As a lot of you probably know, Alex Rodriguez was one of many players whose name was associated with a clinic called Biogenesis, which sells illegal Performance Enhancing Drugs. Most of the players received 50 game suspensions, except for Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun. MLB gave them both suspensions that last the rest of this year and all of next year. Braun took his extremely long suspension, but A-Rod appealed. He was tested for PEDs, but came up clean. Does MLB have the right to suspend a player, especially for that long, just because of a rumor? There are also tons of other baseball players that use PEDs but never get caught.  I think that MLB can't suspend him if they don't have any real evidence. Yes, I am a Yankees fan, but I hate Alex Rodriguez. So what do you think? Should Alex be suspended? For how long?

From an article on this issue, mlb released this as the reasoning for suspending arod: "use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including Testosterone and human Growth Hormone, over the course of multiple years" and "for attempting to cover-up his violations of the Program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the Commissioner's investigation"

It may have not been released publicly, but MLB must have some evidence of his usage and coverup.  Not to mention he admitted steroid usage in a 2009 interview.

Basically, a-rod is MLB's little message boy, MLB is using him to set an example that they don't play around.  He's not very likable, but everyone knows him, so he is the perfect one to do this to.  Whether that is right or not, is another story, but I don't feel sorry for the guy.  He makes more money in a game then I will in a year, so I could care less if he gets suspended or not.

I haven't done too much research on it, haven't really followed baseball too much since Ken Griffey Jr. retired.  However, if A-Rod has violated league substance policy again I think he should be banned from the league for life.  They take it too easy on these guys and it's going to keep happening.  A-Rod is a repeat offender.  Toss him out.  Don't even give him strike three.  Throw him out now.

tgags123 : i agree no evidence means you can't really suspend Alex Rodriguez, i mean its kind of like yelling at your pet dog but you didn't see them make a mess.

Even though I'm a Boston fan, I have to set that aside to make a good statement about this. This guy has been playing for longer than most players, he was on the Mariners in the 90's, and he has a long history of steroid use. I don't understand why he is still allowed to play right now, his suspension is under appeal somehow, because of his long steroid history. Rodriguez might end up as one of the most referenced steroid era player, alongside Barry Bonds and many others, simply because of how much trouble he's gotten into because of it. Coming back to a recent Red Sox-Yankees game, you've probably heard about how Ryan Dempster hit A-Rod with a pitch. Even though, as I mentioned before, I follow Boston, that was not right, and clearly on purpose.

Mr. Nerd : Remember in 2003 when David Ortiz tested positive for steroids? Didn't think so. That's because no one seems to care about it and it just kind of went away. I guarantee that he is still using them. So A-Rod isn't the only one with a long history of steroid use. Everyone just likes to pick on A-Rod because he is a Yankee.

I wasn't around for the '03 season, and even if I watched I probably wouldn't remember, as I was only 3 years old at the time. I won't discount the fact Papi used steroids, but a lot of people ended up doing it, but not continuing after the regulations were put in place.

tgags123 : I believe that Alex should be suspended for life. Even if he is suspended for just the 200+ games, he will come back, and whatever team he is on will still have to pay him money. The Yankees would still have to give him all that extra money for him to be playing at an older age. He should just be banned for life because what he did was wrong, and we may have a unique perspective here since he gets paid so much. 

Most of those players that get suspended for 50 games don't have a contract as big as A-Rod, so the teams do not have to pay those players such large amounts of money.

zanderlex : Wow talk about a thread bump. You aren't supposed to post in threads that have been dead for this long, unless they are sticky threads. I've seen you do it more than once, so be careful.

Local Mods : I would like to close this thread.

tgags123 : There wasn't really anything wrong with the bump. The rule now is basically now that if the thread is open, you can post, since thy close automatically after a certain amount of time. Since you want it closed, I'll do that for you.

~Closed~