What the three way trade between the Red Sox, White Sox and Tigers tells me...

[Mr. Happy]

Clearly, Boston was looking to upgrade their starting rotation by landing Peavy, which is obvious, but it also may mean that the Phillies' price for Cliff Lee (rumored to be SS Xander Bogaerts) was just too high, so they must be planning for him to start next season at SS instead of Stephen Drew. However, it seems equally obvious is that the Tigers, by acquiring SS-3B Jose Inglesias, are well expecting Jhonny Peralta to be suspended for at least part of next season due to cheating and don't want to go out and have to acquire a free agent SS in the off-season because the AAA shortstop for the Toledo Mudhens, Argenis Diaz, is not considered a real prospect in the mix for next season.

[MusicMan]

However, it seems equally obvious is that the Tigers, by acquiring SS-3B Jose Inglesias, are well expecting Jhonny Peralta to be suspended for at least part of next season due to cheating and don't want to go out and have to acquire a free agent SS in the off-season because the AAA shortstop for the Toledo Mudhens, Argenis Diaz, is not considered a real prospect in the mix for next season.
[/quote]

Actually, they're expecting him to be suspended THIS season.  Apparently all of the Biogenesis players have agreed to a 50 game suspension, no appeal - EXCEPT for A-Rod.

[Limey]

Actually, they're expecting him to be suspended THIS season.  Apparently all of the Biogenesis players have agreed to a 50 game suspension, no appeal - EXCEPT for A-Rod.

Link

One player who won’t accept a suspension: New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who continues to hold out despite threats from Major League Baseball to ban him permanently from the game.

He's an off-the-charts arrogant douchebag, but I cannot believe that he is going to cough up the balance of his contract in a pathetic attempt to clear his name of an offense that everyone believes he committed.  Plus, he's a different case to many other players, in that he is being accused of recruiting customers for Biogenesis, which suggests that he should take the 50 games and run before they tag him with something worse.

Pass the popcorn...

[Reuben]

I think they aren't offering A-Rod the 50-game option. They're pegging him with at least 150.

[austro]

I think they aren't offering A-Rod the 50-game option. They're pegging him with at least 150.

Yeah, that's my impression, too. He can take the 150 with no appeal, or he can appeal and risk a life-time ban. I would take a lot more pleasure from that if it didn't mean that the Yankees were going to be delivered from one of the most idiotic contract decisions in history.

[Mr. Happy]

However, it seems equally obvious is that the Tigers, by acquiring SS-3B Jose Inglesias, are well expecting Jhonny Peralta to be suspended for at least part of next season due to cheating and don't want to go out and have to acquire a free agent SS in the off-season because the AAA shortstop for the Toledo Mudhens, Argenis Diaz, is not considered a real prospect in the mix for next season.


Actually, they're expecting him to be suspended THIS season.  Apparently all of the Biogenesis players have agreed to a 50 game suspension, no appeal - EXCEPT for A-Rod.

I hadn't heard that about the current season suspensions. The Detroit/Toledo press fully expect Peralta to appeal any suspension for this season. They must be wrong. Hence, the urgency to obtain Inglesias.

[SM_Bobcat]

Yeah, that's my impression, too. He can take the 150 with no appeal, or he can appeal and risk a life-time ban. I would take a lot more pleasure from that if it didn't mean that the Yankees were going to be delivered from one of the most idiotic contract decisions in history.

That is my only problem with the lifetime ban for A-Rod....  The Yankees's don't have to deal with the stupid contract that they gave him, and get exactly what they want....

[Limey]

Yeah, that's my impression, too. He can take the 150 with no appeal, or he can appeal and risk a life-time ban. I would take a lot more pleasure from that if it didn't mean that the Yankees were going to be delivered from one of the most idiotic contract decisions in history.

Bingo!  Millionaires fighting billionaires over money rarely has a "winner" for us regular peeps.  A-Rod never playing again and the Yankees having to fulfill their salary obligations to him is about as close to a win as it gets here.

[Duman]

I find the timing of the suspension announcements right after the trade deadline to be very convenient for the owners. They are allowing teams acquire players to fill the holes created by suspensions before suspending the players. 

So they can benefit from a player using PEDs and then can use the trade deadline to mitigate the impact of the loss of a player by knowing a suspension is coming.   

[Limey]

Alex Rodriguez Has Asked 4 In 5 Americans For Steroids

“Oh, A-Rod? Yeah, he came up to my friends and I at the gym a few weeks ago and asked if we had any HGH,” said 36-year-old Columbia, MD accountant Daniel Caballero, one of approximately 250 million Americans whom Rodriguez has discreetly petitioned for performance-enhancing drugs on at least one occasion.

[MusicMan]

I feel left out.  I didn't recommend Trident, either.

[Limey]

I feel left out.  I didn't recommend Trident, either.

Did he at least ask you for clean piss?

According to numerous sources, Rodriguez has also requested clean urine samples from an overwhelming majority of the U.S. populace, including 29-year-old Pittsburgh financial analyst Jennifer Pratt in 1999, Denver-based retiree Martin Nedari in 2006, and Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig in 2011.

[BlownRanger]

Link

He's an off-the-charts arrogant douchebag, but I cannot believe that he is going to cough up the balance of his contract in a pathetic attempt to clear his name of an offense that everyone believes he committed.  Plus, he's a different case to many other players, in that he is being accused of recruiting customers for Biogenesis, which suggests that he should take the 50 games and run before they tag him with something worse.

Pass the popcorn...

You wonder what the hell he's thinking, but we're talking about a guy that dated Madonna and probably has Johnny Depp on speed-dial.  For years he's been rubbing elbows with people who are convinced their money and/or influence can get them out of ANY situation and he's probably seen it happen many times.

[Limey]

You wonder what the hell he's thinking, but we're talking about a guy that dated Madonna and probably has Johnny Depp on speed-dial.  For years he's been rubbing elbows with people who are convinced their money and/or influence can get them out of ANY situation and he's probably seen it happen many times.

A-Rod has done it many times.  Prior steroid admissions, shouting "I got it!", slapping the ball out of a fielder's glove are just a few of his baseball-related sins that went unpunished.

He employs a cadre of lawyers, so it will be interesting if he believes that he is better off not accepting the punishment and thereby tacitly admitting guilt.  If they kick him out of baseball (he'll probably never play again either way as his suspension is tantamount to a life sentence for a 39-year old) he is then free to sue the Janquis for the $100mm they'll owe him but try to avoid paying him.  FYB might not want to have that fight played out in public, so this could be a genius strategy.

He's daring Bud to kick him out of baseball because, it that happens, he'll drag this whole unseemly affair into public court.  I believe this strategy should be called "Fuck You, Bud!"

Or Bud just gets the Yankees to pay him to STFU.  There's not many outs for MLB, and lots of winning scenarios for A-Rod.

[Lefty]

Did he at least ask you for clean piss?

How many of us would *you* trust?  Residuals and all....