The confidentiality clause in the MLB’s Joint Drug Agreement states “the Commissioner’s office, the Players Association, the Treatment Board, the IPA, the Medical Testing Officer, Club personnel and all of their members, affiliates, agents, consultants and employees, are prohibited from publicly disclosing information about an individual player’s test results or testing history,” as well as additional information about a player’s involvement with banned substances. Baseball, starting with the Mitchell Report, which was supposed to be confidential, has continually leaked information about its discipline, but nothing matches what we’ve seen in the case of Alex Rodriguez.
From his reported meetings and associations with steroid dealers to alleged purchasing of evidence, it seems a new story comes out every day about the embattled Yankees’ third baseman. The only problem with this is that there’s no way A-Rod’s camp is leaking this slandering information, nor is the court. It’s the MLB who has continued to provide the press with these alleged violations of their Joint Drug Agreement, in some sort of effort to bring down the already universally hated Rodriguez. By performing this unnecessary task this week, they’ve prompted A-Rod to file a complaint regarding the leaked information, which could come back to haunt them.
Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, the man who will decide the duration of Alex Rodriguez’s suspension, now has a new alleged violation on his desk to read, this time from MLB. This actually helps Rodriguez in his quest to reduce his suspension.
It increases the probability of a 50-game suspension for A-Rod, something offered to twelve players, and similarly to Ryan Braun, who received 65. If you’re Bud Selig, why didn’t you offer Rodriguez something similar?
If, in the end, Rodriguez comes away with 75 or less games he must sit out, what was the point of spending millions of dollars to try and bring down the slugger? Sure, they may have uncovered damning information, but by violating the JDA and leaking it, hiring a second pair secret investigators (as the NY Times report indicated) and forking money to a slimy guy like Anthony Bosch, does this make it right? Not even Commissioner Selig will accept the fact he may have taken some ugly steps to take down Rodriguez, saying he was “very comfortable” with what his investigators did.
There’s nothing to be comfortable about here; a league that has prided itself on a commitment to being clean has played this game with A-Rod filthily and in doing so, may have let Rodriguez score a few times.
— Kenny Ducey
