Yesterday the New York Daily News reported that A-Rod and Major League Baseball were discussing a plea deal that would land him a 150-game suspension in lieu of gambling over a potential lifetime ban in the event he took an appeal of any Biogenesis-related discipline to arbitration. The report described a shaken A-Rod following his meeting with Major League Baseball on Friday.
Later in the day, however, his team denied the report:
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We?re into he-said, he-said land. Or he-said, he-didn?t-say. It?s pretty impossible to know what?s really going on here given all of the agendas at play. MLB is obviously getting tough and is trying to send messages, but they also want to be seen being tough and sending a message, so it may lend itself to leaks and reports that aren?t exactly on the mark. Meanwhile, A-Rod and other players want to defend themselves ? and to be seen as defending themselves so that maybe players don?t think they?re wavering ? but they could still be trying to mitigate the fallout if MLB?s case against them is strong.
The most significant thing about plea deal talk? The idea that there can be plea deals in the context of a drug testing/punishment regime that is supposed to be an exercise in zero-tolerance and mechanical justice. A program that isn?t supposed to be about negotiation and leverage because such things introduce uncertainty into a program that isn?t supposed to carry any, by design.
Maybe the unique circumstances of the Biogenesis case necessitate that. But I feel like baseball?s drug program is going to be permanently affected by what transpires before this is all said and done.
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