Friday, July 18, 2014

Bud Selig, do the right thing: free Alex Rodriguez! He's been suspended 94 games!

The issue is basic fairness, not whether you like Alex Rodriguez or Bud Selig or the Yankees.  It's the good old American sense of fair play.

I've written several appeals to the Major Baseball League (MBL) commissioner Allan Huber "Bud" Selig to bring back suspended player Alex Rodriguez who has now served 94 of his 162 game regular season sentence for PED use, which also includes possible playoff games for his team, currently the New York Yankees.  I mention the team because Yankee management seems to have no interest in interceding in this matter even though they need A-Rod both for his bat and to make the team less boring, something the original Steinbrenner (George) would never have allowed.  His kids share none of George's more dynamic, if petulant, qualities.

Alex Rodriguez July 15, 2008
by Rubenstein via Wikimedia Commons
Now that Selig has experienced more accolades during the All Star break than even his mammoth ego could possibly have anticipated, maybe he can finally consider the fate of his biggest failure.  If Selig can take credit for Derek Jeter, A-Rod's once best friend and teammate, Selig should also be held responsible for the bizarre fate of Rodriguez, made all the more puzzling because Selig's MBL doctor gave Rodriguez permission to use performance enhancing drugs (PED), including steroids, in 2007 and 2008.  The only things possibly more bizarre are:
1. the fact that Rodriguez did not mention this as a mitigating factor during his appeal of his suspension;
2. the mainstream media all but ignored this story after reporting it once.

Nelson Cruz started the All Star game at DH for the American Conference.  Cruz was one of the twelve players suspended for 50 games in 2013 at the same time as Rodriguez.  Ryan Braun was also suspended but for 65 games.  Why Rodriguez received a much harsher penalty of 211 games is still unclear.  Rodriguez was the only player to appeal. As such he played out he 2013 season after he returned from off season hip surgery.  Selig rushed to judgement in an obvious effort to preclude Rodriguez from playing any games in 2013 before the suspensions could be handed down.

Here are some of my posts in this:

The quality of mercy is not strained: commute the sentence of Alex Rodriguez.  Monday, March 10, 2014

Alex Rodriguez: make it 100 games, 35 more than any of the others served in 2013. Bring back A-Rod!  Monday, June 23, 2014

Bud Selig's doctor allowed Alex Rodriguez to use steroids. Is that enough mitigation to commute A-Rod's sentence?  Friday, July 4, 2014

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