Major League Baseball is a sham

[crissfan172]

I see where you're coming from but no matter what your stance is, this whole thing has been a disaster. I don't believe the MLB is rigging this because it's the Yankees...if you believe that, you probably believe we didn't land on the moon and LBJ was the one who had Kennedy killed.

It's a joke that MLB wants to throw down the largest suspension in MLB history at this dude and the "appeal" process that he gets to play through has taken over a month.

If anything, this should be like someone who is being held in jail while awaiting trial and gets a reduced sentence for time served. Whatever they decide on as far as a punishment, he should have already been sitting out and would get the amount of games missed so far in 2013 reduced against the total of what they decide the punishment should be.

Let me get this straight, they're keeping the cheater on the field? What the hell kind of sense does this make?

Or...in my case...the anger from that loss hasn't quite subsided yet.

[MurphDogg]

Weren't we all saying that MLB was rigged because they were going to give A-Rod a huge suspension and bail the Yankees out of their financial obligations? Now it's a sham because he's playing and being paid by the Yankees?

The financial issue is for next season. If he is suspended for next season and the Yankees don't have to pay his salary, they can resign Cano and still stay under the luxury tax cap for next year.

[SteveA]

Weren't we all saying that MLB was rigged because they were going to give A-Rod a huge suspension and bail the Yankees out of their financial obligations? Now it's a sham because he's playing and being paid by the Yankees?

1) Yankees in the playoffs = more TV dollars this year

2) Suspending him next year HELPS the Yankees. They have set a goal to get their payroll under the $189M luxury tax cap next year. Becuase the tax "resets" if you do that. RIght now, they have to pay 50% of whatever they are over the #, as luxury tax. So if they have a $239M payroll ($50M over the cap), they pay $25M in luxury tax. Getting under it for ONE YEAR, 2014, would reset that to 17.5%. So if they go over by $50M in 2015 after it is reset, instead of $25M, they would pay just $8.25M luxury tax.

So it is to the Yankees benefit that they get A-Rod off the payroll for some or all of next year, much moreso than this year. That one year they get under the cap could wind up saving them $20M/year for the next several years after that. Having A-Rod suspended next year rather than this year is WAY in the Yankees' interest. It will be very hard for them to re-sign Cano and get under the cap, even though they shed huge payroll in Rivera, Pettitte, Wells, etc next year (Wells is still under contract but the deal with the Angels was that NYY would pay Wells' big salary this year but LA will pay his salary next year, just to further their goal of getting under the cap for one year).

If they had to pay A-Rod next year, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to keep Cano and get under the cap.

So to answer your question... it certainly appears that everything in drawn-out appeal situation benefits the Yankees. It helps them get to the playoffs this year, and it helps them get under the cap next year and possibly reap millions in lowered luxury taxes in subsequent years.

[MDK02]

As soon as yankees are eliminated Bud Selig will come out with the announcement about Arod. It's a shame he has a play in the outcomes of these games. I'm sure he's on some sort of substance that isn't banned by the MLB yet.

[oriolesfanstan]

Arod hasn't failed a test for this current situation. Is he guilty as hell? Yes. But hes banking an arbitrator will say well he hasn't failed a test you are out of luck. If he loses there he is ready willing and eager to take this to the courts.

[MDK02]

The financial issue is for next season. If he is suspended for next season and the Yankees don't have to pay his salary, they can resign Cano and still stay under the luxury tax cap for next year.

Yep, sounds about right.

[TonySoprano]

There was a lot of bravo sierra soap opera for several weeks before he returned about being suspended or for how long. Yeah, Bud has a real pair of stugots alright, letting ARod play the first 52 games of his suspension while dragging out the appeals process until after the season.

