The fallout over Alex Rodriguez's suspension for the entire 2014 season is still settling over both the Bronx and the entire baseball world. Here's the latest on both A-Rod and other Yankee-related topics…
- The Yankees will "most likely" not sign another infielder to a Major League contract, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link). As Rosenthal notes, that would take the Yankees out of the running for Stephen Drew and Michael Young. Drew might've been a long shot anyway given Scott Boras' salary demands and the fact that Drew is a natural shortstop, though Young and Mark Reynolds were reportedly both on the Yankees' radar. Reynolds, however, has already rejected a minor league offer from the club and only wants a Major League deal.
- The 162-game suspension will reduce Rodriguez's salary to just under $2.87MM for 2014, though Forbes Magazine's Maury Brown notes that the Yankees will pay A-Rod $3MM on Wednesday in the last instalment of his original $10MM signing bonus. Brown's piece also looks at several other facets of Rodriguez's suspension, including possible implications for the MLBPA and future PED testing rules.
- Rodriguez's suspension gives the Yankees millions in salary relief, a situation that The Denver Post's Troy Renck and FOX Sports' Gabe Kapler both see as a sign that MLB needs to do more to penalize teams who have players suspended for PED violations. Renck suggests that wins could be removed from a team's record, while Kapler suggests that a team should pay a suspended player his full salary, but the player would then have to donate his salary while under suspension to an MLB-approved charity.
- "The hard reality is that no matter what you think of A-Rod, the Yankees brought this situation upon themselves, purely out of greed," ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews writes, noting that Rodriguez's contract was negotiated by Yankees upper management above GM Brian Cashman's objections. Matthews suggests that the club could just release Rodriguez and pay the remaining $61MM on his contract just to avoid the distractions if A-Rod shows up at Spring Training as planned.
- From earlier today, the Yankees agreed to sign infielder Scott Sizemore to a minor league deal.
Yankees WILL sign another infielder whether it’s right before ST or during. Someone (I’m putting my money on Brian Roberts) will get injured.
Ok, but they said they wouldn’t sign anyone to another major league contract. Minor league? Well yeah, they need ST invites.
Still see the possibility of Reynolds signing. I can’t see him getting a major league contract and the Yankees offer a good chance at playing time.
probably a minor league deal though.
Young and Reynolds really aren’t that interesting, and both are defensive liabilities, on the side of the infield with Jeter already.
I’m hoping Jeff Baker who smashes lefties.
Which is why Jeter should play 3rd. His lateral movement is probably about as good as mine at this point.
Very seriously, I know Nunez is not exactly beloved by Yankee fans, especially those who sit in back of the first base dugout as his throws from SS can end up hitting you square in the head but he did seem a lot better in 2013. He does have an enormous upside, and who is to say that he won’t have a breakout year.
OK, Jeter out of his natural position and Eduardo Nunez at shot is nothing to celebrate but the way the roster stands today, I think it is the Yanks best option.
Arod’s contract was created out of his own greed. He lied to the world about steroids to get a contract under false pretenses. He deserves to get his contract nullified.
The yankees are just trying to save a buck, and Arod cheated and made that easy
“Or swallow harder, do nothing, and watch A-Rod turn his team’s training
camp into a circus more raucous than anything P.T. Barnum could have
dreamed up?” It’s amazing that writers hate circus’s even though they are the ones that cause it. Not to mention the fact that after one series the Arod situation was fine last year.
If he is going to take this to federal court ybey should release him. That is a circus they do not need.
If they do release him….. and he is picked up by another (Miami) team, who pays the bonuses for the home run milestones?
I think the Yankees since the new team would only be responsible for the ML minimum. I remember reading about how the Red Sox had to pay for some of Brad Penny’s incentives after the Giants signed him.
What does removing wins accomplish? This isn’t NCAA football.
Even with NCAA football it doesn’t change history. Why do people think that Jedi mind trick is worth anything.
I’m sure that teams wouldn’t care at all if wins were removed well after the fact.
However I do like the teams have to pay the contracts to a charity penalty though.
Plus, there are WAY too many potentially unprecedented disasters by removing wins. What if you remove enough wins from a team who won their division and made the playoffs so that they wouldn’t have made the playoffs? What if that team had gone on to win the World Series? Too many weirdnesses here.
