Alex Rodriguez's battle against Major League Baseball, which reduced his historic 211-game suspension in arbitration to 162 games without the possibility of appearing in postseason games, has somehow gotten uglier.
A-Rod is taking his case to federal court and roped in the MLBPA, his own union. He's going after MLB to vacate the lengthy suspension based on arbitrator Frederic Horowitz's "manifest disregard for the law," and a lack of partiality. He's taking on the MLBPA because he alleges they did not live up to their duty to defend him against MLB's "witch hunt."
MLBPA director Tony Clark said in a statement, "It is unfortunate that Alex Rodriguez has chosen to sue the Players Association. His claim is completely without merit, and we will aggressively defend ourselves and our members from these baseless charges."
Rodriguez's stance throughout these showy proceedings is that MLB has handed down a far stiffer penalty to him than other players caught cheating as an effort to make an example of him. He also denies any of the charges are true, rendering Horowitz's ruling baseless.
Horowitz has gone on record to defend his ruling. "Based on the entire record from the arbitration," Horowitz wrote, "MLB has demonstrated with clear and convincing evidence there is just cause to suspend Rodriguez for the 2014 season and 2014 postseason for having violated the (joint drug agreement) by the use and/or possession of testosterone, IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor), and hGH (human growth hormone) over the course of three years, and for the two attempts to obstruct MLB's investigation."
Now, Rodriguez's case is being taken to court. U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III ruled that Rodriguez's legal team could not file a partially redacted version of their complaint; all the testimony and secrets would be in the public eye.
Read A-Rod's full, unredacted complaint here
"Given the intense public interest in commissioner's Selig's disclosures (Sunday) night on "60 Minutes," it's difficult to imagine any portion should be under seal," Pauley said.
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