Lifetime suspension for A-Rod would let Yankees off the hook

MLB should NOT suspend Alex Rodriguez for life, as has been rumored.

Hang on before you crucify me….I believe my reasoning is solid.

First, a little background: only two players have ever been suspended for life by MLB. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson was suspended for being a part of the 1919 Chicago White Sox who threw the World Series due to the influence of gamblers. Jackson was the best player on the “Black Sox,” as they have been called since, and therefore was the most publicized, even though his actual involvement was never clearly known.

The second, of course, is Pete Rose, who essentially broke the same rule that has been in effect since 1920, gambling on baseball, and then lied about it from the time he accepted his lifetime ban until he had a book to sell. As you can probably tell, I’m not a fan of Mr. Rose. And the fact that he signs autographs down the street from the Hall of Fame every Induction Weekend brings a big smile to my face, let me tell you. But that’s a story for another day…

Now, back to A-Roid. He, along with “Lyin” Braun, are the two poster children for the Biogenesis scandal. Braun has already accepted his punishment, a 65-game suspension covering the rest of the 2013 season. Once that is over and the 2014 season starts, he gets to settle into his nice $100 million dollar contract. Rodriquez intends to fight MLB, kicking and screaming all the way, for the very simple reason that he wants his money – specifically, the $114 million owed to him by the Yankees.

And finally to the reason why I want to keep A-Roid around – he and the Yankees deserve each other. The team that personifies overspending, greed, and narcissism deserves the player that personifies greed and narcissism. No one loves A-Rod more than A-Rod, and no franchise seems cockier than the Yankees. It’s been a match made in heaven since he arrived in New York. The last few months of verbal jousting between Rodriquez and Brian Cashman has been, for me, like a fender bender on I-95 that you just cannot resist the urge to rubber neck to look at.

So, I say suspend the guy, for the remainder of this season and the entirety of the 2014 season. Then, let him come back and play. If nothing else we get to see how far he has fallen from his PED-enhanced glory days. But keep him in the game; I don’t want to see MLB absolve the Yankees of their fiscal responsibility.