Over the weekend, an arbitrator upheld the bulk of Major League Baseball’s suspension of Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, ruling him out for the entire 2014 season and potentially ending the 38-year-old’s career. On Monday, A-Rod let the world know that he’s not going to go down without a fight by suing MLB and the players’ union.
The 33-page report by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz said there was “clear and convincing evidence” Rodriguez used three prohibited substances and tried to obstruct the investigation into his use of performance enhancing drugs, the Associated Press reports. Rodriguez’s suit is hoping to have his season-long ban overturned in court. Here’s more on what the suit alleges from the AP:
Rodriguez in his suit claimed the Major League Baseball Players Association “completely abdicated its responsibility to Mr. Rodriguez to protect his rights” and “this inaction by MLBPA created a climate in which MLB felt free to trample” on Rodriguez’s confidentiality rights. Rodriguez asked for the court to find MLB violated its agreements with the union, that the union breached its duty to represent him and to throw out Horowitz’s decision.
The lawsuit continues what has been a bitter and ugly dispute between the player and MLB, but the New York Times reports, Rodriguez “is likely to face obstacles in getting a judge to intervene on his behalf.” “It is unusual for a judge to halt an arbitrator’s decision in a situation like this, where the sides have a collectively bargained process for handling disputes,” the Times notes.
