Today we found out some very sad news about the head of the MLB Players Association. Michael Weiner lost a 15 month battle with brain cancer. He has died at the early age of 51. Weiner was an active leader for MLB players and his positive impact on the game of a Baseball can not be overstated. Even through his 15 month battle, Weiner continued to work. He did not use his condition as a reason to quit but instead was an active leader until the very end.
Many players and Baseball writers took to twitter to express their sadness about the passing of Michael Weiner.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote:
“@Joelsherman1: Forget about his union work and intellect, Mike Weiner was as nice a person as I have met. Utter sadness, respect to his family #RIP”
MLB pitcher, David Aardsma wrote:
“@TheDA53: My heart goes out to the Weiner family. Michael was one of the most brilliant people I have ever know. We have lost a great great person!”
Mark Fiensand of the Daily News wrote:
“@FeinsandNYDN: Very sad to hear of Michael Weiner’s passing. Did great things for the MLBPA and the entire game, but more important was a quality person.”
“@FeinsandNYDN: Michael Weiner once told me there were few things he loved more than being with baseball players. His love for the game showed in his work.”
Former MLB player, Aaron Boone wrote:
“@AaronBoone_ESPN: Baseball and the world lost a good man today. R.I.P. Michael Weiner”
These were just a few tweets of the many pouring onto twitter. All of them follow the same theme. Michael Weiner was not just a great union head, he was a great friend and person. He will be sorely missed.
Alex Alex Rodriguez has effectively turned himself into MLB’s public enemy number one. He is now Baseball’s Villain.
It’s been almost six months since we first heard about the Miami based anti aging clinic that was allegedly pedaling performance enhancing drugs to more than 20 MLB players. And here we are, waiting with bated breath to find out exactly how Major League Baseball will deal with these dopers. We have already seen Ryan Braun served with a 67 game suspension that will cover the remainder of the 2013 season. Now word is Nelson Cruz will be suspended this week. Braun’s suspension doesn’t hurt the Brewers because they are not in a pennant race. Cruz’s absence is much more noticeable for a Texas team that seems playoff bound.
But what about the big fish? The 1,000 pound marlin that Bud Selig would love to reel in and mount on his wall of shame. The word around the baseball universe is that the amount of evidence the league has on Alex Rodriguez far surpasses the amount they had on Braun. The analogy has been used that the league has “a skyscraper of evidence on A-Rod compared to a Lego they had on Braun.” It seems as though Bud Selig is absolutely fed up with Alex Rodriguez because insiders are claiming that Selig is getting ready to put the final nail in Rodriguez’s coffin.
Commissioner Bud Selig poses with child wearing an “A*ROID shirt.
The team A-Rod has hired to defend him has said that they will fight any suspension handed down to Alex. This was stated just after word had leaked that the commissioner’s office offered Rodriguez a deal. Accept a plea of a suspension for the rest of this season and all of next season and Selig would not seek to ban him for life. Now that it seems Rodriguez will fight the ban instead of taking the deal, Selig is no longer messing around. A-Rod could appeal the ban based on the collectively agreed drug policy and he would still be eligible to play during that appeal process. Selig wants to make sure that doesn’t happen.
The commissioner now plans to use the Collective Bargaining Agreement to ban Alex Rodriguez rather than the drug policy. What’s the difference, you ask? Well, according to Article XI Section A1b of the CBA, the commissioner has the ability to ban a player for life based on preserving the integrity of the game of baseball. In this situation, Rodriguez can still appeal but he would not be eligible to play through the process. Also, instead of having an arbitration hearing to decide his fate, A-Rod would instead be appealing to very man that enacted the punishment, Mr. Bud Selig. Needless to say, Rodriguez would lose the appeal.
A-Rod could then take MLB to court but at that time, MLB would move to ban Alex based on the drug policy, to which he could also appeal. So Rodriguez and the MLB would be locked into a court case and an arbitration hearing. So lets talk scenarios.
Best scenario for Alex: He wins the court case and the CBA ban is dropped and then the arbitrator rules in his favor for the drug policy ban. No way the arbitrator lets him walk with the mountain of evidence he has against him. He still serves a severe suspension but is able to attempt a return to the game after a certain amount of time and look to collect on the remaining $60-75 million left on his contract.