I’ve rarely been so angered at reading something. The Yankees are being punished badly enough by having to pay A-Rod in the first place. But they should have to pay for his suspension too? Where was this whining when Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz and their roid using gave the Red Sox World Series wins?
The same place it was when A-Rod was helping the Yankees get theirs.
I’d gladly erase years 2003 on from the record books. A-Rod hurt the Yankees every year aside from 2009. Boston has benefited way more from PEDS than any other ballclub.
Yeah, all those suspensions really hurt. Wait…
why are they being punished for having to pay him? they were the ones who agreed to the contract. the only thing that stood out to me is how they signed him out of greed. i don’t see how it’s greedy to sign the guy for more than anyone else was willing to pay him.
You have a point about the Yankees overpaying A-Rod. They have a bad tendency to bid against themselves, since they want to keep their players happy and no players seem to want to give them a “hometown discount” because they have the money.
I meant though that the Yankees are being punished plenty by having to pay A-Rod, who got his contract off the back of PEDS. He duped them just like Jason Giambi duped them. They’ve collectively paid/will pay A-Rod and Giambi hundreds of millions of dollars for shoddy production. Compare it to Boston, who has paid roiders like Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, and have gotten back 3 World Titles in return.
i see what you mean. but honestly i find it hard to believe they didn’t suspect those guys of using. i still find it ironic that he called them greedy for paying him more money rather than keeping it for themselves.
Sour grapes.
If only they were a multibillion corporation that could totally afford to do their research and due dilligence before committing hundreds of millions of dollars to someone. Poor Yankees, so duped.
You can’t relate to your team being burned by PED users, since David Ortiz is still juicing and winning you World Series rings and Manny Ramirez gave you 2 on the stuff,
David Ortiz is juicing? Man, those must’ve all been faulty drug tests he came up clean on.
well the testing IS faulty.
I can hear the tears from here. Just enjoy the payroll flexibility and stop worrying about what other teams are doing.
Any proof Ortiz is still juicing?
There’s a lot of proof he ISN’T, if the report I read on the number of tests he was subject to this season is accurate.
I’m referring to when he first May have been juicing back around 03. Today, I doubt it.
Still juicing? Where’s your proof?
Dry your eyes already.
we should start a fundraiser for them just so they can afford it.
Keep your eyes on the ball here champ….this is about A-Roid and the Yanks, nothing to do with the Red Sox.
It is about future punishments for MLB teams and PED users, something that involves every team in the league including your Sawks obviously.
Ahhh…the Yankee fanoby…whining about allegations, but ignoring the fact htat the Threepeating Yankees had three top players caught or admitting to using during that time…and many other smaller name players.
Troy Renck and Gabe Kapler are right MLB really does needs to do something to penalize teams with players who get caught using PEDs. Why can’t the commissioner for the sake of MLB do a rule change now. The Yankees did with the help of A-Rod and his PED use win that WSC in 2009 they should not gain a dime now because he can not live up to his contract without the PED use?
Not in favor of costing wins, However, there is no reason to give the 40 Man slot back, and I’d be good with teams losing draft picks over suspensions like Rodriguez’. The contract money should also not be returned to the team. Charity, or whatever, works for me.
sounds good to me too. taking out wins is good and all, but until MLB is willing to punish themselves as well, the records should stand.
If a team loses the 12th pick in the first round for having an atmosphere that doesn’t discourage cheating, then things will change. Otherwise, “Roids are bad, mmmmmkay end of lecture.”
i’d take even further and let another team take any one of their players with salary on them. but i’m cynical like that.
Bingo.
Why are you stopping with 2009? The 1998-2000 Yankees had at least three top players caught, or admitted to using. And other smaller players.
Penalize the Yankees…you know, because they not only encouraged his PED use but they are the ones who provided him the syringes and juice. OK…
Give me a break. They had so many players caught using while on their team that to suggest they were completely unaware is basically coming right out and telling the world that you don’t care how much of a joke you make yourself look like as long as you stand tall with your childish Yankee fanboyism.
Nearly every one of your posts mentions “Yankee fanboy” and you don’t do a very good job of hiding your bias against the Yankees. So if there is a “joke” here…well.
That is a bad suggestion.
Removing wins from their record?
Punish the player, not the team. These are grown men.
The teams knew. No question they knew, just like they knew with Clemens, Pettitte, Knoblauch, Cervelli, and the countless other Yankees that have been caught in the last 15 years.
