Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees was recently suspended 162 games (one full season) by Major League Baseball for his involvement with performance enhancing drugs. It is actually somewhat of a positive for Rodriguez as he was previously suspended 211 games for his involvement with PEDs. Rodriguez continues to completely deny that he done anything wrong. At this point, the display that Rodriguez is putting on through the media is truly ridiculous. In my opinion, when this suspension was handed down, I believed that A-Rod will never play another game in a MLB uniform. There are three pretty large reasons why I believe so.
1. Ability:
Age and injuries, equals decreasing ability. Rodriguez is 38 years old right now, after his suspension he will be turning 40 that summer. 40 is old for a baseball player. Muscles don’t work the same, you’re not as quick and it is the time where most major league ball players see a dramatic decrease in numbers. Injury wise, since 2009 A-Rod has had two major hip surgeries on both hips and surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Not to mention a broken hand and a strained quad and calf. All of these injuries add up, and as he gets older he will only worsen as a player. Assuming Alex doesn’t start taking PEDs again, the drugs won’t be there to help him as his skills diminish.
2. Publicity:
No team wants the circus act that is Alex Rodriguez. I could see the Yankees cutting ties with Rodriguez as soon as they deem fit. Someone like that brings way too much negative publicity to a club house and an organization. A-Rod is only doing this to himself. His lawyer Joe Tacopina is out there trying to clear the air when in reality he is just making it worse. This situation is completely out of hand and I think it would be foolish for any club to welcome Rodriguez.
3. Personality:
He is a liar, fraud, fake, phony, how ever you want to put it Alex Rodriguez is not the best guy in the world. The man believes his own lie. He turned his back on his teammates, Major League Baseball and now the only guy that was helping his continued success (Anthony Bosch). Personally, I would never want a friend or teammate like that.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think Alex Rodriguez is one of the best baseball players over the past 20-30 years. BUT he will always fall into the same category of cheaters as Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire. Good luck trying to find a team in a year A-Rod, you’re going to need it.
