N.Y. TIMES
Alex Rodriguez was among 13 players suspended by Major League Baseball on Monday for violating the league’s antidoping rules, the biggest single-day drug action in the sport’s history.
Rodriguez is planning to appeal his ban, which would begin Thursday and would be for 211 games, through the 2014 season — by far the longest levied by the league for a doping violation. The league cited his “use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited, performance-enhancing substances” over many years.
Once considered among the best players in the game, Rodriguez received a far stiffer penalty than the others cited by baseball on Monday, who all accepted 50-game suspensions, effectively ending their 2013 seasons. Among the others were three 2013 All-Stars — Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers, Everth Cabrera of the San Diego Padres and Jhonny Peralta of the Detroit Tigers — as well as Francisco Cervelli of the Yankees.
Rodriguez is the only player planning to appeal, and the executive director of the players union, Michael Weiner, called his suspension “way too harsh.”
“We’ve never had a 200-plus penalty for a player who may have used drugs, and you know, among other things, I just think that is way out of line,” Weiner said in a call with reporters.
Bud Selig, the Major League Baseball commissioner, was criticized for his initial ambivalence to the issue of doping during the first part of his reign. He is keenly aware of his legacy.
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Weiner said a ruling on the appeal was not likely before November, which means Rodriguez can presumably play through the rest of the season.
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In 2011, Rodriguez played in only 99 games, hitting 16 home runs. In 2012, he hit 18 homers and missed six weeks with a broken hand. In the playoffs, he was benched for poor play.
In recent months, the continuing investigation and Rodriguez’s injury have prompted a back-and-forth between Rodriguez and the Yankees amounting to a public fight.
On Monday, the Yankees said they felt compelled to address several recent accusations, including Rodriguez’s saying Friday during his rehabilitation assignment that he believed the Yankees and baseball were conspiring against his return.
A statement by the Yankees read, “The New York Yankees in no way instituted and/or assisted MLB in the direction of this investigation; or used the investigation as an attempt to avoid its responsibilities under a player contract; or did its medical staff fail to provide the appropriate standard of care to Alex Rodriguez.”
But despite this mutual antagonism, the Yankees can use any help Rodriguez can provide. Even as he returned to the lineup, Jeter, the team captain, was going back on the disabled list for a third time with more leg troubles. He has been unable to stay on the field this season, and now he will watch as Rodriguez tries to play, one more twist in a bizarre and nightmarish season no Yankee could have anticipated.
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....in a pregame news conference with more than 100 members of the news media [Rodriguez] declined to directly answer questions about drug use but said he was intent on sticking up for his rights and playing baseball.
“I’m fighting for my life,” he said. “I have to defend myself. If I don’t defend myself, no one will.”
Still, while he was composed in the clubhouse, there were times in his measured opening statement when he seemed to put on a display of emotions.
He called the last seven months of his life, since reports first tied him to the clinic, a nightmare. And yet, in another part of the news conference, he said he felt like a teenager because of the sheer joy of being able to get back on the field.
“I am thrilled and humbled to have the opportunity to put this uniform on again and play major league baseball again,” he said. “I feel like I was 18 years old, back in Fenway Park in 1994 when I went in to face the Red Sox for the very first time. It’s been 20 years and I’m just very excited to have the opportunity to go out there and play baseball and help my team win.”
[In the game,] He went 1 for 4, and by the time he came to bat in the eighth, the boos had transformed into chants of “A-Roid, A-Roid.”