Worst scenario for Alex: He loses the court case so therefore the arbitration hearing is moot and he is banned from the game for life. Never being eligible for employment in any regard by Major League Baseball. Plus he loses the rest of his money and the Yankees get out of a major contract.
It’s hard not to ask yourself why this man would even consider fighting at this point. Selig isn’t f**king around.
The Miami Biogenesis Clinic scandal has seemingly reached its peak. Major League Baseball and former NL MVP, Ryan Braun, have come to an agreement. Braun has admitted to using PEDs and has apologized for letting everyone down. The plea deal will be in effect immediately and he will serve a suspensions without pay for the remainder of the season, about 67 games. The agreement between the league and Bruan does a lot to boost the credibility of Anthony Bosch. Bosch was the head of the Miami clinic.
All of this information is bad news for Alex Rodriguez who is believed to be up next to face the music. CBS Sports writer, Jon Heyman, was the first to break the Bruan suspension and he believes that we will see the same situation if not worse for Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez is now faced with a decision. He can either let the league take their action and accept or fight it or he can use his injury to state that he is physically unfit to continue playing at the professional level and retire to ensure he collects every dime of his contract. It seems regardless of what he decides, we will know soon.
On Saturday, it was exposed that a Miami area clinic was being investigated for ties to steroids but details were not clear. Tuesday morning, the picture became much, much clearer. According to an in depth article that was three months in the making published in this morning’s Miami New Times, Anthony Bosch was the head of Biogenesis of America, a clinic which had a list of clients that included several notable MLB players. Most notably, Alex Rodriguez is said to be a client of Bosch’s and although Rodriguez had already admitted to using steroids during his career, he assured the MLB Commissioners Office that his use was limited to 2001-2003. Evidence acquired from the investigation into Biogenesis of America is suggesting that A-Rod was lying. There is evidence that suggests A-Rod was using PEDs in 2009 after his admission to using band substances and during the Yankees’ World Series run as well as in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
The other players that have been named so far are Melky Cabrera, Gio Gonzalez, Bartolo Colon, Nelson Cruz, Yasmani Grandal and even former University of Miami star pitcher Cesar Carrillio. The implications are said to be well founded and if proven true, MLB would be well within their rights to suspend all players involved. Alex Rodriguez is looking at a bad situation since it seems he lied during an official investigation by MLB. According to the agreement between the MLB and MLBPA, the league does not need a positive drug test to suspend a player for breaking the drug policy. They just need proof of an infraction. MLB may be able to treat each season as a different infraction and possibly ban A-Rod for life. It is a far fetched situation but if the commissioner finds it necessary to make an example out of him it could end up happening.
Alex has completely destroyed his legacy. By admitting to using steroids early in his career and being found to use them late in his career, there is little doubt that he has used PEDs for most if not all of his play. He will never be the “clean” player to break the all time home run record or even break the record at all. He will never realize his dream of owning a professional baseball team, MLB would never allow it. He likely blew his chance at the Hall of Fame after being viewed as a first ballot Hall of Famer. If the Yankees succeed at voiding A-Rod’s contract and no other team wants to take a risk on him, A-Rod may never reach his 3,000 hit.
Alex is denying the allegations in a statement he put out today. The statement said; “The news report about a purported relationship between Alex Rodriguez and Anthony Bosch are not true, Alex Rodriguez was not Mr. Bosch’s patient, he was never treated by him and he was never advised by him. The purported documents referenced in the story — at least as they relate to Alex Rodriguez — are not legitimate.”
The Yankees then released a statement of their own. After the team supported him in ’09 during his first steroid scandal, it was interesting to see which direction the organization would go. The statement read as follows; “We fully support the Commissioner’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, This matter is now in the hands of the Commissioner’s Office. We will have no further comment until that investigation has concluded.” There was no mention of A-Rod at all. It seems the Yankees are done supporting him.
This morning, the Miami New Times broke a story of epic proportions linking Alex Rodriguez to performance enhancing drugs as recently as last season and as notably as 2009. The 3 month investigation into a Miami area clinic uncovered overwhelming evidence linking not only A-Rod but several other well known players.
The clinic’s client list includes Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzales, Rangers slugger Nelson Cruz, Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera and Athletics pitcher Bartolo Colon. In what is being called the East Coast version of BALCO, this most recent blow to Major League Baseball will likely have a lasting impact on these players.
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