Frank Franklin II/APAlex Rodriguez's heated arbitration battle with MLB over his 211-game suspension continues on Monday.
If this is really Alex Rodriguez 's big chance to finally tell his side of the story when the highly contentious arbitration battle over the 211-game suspension Major League Baseball leveled him with for violating its Joint Drug Agreement resumes Monday, then he has a lot of explaining to do. There are text messages, emails, phone records and the testimony of his drug dealer to overcome.
On his side, of course, is the fact that MLB does not have a positive drug test to base its suspension on, and he can try to convince arbitrator Fredric Horowitz that the aggressive investigative tactics MLB has used to build its historic case do not justify the means. He can also attempt to discredit his chief accuser, Biogenesis owner-turned-chief-MLB witness Anthony Bosch, who is said to have provided him with multiple banned substances over a three-year period from 2010-2012.
In the courts and the media, A-Rod's representatives have attempted to rally back against the torrent of evidence by launching attacks on MLB's investigation into Bosch's anti-aging clinic, and deflecting attention from the actual claims in the suspension.
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When the hearing resumes Monday, they will take those arguments to Horowitz. Rodriguez is expected to accompany his legal team to MLB's Park Avenue offices as it opens the first day of his defense, although it is unclear if, and when, Team A-Rod would actually put the player on the stand. Because Rodriguez missed a scheduled interview with MLB on Friday - according to the Joint Drug Agreement, MLB has the right to interview him before he testifies - Horowitz will now determine when that testimony would occur.
Rodriguez is believed to have submitted an extensive witness list to Horowitz, who will determine if those witnesses, including commissioner Bud Selig, are relevant to the case. The arbitration is scheduled to run through this weekend and into next week; a ruling would not come for several weeks after the hearing concludes.
Rodriguez's defense is expected to center primarily on the lack of a positive test during the three years he is accused of violating the policy - he tested positive in
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MLB's survey testing year in 2003 and reportedly tested positive for amphetamines in 2006, although under baseball's policy a first positive for amphetamines does not result in a suspension and is not made public - and on baseball's investigative methods and focus on A-Rod.
Rodriguez has denied using banned substances at all from 2010-2012, and has described Bosch, who was baseball's chief witness during the hearing, as a 'consultant.' His lawyers, who include New York defense attorney Joe Tacopina - who is involved in closing arguments in a separate trial and may not be present Monday - sports law expert David Cornwell and attorneys from the firm of Reed Smith, have accused baseball of buying stolen documents that once belonged to Bosch and using them to hit A-Rod with an unfair punishment.
After ESPN reported last week that MLB's purchase of the documents hampered a Florida Department of Health investigation into Bosch, Rodriguez lawyer Jordan Siev issued a statement attacking Selig and saying the report 'confirms what Mr. Rodriguez alleged in his lawsuit against MLB and commissioner Selig over a month ago - that MLB investigators knowingly purchased stolen documents in their quest to allow commissioner Selig to act, for the first time, as if he was tough on PED use in baseball despite striking a cooperation deal with Anthony Bosch, who MLB knows is under federal investigationfor providing steroids to minors.'
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The Florida Department of Health, saying its punishment was consistent with the remedies available, fined Bosch $5,000 and banned him from misrepresenting himself as a doctor at about the same time a federal investigation into Bosch was launched. That investigation continues.
MLB responded to ESPN's report with a statement, saying, 'The truth continues to be that we did not knowingly purchase stolen documents and there is an active police investigation to determine if the documents were in fact stolen.'
The Daily News reported earlier this month that one of the men responsible for selling the documents to MLB, Gary Jones, had signed an affidavit for Rodriguez's team saying he told MLB investigators the documents they were buying were stolen, a claim that contradicted his previous statement to police that he had not stolen the documents and was not part of a break-in of the car that held them.
According to a source familiar with the arbitration case, Rodriguez's representatives wired $200,000 into Jones' bank account the same day he signed the affidavit, an amount they have said was for the purchase of a videotape of the transaction between MLB and Jones, although they have not made that video public.
As to the charge that MLB bought the documents to zero in on Rodriguez, the league is expected to point out that when investigators bought them last spring, they were targeting at least 20 players they believed were linked to Bosch and Biogenesis, not just Rodriguez. Ultimately, 12 players accepted 50-game bans for violating the drug agreement, while Milwaukee Brewer Ryan Braun accepted a 65-game ban. Rodriguez is the only player who appealed.
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