After weeks of rumors and speculation, embattled New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has officially been suspended by Major League Baseball through the 2014 MLB season, spanning an unprecedented 211 games.
The ban for Rodriguez is set to last for the remainder of this season, including any potential post season games, and all of the next year.
Rodriguez's suspension has been expected for weeks as the MLB looked into his connection to Biogenesis, an anti-aging clinic accused of selling performance enhancing drugs to Rodriguez and 12 other players. The players faced their suspensions Monday--most topping out at 50-games--but Rodriguez met a harsher fate.
Despite the news of the suspension, Rodriguez intends to appeal the ban and make his season debut for the Yankees at third base against the Chicago White Sox Monday at U.S. Cellular Field.
MLB commissioner Allan (Bud) Selig announced the ban Monday, citing A-Rod violated the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program and the Basic Agreement.
According to reports, Selig said the ban is based on "his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years," as well as for "engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate an investigation by the office of commissioner Bud Selig."
MLB Public Relations tweeted the following document about A-Rod
The ban is set to begin Thursday and will stick until Rodriguez completes an appeal as he intends to file a grievance with the decision.
If and when Rodriguez does appeal, reports indicate that an appeal to arbitrator Fredric Horowitz will be heard sometime in September. A-Rod, 38, won't play again until he's 40-years-old if the suspension holds up.
A-Rod hasn't failed a drug test, but Selig insists that Rodriguez was connected to the clinic and that baseball's program to ban performance enhancing drugs isn't just limited to drug tests.
The slugger, who looked to be a Hall of Famer in the future, is presently surrounded by question marks and clouds of judgment. Anthony Bosh, founder of the Biogenesis clinic, has been a cooperating witness in MLB's year-long search into the clinic and who its clients were, and reports indicate the MLB has overwhelming evidence that ties Rodriguez to performance enhancing drug use in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Rodriguez, who admitted to using PED's in 2001-03, may have taken the final shot to his already much-maligned reputation.
The Yankees owe Rodriguez $100 million on a contract that doesn't expire for another four and a half more seasons, and if the appeal doesn't go his way Rodriguez could be done in New York.
While it is certain that A-Rod will suit up for the Yankees tonight, what lies ahead for the slugger remains a mystery.
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