This won't help sell seats ...ARod suspended for 2014 season

A-Rod suspended for 2014 season
By The Sports Xchange 6 hours ago The SportsXchange

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New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was suspended for the entire 2014 season by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz on Saturday, stemming from the Biogenesis scandal.

The suspension also includes all potential playoff games for the season.

Horowitz's ruling upholds most of Major League Baseball's original ban of 211 games. The arbitrator's decision comes after Rodriguez appealed the suspension and played the final two months of the 2013 season.

Rodriguez was among 13 players suspended after MLB investigated Biogenesis, the former South Florida anti-aging clinic that was linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Ryan Braun received the second-longest ban of 65 games, which he served. The other players were banned 50 games.

Rodriguez announced on his Facebook page that he will contest Saturday's decision in federal court.

"The number of games sadly comes as no surprise, as the deck has been stacked against me from day one," Rodriguez said in the statement. "This is one man's decision, that was not put before a fair and impartial jury, does not involve me having failed a single drug test, is at odds with the facts and is inconsistent with the terms of the Joint Drug Agreement and the Basic Agreement, and relies on testimony and documents that would never have been allowed in any court in the United States because they are false and wholly unreliable.

"This injustice is MLB's first step toward abolishing guaranteed contracts in the 2016 bargaining round, instituting lifetime bans for single violations of drug policy, and further insulating its corrupt investigative program from any variety defense by accused players, or any variety of objective review."

Rodriguez repeated his claim that he has not taken any PEDs while playing for the Yankees since 2009.

"I have been clear that I did not use performance enhancing substances as alleged in the notice of discipline, or violate the Basic Agreement or the Joint Drug Agreement in any manner, and in order to prove it I will take this fight to federal court," he said. "I am confident that when a Federal Judge reviews the entirety of the record, the hearsay testimony of a criminal whose own records demonstrate that he dealt drugs to minors, and the lack of credible evidence put forth by MLB, that the judge will find that the panel blatantly disregarded the law and facts, and will overturn the suspension.

"No player should have to go through what I have been dealing with, and I am exhausting all options to ensure not only that I get justice, but that players' contracts and rights are protected through the next round of bargaining, and that the MLB investigation and arbitration process cannot be used against others in the future the way it is currently being used to unjustly punish me.

"I will continue to work hard to get back on the field and help the Yankees achieve the ultimate goal of winning another championship. I want to sincerely thank my family, all of my friends, and of course the fans and many of my fellow MLB players for the incredible support I received throughout this entire ordeal."

The New York Yankees released a brief statement that read: "The New York Yankees respect Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, the arbitration process, as well as the decision released today by the arbitration panel."

MLB has not commented.