A-ROD’S PLAN B
Ready to turn to judge over ban
ALEX RODRIGUEZ will seek an injunction staying his suspension faster than it takes to turn a double play if arbitrator Fredric Horowitz upholds his 211-game doping ban or doesn’t slash it to A-Rod’s liking, sources familiar with the embattled slugger’s appeal have told the Daily News.
The sources say they believe Rodriguez’s attorneys will ask a j udge to issue an injunction that would allow the embattled superstar to report to the Yankees’ spring training camp next month and play when the 2014 season begins while Team A-Rod attempts to have the suspension linked to the Biogenesis drug scandal overturned in court.
“The papers are all ready,” one source said. “They are just waiting for the announcement.”
Rodriguez’s lawyers will likely claim that the unprecedented suspension violates federal labor law because the arbitration process was unfair and biased against A-Rod.
Rodriguez and his advisers have been setting the table for this legal battle since last spring, alleging in interviews and in the lawsuit they filed against Major League Baseball on Oct. 3 that commissioner Bud Selig unjustly targeted the Yankees’ third baseman and that MLB investigators used unethical and illegal tactics to gather evidence to justify the ban.
Team A-Rod faces an uphill battle since federal courts are reluctant to take on grievances that have been settled through binding arbitration — especially since MLB and the Players Association agreed to resolve disputes through the process outlined in their collective bargaining agreement.
Thirteen other players who were suspended last summer for their links to Biogenesis received shorter penalties, and Rodriguez might try to convince a judge to review the case by arguing that the length of his suspension is excessive and that the arbitration process was stacked against him.
“They would have to argue about the length and that the arbitrator exceeded the duties within his purview,” said Robert Boland, the academic chairman of New York University’s Tisch Center for Sports Management.
Rodriguez attorney Joe Tacopina famously stated last year that his client does not deserve to be suspended for “one inning,” but the sources say the Yankee third baseman would likely accept a suspension of 65 games or less without a fight. The legal fees to combat a 65-game ban would likely cost Rodriguez, who is scheduled to earn $25 million in 2014, more than he would lose in salary.
A ban of 65 games would also represent something of a P.R. victory for Rodriguez, since it would put him on par with Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun and refute allegations that he is the biggest steroid user in baseball.
Braun successfully fought a 50-game ban in 2012, citing flaws in MLB’s urine-collection process. When confronted with Biogenesis evidence, however, including testimony by MLB’s chief witness, Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch, Braun admitted that he had used a banned substance and accepted the 65-game ban.
According to one baseball source who asked not to be identified, the idea that A-Rod’s suspension should not exceed Braun’s is patently ridiculous.
“It’s a completely different case,” said the source, referring to Bosch’s testimony against Rodriguez, which is believed to include accounts of serious drug use over several years, involving multiple substances and code words for drugs used in voluminous text messages, even injections. “Braun is accused of using a lozenge and a cream for a limited time. And he came forward. It seems silly to compare a guy who accepted responsibility for his actions and admitted what he did and took the punishment, to a guy who is in total denial and is suing everybody in sight.”
Sources close to Team A-Rod have said the embattled superstar’s legal team believes Jonathan Vilma’s battle with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell over the BountyGate scandal shows that suspensions can be successfully challenged through the courts. David Cornwell, one of Rodriguez’s attorneys, is undoubtedly aware of the legal issues in the New Orleans linebacker’s case since he represented Saints assistant coach Joe Vitt, who was suspended for six games for his role in the controversy.
But comparing Rodriguez with Vilma is a little like comparing a baseball to a football. Vilma, who was suspended by Goodell for the 2012 season for allegedly paying teammates to hurt opposing players, quickly filed a defamation suit that claimed Goodell had tarnished his reputation — that was ultimately dismissed.
Vilma’s suspension was vacated twice, most recently in December of 2012 by former commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who had been asked by Goodell to review appeals filed by disciplined Saints players. The Vilma case, Boland said, doesn’t seem to be relevant when it comes to A-Rod.
Rodriguez’s biggest legal challenge in the long run may turn out to be the prospect of his own testimony and questions about his relationship with HGH guru Anthony Galea, who admitted to bringing banned drugs into the U.S. for the purpose of treating pro athletes. MLB’s lawyers would undoubtedly want to depose A-Rod, opening him up to possible perjury charges.
“It’s great to feign outrage and file something,” said one source. “But once the ball starts rolling, you could lead yourself into criminal exposure. Is he going to testify that he never got performanceenhancing drugs?”