him in the hall, because the hall does not recognize him as an eligible player, coach or executive? The hall sets its own rules.

This is a fairly tired meme.

30 monkeypants   ~  Jan 12, 2014 12:40 pm

[27] What the heck kind of suspension is a paid suspension? That's nuts. However, i agree with you that in a juster world the Yankees would not (seemingly) benefit from his suspension. Maybe the rules should be re-written so that the unpaid salary still "counts" for luxury tax purposes.

31 thelarmis   ~  Jan 12, 2014 1:28 pm

[23] You won't be seeing Mark Reynolds. Apparently, the Yanks only offered him a minor league deal and he declined. I'm surprised it was only minor... Anyway, I guess it'll be Michael Young, or Jeff Baker. I'd prefer Reynolds.

32 monkeypants   ~  Jan 12, 2014 1:37 pm

[31] They should bring back Vernon Wells. They're paying hima nayway this season, and he did man third last year (for an inning). It's win-win, really.

33 Chris   ~  Jan 12, 2014 5:55 pm

So the substance of the ARod defense seems to be/have been that Bosch is a liar. Even though several other players have admitted that what Bosch said about them is true. ARod is a sociopath and (some) lawyers will make whatever argument pays them a lot of money. It's such a farce. The Centaur of Attention needs to stay the hell away from spring training.

34 Mr OK Jazz Tokyo   ~  Jan 12, 2014 8:56 pm

[26] Abuses of labor by management are abuses, regardless of salary. Just because someone is paid millions by a corporation does not mean they give up their rights. The facts here are very simple: whatever A-Rod may or may not have done, MLB has now set a precedent where they will purchase evidence from very questionable sources in order to attack and penalize their own workers. This is disturbing.

If you support the man in the mines against management, you should support the players against the owners. Right is Right.

35 Chris   ~  Jan 12, 2014 9:03 pm

Except you're not a questionable source if all your fellow "workers" corroborate your story.

36 monkeypants   ~  Jan 12, 2014 11:03 pm

[34] I disagree, to a point. Sympathy for the mineworker is generated in part because he is in the right (assuming the management is in the wrong), but also because he lacks power and resources. If the mine owner screws him, the poor employee ends up unemployed, on the street, or worse, dead from black lung or crushed in mine collapse.

In the case of millionaire celebrities, such as member of the baseball union, the latter condition is largely missing. Even if ARod has been wronged---and I make no claim on this one way or another, but will grant it for the purpose of argument---I have trouble feeling much sympathy for him. First of all, he is personally fairly odious. Second, and more germaine to my point, he will not face starvation or the poorhouse or death as a result of his work conditions or his wrongful firing or whatever. Even if I agree MLB has screwed Arod, I don't feel sorry for him.

In general, I support neither the (regular) workers against management nor the players against the owners, or vice-versa. I do not reflexily support "the workers" against "the man" because the workers are not always right, at least not in my experience.

Anyway, this discussion bores me. I'm much more excited about the circus that will be the NY Yankees this year. Somewhere, Joe DiMaggio weeps.

37 monkeypants   ~  Jan 12, 2014 11:14 pm

[36] But I will add one more comment, which I am sure will elicit scorn and condemnation. I disagree that whatever A-Rod may or may not have done I should feel aggrieved on his behalf.

Bollocks. I have been consistent in my posting at this site for years with respect to PEDs. I bitched when McGwire and Sosa turned themselves into farm animals and obliterated records, I bitched before, and I bitched after. You can agree with me or not on the matter, but I have been consistent. I wrote here long ago that the "Game of Shadows" generation, ARod and many others included, has greatly soured me on MLB. They stole a part of the game from me, and I'll never forgive them for that. I have virtually no sympathy for them, and that does not change even realizing that the owners are as much to blame for this as well. I have no sympathy for those bastards either, or the hypocritical sportswriters. I just sit back and watch the show, like monkeys in the zoo flinging shit on each other.

38 cult of basebaal   ~  Jan 13, 2014 1:29 am

[34] I'm with you, 100%. It's utterly despicable what MLB has gotten away with here, but hey, drugs are bad, mmmmmkay!

39 Alex Belth   ~  Jan 13, 2014 10:24 am
40 MSM35   ~  Jan 13, 2014 11:21 am

Deadspin and the Gawker media have been against the pursuit of PED's from their outset. Whenever I read something on those sites related to drug use by athletes I factor in that they would rather forget the whole thing. My biggest take-away from the interview last was the "gummies" taken by Rodriguez during the games. I would guess that he was not the only one using them. Unlike most Yankee fans I have no great hatred for the Sox but David Ortiz's revival makes me think he had some help.

41 Mr OK Jazz Tokyo   ~  Jan 14, 2014 1:15 am

[37] Steroids (I refuse to say PEDs as there is no proof they enhance performance) ruined the game for you, but colluding owners, vapid TV networks, exorbitant stadiums and union crushing didn't?

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