[allquixotic]

MLB is just another brand of fictional entertainment like WWF wrestling. It is no longer a competitive sport. They will soon have scripted manager vs manager confrontations with the managers bludgeoning one another with baseball bats, appearing to be injured, and then coming out again the next day like nothing happened. Any expectation that this is a real sport is completely evaporated. Any commercialized sport will eventually, inevitably take the same route. Welcome to capitalism. Sensationalism sells, boring old reality doesn't.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk 4

[Moshagge3]

1) Yankees in the playoffs = more TV dollars this year

2) Suspending him next year HELPS the Yankees. They have set a goal to get their payroll under the $189M luxury tax cap next year. Becuase the tax "resets" if you do that. RIght now, they have to pay 50% of whatever they are over the #, as luxury tax. So if they have a $239M payroll ($50M over the cap), they pay $25M in luxury tax. Getting under it for ONE YEAR, 2014, would reset that to 17.5%. So if they go over by $50M in 2015 after it is reset, instead of $25M, they would pay just $8.25M luxury tax.

So it is to the Yankees benefit that they get A-Rod off the payroll for some or all of next year, much moreso than this year. That one year they get under the cap could wind up saving them $20M/year for the next several years after that. Having A-Rod suspended next year rather than this year is WAY in the Yankees' interest. It will be very hard for them to re-sign Cano and get under the cap, even though they shed huge payroll in Rivera, Pettitte, Wells, etc next year (Wells is still under contract but the deal with the Angels was that NYY would pay Wells' big salary this year but LA will pay his salary next year, just to further their goal of getting under the cap for one year).

If they had to pay A-Rod next year, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to keep Cano and get under the cap.

So to answer your question... it certainly appears that everything in drawn-out appeal situation benefits the Yankees. It helps them get to the playoffs this year, and it helps them get under the cap next year and possibly reap millions in lowered luxury taxes in subsequent years.

Except that nobody thought that A-Rod would be a help to the Yankees until pretty recently. He wasn't doing well in his rehab assignment, Yankee fans didn't want any part of him. He was a total embarrassment at third last night. It's only now that A-Rod is swinging a hot bat that I'm hearing that baseball wants him around to help the Yankees.

[eddie83]

His own team didn't want him back, now it is all Bud's fault. The Yankees were sick of him.

[Frobby]

I'm irritated that ARod is actually helping the Yankees to beat us. But frankly, I'm more irritated that the O's haven't found a way to have a better record than a Yankee team that has been missing half it's lineup for the majority of the season and whose ace is having a very poor year. That's on us.

[oriole]

This sounds like sore loser talk. If A-Rod was playing like he did in the playoffs last season then this conversation probably wouldn't be happening.

[tntoriole]

Arod hasn't failed a test for this current situation. Is he guilty as hell? Yes. But hes banking an arbitrator will say well he hasn't failed a test you are out of luck. If he loses there he is ready willing and eager to take this to the courts.

It is much more complicated than this. Arod was found by MLB investigators to be guilty of use by the evidence provided by the head of Biogenesis clinic even though he did not have positive testing (like Lance Armstrong). The evidence is compelling apparently. But because this is a "nonanalytic positive", namely NOT a failed drug screen, then he has right to binding arbitration through the JDA. If he HAD failed the screens done by MLB, the automatic suspensions of 50 games 1st offense, etc. would apply and are NOT appealable by the player. But, it is BINDING arbitration and very difficult to get these overturned in court, because they exist in lieu of court procedures. The allegations against Arod also include obstruction of the investigation of Biogenesis and allegations that he may have involved/referred others.

[Blizzard1090]

If you want someone to blame,make sure you look at the player's union. They are the ones that allow suspended players to play during an appeals process.

[BMann]

If, God forbid, the Yank$ somehow make it to the World Series, it would at least be amusing to see Fox/MLB forced to show us an uplifting human interest piece on the trials and tribulations of poor A-Rod, stretch-run and playoff hero, who guides his team through October with clutch hits and inspiring play, all with a Chevy-Chase-as-Gerald-Ford style needle in his arm. May as well pollute baseball's biggest stage with this nonsense.