Gabe
Kapler, the Yankees did not sign ARod with knowledge of any PED use
(like, say, the Cardinals did with Jhonny Peralta ). Why
should the team be
penalized for ARod’s transgressions? THAT’S LEGALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY
UNFAIR. And your mandate idea would have to apply to small market teams
as well? What if a small market team like the Mariners were penalized if
Cano was suddenly found guilty of PED use? Looks like you are biased.
maybe just a Yankee hater by way of the irrational Red Sox Nation Kool
Aid? Remember, your Red Sox (who ironically coined the term Evil Empire
for the Yanks) are a BIG market team, too.
So are you trying to imply that the Yankees (or any team for that matter) has no idea if the player is using PED’s when they sign or are on the team? Also, I believe Kapler played on a few other teams besides Boston. Sounds like you’re a tad sensitive.
You’re assuming. C’mon.
C’mon what?
Please explain why it’s legally and professionally unfair. That’s silly talk. ALL teams held accountable, big or small.
Accountable for what exactly? Teams are simply signing players to contracts and they do not have prior knowledge to PED use. That is a ludicrous idea.
Agreed.
So sign the player and just look the other way as long as we win? Yeah, great idea to help solve the PED problem.
What are you talking about? If PED use is known prior to a team signing the player then by all means punish the team if he gets caught again. Otherwise it would simply be punishing teams that are also the victim because the signed the player that has been banned.
So don’t you think that if teams would be held financially responsible, or perhaps would have to surrender a draft pick if a player on their roster was found guilty of PED use, you don’t think that would be an incentive of teams to keep things clean? I agree w/ homer, this “we have no knowledge of what our players are doing” argument is garbage.
no of course they don’t know. how could they possibly know?
I guess we should just assume that they do know to for the sake of your argument.
if you only want to assume two extremes, then go for it. most people have the ability to critically think, and i’m sure these teams aren’t an exception to that. while they’re at it they should start accepting the excuse that players didn’t know what they were putting in their bodies too.
Let’s not assume period. Under this system teams could simply float a rumor around of prior PED use by a FA player to diminish their value so as to be able to sign them to a lesser contract. The penalty would scare other teams away from making the same investment.
now that sounds better to me. point being all the same is that a lot of these guys aren’t being signed without the teams having an understanding that they are using. they should be punished for it as well for looking the other way. much in the same way that I think MLB should be punished for not enforcing its own rules for years.
If the teams look the other way then I am all for it, which the Yankees might have done judging from the emails between A-Rod and Levine (both need to go). The MLB needs a shakup in how they manage this, as well as having Selig axed and blackballed for being a huge part of this problem. I just would not punish teams that have also been made victims by untruthful players. It is just tough to prove whether a team had prior knowledge or were completely clueless.
OR for the sake of sounding like an adult non Yankee fanboy with common sense. The Yankees of all teams know about what players on steroids are like. They have had far more practice over the last 16 years than any other team.
If one of the two of us sounds biased I’m guessing its you. My love for baseball comes first and I regularly attend pawsox games and chat it up with boston fans as I live in that area of the US. Have a nice day 🙂
Sure they did. And they sure as hell knew when they resigned him in 2009. Just like they absolutely knew that half a dozen top Yankee players were using steroids when they won three straight World Series. No team in baseball has had as many proven or admitted cheaters since the beginning of the steroid era than the Yankees.
Lakawak, that’s truth thru an individual prism. Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Paul O’ Neil, Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius, David Cone, David Wells, etc, THOSE are the crucial players that brought them three consecutive World Series. Clemens? Clemens isn’t even considered a crucial part of that dynasty. The only crucial guy you can pin it on is Andy Pettitte for using HGH to heal faster from an injury during the season.
Keep the irrational fan hatred to yourself, please.
“Kapler suggests that a team should pay a suspended player his full salary, but the player would then have to donate his salary while under suspension to an MLB-approved charity.”
This I agree with.
As do I. Trying to claim that a team has no idea that a player is using is ignorant at best. The teams should be held financially accountable, not just the players.
and they aren’t allow the tax write off. repeat offenders then must take performance diminishing drugs for one year.
No need…getting off the juice makes your body fail quickly. Just look at Tiger Woods from 2010-2012.
