Alex Rodriguez Ruling Handed Out

Just when you thought the story would go away and not get any stranger, it has. The ruling was handed down by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, that Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez ban has been cut to 162 for his involvement in Major League Baseball's Biogenesis scandal. This does include all possible playoff games for the Yankees, should they make it there in October Originally the ban was for 211 games. As expected, Rodriguez said he will contest Saturday's ruling in federal court. The decision will relieve the Yankees of about $24 million in luxury-tax savings based on A-Rod's 2014 salary; the team still owes him about $61 million for 2015-17. We will touch a little more on this in a moment.

Now here's where things get really weird. In a "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday night, Anthony Bosch, the founder of the now-shuttered South Florida anti-aging clinic Biogenesis, said that after he rejected Alex Rodriguez's request for him to sign an affidavit, it was suggested he "leave town" until the case was over and that he was then offered money and a trip to Colombia. "60 Minutes" reported it had over 500 BlackBerry messages between Bosch and Rodriguez. Baseball connected the pin number of the messages to a phone owned by Rodriguez.

From what I gathered here, there were threats maid by Alex Rodriguez in this investigation, so there is probable cause for a suspension this long. But for some reason I get this feeling that during the 60 Minutes interview, Bosch was still hiding something from the public. I can't quite put my finger on what exactly it is, but there was just this vibe coming that he was still hiding something. I still think there is more to this whole A-Rod story then the public is being told, and it would make some in the public feel better knowing everything that was held against Alex Rodriguez. I would really like to know everything if at all possible, so I can fully determine if this is all justified. I originally didn't think 211 was, I thought it was a bit harsh based on what we knew of the whole situation. Now that all this has gone down over the weekend, i would still like to know more, but the ruling I feel now fits the crime, based on pure evidence that's become public knowledge. Sure I understand that we haven't seen the full picture of what has gone on here, and I don't think we ever will, but based on what we have available to us, I feel this is the right call.

As far as A-Rod's playing career goes, you can kiss that goodbye. He will turn 39 in July and, coming off two hip surgeries and a 2013 season in which he played just 44 games, may not be able to return after sitting out an entire season. Most guys who hit that age are in the decline during there careers and don't have much left in the tank to offer big league clubs. So I think this has spelled the end of his playing career.

Plus Alex is still trying to play this off as being the victim here. A-Rod is still trying to push his belief on everybody that MLB is still trying to keep from paying him the approximate $86 million that the Yankees still owe on his contract. He wants his fellow big-leaguers to think, “This could happen to you.” Don't give us that crap man! You are not the victim here, you are the one who was dumb enough to take the drugs in the first place then try to play it off like it never happened. So no you get no sympathy from me!