I wouldn’t mind their being some clause that allows suspended players contracts to be nullified and a percentage awarded to charity. But suggesting a 25 million dollar donation due to the player’s incompetence is ridiculous. It’s only being suggested because most national sports writers are anti-Yankee.
when the reward of success is high, the cost of incompetence is high. MB923 isn’t a sports writer nor is he anti-yankee so it seems there’s more to suggesting it than those two reasons.
waaah. Like this would ever be approved.
Removing wins? What if the PED’s were by player who costs his team wins with very poor production such as Jesus Montero?
The Mariners retroactively make the 2013 postseason
The idea that a team should be penalized for a player on their roster taking steroids or any PEDs is ludicrous. If a player is suspended for breaking literally any other rule in the CBA is his team held accountable? Why should this be any different?
i imagine it’s because ignorance shouldn’t be an excuse.
Why ludicrous? Do you feel that teams should look the other way and “win at all costs”??
It’s got nothing to do with “looking the other way.” There are rules in place right now, that if a player is caught and suspended for taking steroids the team loses that player for 50 games, so in 99% of situations the team is getting punished. This supposed need for wins to be removed or players needing to be payed has a lot more to do with the general public’s hatred of the Yankees and A-Rod. Honestly, where was this outcry for teams to take more of a hit when Braun or any of the other 11 guys were suspended?
As a Phillies fan I think its ludicrous the Yankees were able to win that 2009 WSC with the help of a Cheat. Why should the Yankees now be rewarded this salary relief, it doesn’t seem right?
Should your Phillies give the 2008 WS title to the Rays since they had a PED user in JC Romero (who won 2 of their 4 WS games)?
Curt Schilling back in 2009 or 2010 said no WS team in the last 20 years was a clean team. Considering he was a part of 3 WS winning teams in that span and played in 4, that’s saying a lot.
Should we take away all titles then from WS winners with known cheats then?
“Why should the Yankees now be rewarded this salary relief, it doesn’t seem right?”
Why should the Yankees pay for his salary if the Brewers, Dodgers and Tigers didn’t have to pay for Braun, Manny and Peralta while they were suspended? Why should 1 team pay but not the others? Simple question.
I don’t trust a word that comes out of Schillings mouth I never did since the bloody sock incident. With that said you have to start somewhere why not now, do you feel its right if the Yankees win another Championship with the player or players they are about to sign from this situation?
So a team’s title should be taken away because of a foolish thing one of their players did? (as I said, same goes for your Phillies with JC Romero). This isn’t the NCAA.
Because a team should know…And Anyone who isn’t a childish fanboy knows that the Yankees did know.
And again…EVERY other sport makes teams pay the suspended player’s money to charity. All the sports with commissioners who are not in the owner’s back pocket.
You do not just throw away 60 million dollars. For one thing Alex will always sell tickets. And it is not like the Yankees have a 3B ready to go in the minors. So you just wait and hope things go your way with this problem. Maybe someone should open a Hall of Shame museum in Cooperstown NY. Speaking of which I will not take the hall of fame seriously until Roger Maris is inducted.
I”m a Yankee fan and Roger Maris is not a HOFer at all. Hall of Very Good at best.
Actually, he was just good. When you look at the rest of the league in 1961, he shouldn’t have won the MVP. Fifth in OPS, not in the 25 in BA….his season was only “very good”. He deserved the 1960 MVP, but apart from those two seasons, his career was somewhere between good and very good.
The Yankees do not need ARod to sell tickets.
Roger Maris in the Hall of Fame? Are you joking? His numbers are nowhere near good enough. It is for a great career…not a great season, and a couple other good ones.
“Kapler suggests that a team should pay a suspended player his full salary, but the player would then have to donate his salary while under suspension to an MLB-approved charity.”
It’s an interesting and possibly worthwhile proposal, but has more consequences than you’ve explored. Let’s imagine a scenario where Alex Rodriguez has to donate his 2014 salary to charity. This penalizes the Yankees by making them pay for a player who is not playing. For the sake of argument, I concede that this is a worthwhile goal.
This scenario means that Yankees are having $25mm confiscated from them by MLB, because they pay the salary, but they don’t get the player’s services. Given that, it’s only just that the Yankees should be entitled to participate in the suspension process. They have to have the opportunity to defend their investments. They should not be required to rely on MLBPA or ARod’s lawyers to present a defense; that would be like asking the car insurance company to sit on the sidelines while the driver defended himself in a personal injury lawsuit. Since the Yankees would be loosing their investment, they will demand a seat at the table.
There would be a realignment of the loyalties, and a resultant conflict of interest. Currently, a suspension is for the team, a “wash,” at least theoretically. They are deprived of the player, but relieved of the contract. But under your proposal, the team would be heavily invested in avoiding the suspension. That allies the team with the player and the MLBPA. But who is on the opposite side of the arbitration room? MLB. WHo is MLB? Why, it’s the representative of the teams! So the team is sitting at the table for the prosecution and for the defense. See a problem here? Suddenly, the prosecution is less invested in a conviction, because it hurts the bottom line.
Further, I doubt teams would be agreeable to a strict liability standard for actions of their players. They would demand that some level of negligence or willfull misconduct by the team be shown. That’s fine, but it substantially complicates the arbitration hearing. It involves a lot of “who knew what and when” inquiry. It also involves a lot of investigation into what the team is doing to prevent PED use, and how it compares to the industry standards. Even if you could sort out the conflicts of interest in arbitration, you’d be making the arbitration process extraordinarily complex and burdensome.
Finally, how do you get this into the CBA? Who would advocate for it? Not MLB, because MLB is a consortium of the teams. Not MLBPA, because the players wouldn’t want the teams breathing down their necks. Who at the negotiating table for the CBA has an interest in making teams pay? Nobody.
Why shouldn’t the Yankees be penalized? IT is an employers duty to know enough about their players, and no team in baseball has had more proven cheaters than the Yankees over the last 15 years.
And again…every single other sport makes the team pay the salary to charity, and it counts toward the cap.
Well baseball is not like every other sport.
If a player is suspended the team should not have to pay him. However that money should still count towards the team payroll for the year and they should pay the luxury tax based on that number if applicable ( as it is in the Yankees case).
Something tells me that non-Yankee fans are just saying this for spite. I say that because I heard no such statements about this issue in the past when those 12 others were suspended for Biogensis scandal. Same goes with Manny Ramirez making $20 million in 2009 and 2010 with the Dodgers before he was suspended (correct me if those years are wrong), and the Dodgers didn’t pay him either.
In my honest opinion, I don’t think what you said is all unfair though and it makes sense.
I don’t think the money should count towards the team luxury tax since that is only accounted for the players on the 40 man roster and A-Rod wont’ be. BUT, I don’t think the Yankees should be given $25 million back either. As Gabe Kapler pointed out, the money should go somewhere to like a charity.
A Yankee fan rarely understands the spite – often, when an opposing team loses a free agent to the Yankees, their fans are heard to say “it’s your own fault, you were too cheap to pay him” – and that shows just how many Yankee fans are totally out of touch – or different to – the realities of at least 20 of the 30 MLB franchises. Fans are now indifferent to the plight of the Yankees, primarily because the Yankees and their fans have been indifferent to the rest of MLB for two generations now.
Having said all that, the Yankees shouldn’t be asked to pay a penny of any of A-Rod’s salary, to charity or otherwise. He’s suspended, period, and it sets an incorrect precedent for other teams to have to pay. BUT – the related dollar amount SHOULD count to the luxury tax, because it’s “buyer beware”. Moreover, there should not be any allowance given to the Yankees to buy out the future years of his contract for luxury tax reasons. The luxury tax was created for the sole purpose of providing a measure of balance to MLB – and for the Yankees to seek loopholes in that system to benefit them (I would say the same for the Red Sox and Dodgers as well) is in complete contradiction with the original purpose of the luxury tax. With big salaries come big problems, and that’s not the fault of the rest of baseball. It’s the Yankees’ problem – and MLB should not dig them out of it.
The luxury tax money is based on the team payroll. The team payroll accounts for those on the 40 man roster. A-Rod won’t be on the 40 man roster at all this year which is why it won’t and should not count towards the team payroll. Should Bobby Bonilla’s salary count towards the Mets team payroll? He was their highest paid OFer last year.
I believe it should. A team is responsible for how it structures contracts, and how much it is willing to pay a player in advance. The Yankees agreed in 2007 to give A-Rod $275 million over a 10 year period. While I certainly don’t believe they should be held responsible for paying him in 2014, the point is that they made a financial commitment in 2007 TO pay him. That’s the risk when you sign a player. The Mets committed money to Bobby Bonilla as part of buying out his contract, and that’s their problem too. This is a dangerous precedent moment; the owners have enough power already, and an event like this has the potential to have them looking for contract loopholes, which could become very ugly in the future. If there’s no impact to the team, then the risk is not shared. In fact, a luxury tax hit is the only fair way to ensure these situations are handled in a fair and balanced fashion.
You make strong arguments. I’m just writing to those who don’t understand why it doesn’t count towards the luxury tax (I know you do, but I keep hearing from others why doesn’t it count. It’s cause he’s not on the roster).
They are better off paying the $61 million and getting rid of him. I’m sure they can do that, though I wonder if those milestone HR numbers would count towards it. I’d doubt it, but who knows. Financially, it is the smartest move for them, assuming he is “only” owed the $61 million and not the bonus money.
If a player not on the 40 man roster did not count for luxury tax purposes, a club could simply release the player and clear their obligation. I do not believe that is the case.
Payroll for luxury tax purposes is not the salary paid that season, but the average annual value of every contract on the books for major league players.
Even if he was released, they would still owe him the remainder of his contract (3 year/$61 million).
You’re right it is not the salary of that year , it is the AAV , but it is the AAV of the 40 man roster. However A-Rod with his suspension is now removed from the 40 man roster which is why it does not count towards the team payroll.
Whether or not it Should is someone’s own opinion. But that is the reason it doesn’t. In a totally different but similar example I provided above, it’s exactly why Bobby Bonillas salary is not counted towards the Mets payroll despite him having a contract with them as a player too. He was their highest paid OFer last year
I don’t know that they can remove him from the 40-man roster…I’ll have to check that. I would think they have to hold his spot as he remains under contract, suspended or not…and to remove him from the 40-man they’d have to DFA him and send him to the minors, officially, which is likely no risk as nobody would pick him up anyway.
No…it is only Yankee fanboys who are saying otherwise. Most people just ASSUMED that the other teams did have to pay them because that is the way it is in EVERY other sport. IT is only because Bud Selig was not a commissioner but an extra owner that baseball doesn’t have the same rules.
Again, only an idiot thinks that the Yankees were caught by surprise by any of this. OR that they had no idea about Pettitte, Clemens, Knoblauch, Cervelli…and several others. They knew, and should have to pay.
Whatever, Yankees got the salary relief and I for one am happy. Haters gonna hate, boo hoo.
Penalizing the team sounds great in theory, but there are several issues with it. The first is that counting it towards the luxury tax is just a slap at the handful of teams that potentially pay it, and not for the rest of the league. That’s unreasonable. Making the team pay the salary–maybe, but not to the player, even if it’s going to be donated. If MLB is serious about that plan, they there should be charities already designated, perhaps half nationwide, and half in the city the player plays in. But there’s a catch to all of this. We don’t have a perfect system for testing. So, if you are penalizing the team, it’s just a matter of random luck who gets caught, and therefore which team pays the penalty. That seems unjust as well.
I believe that the Yankees’ payroll for competitive balance tax purposes will be the recalculated average annual value using the reduced number for 2014, but they don’t get the full reduction in one season. They should get credit for an over payment in past seasons toward the actual tax paid for 2014.
So the charge for A Rod’s salary in 2014 will be $ 25,065,573.77
I am amazed that baseball lets the Yankees off the hook for the salary as it is. Baseball is the ONLY sport that does this. I always just assumed that they all did the same, which was to donate the salary to charity, and still count toward any salary cap.
The Yankees especially. There is NO WAY that no on in the Yankees front office, neither Papa Steinbrenner or Baby Boys Steinbrenner were caught by surprise over the last 15 years that a half a dozen TOP Yankee players were caught cheating, or admitted to cheating. Plus several more smaller names. No team has had nor admitted or proven cheaters than the Yankees and they should be penalized for it.
“I am amazed that baseball lets the Yankees off the hook for the salary as it is”
It’s no different than it previously was when Manny, Braun, Peralta, Cruz and all the others got suspended. Sorry dude, but if those teams didn’t have to pay their players when they were suspended, then the Yankees shouldn’t have to pay A-Rod. Doesn’t work that way nor should it.