Major League Baseball

How appealing is A-Rod's story? It's now his team's turn before arbitrator

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:45 p.m. ET

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Now it's A-Rod's turn at bat.

Alex Rodriguez's appeal of his 211-game suspension by Major League Baseball resumes Monday, a month after MLB had its chance to make its case before arbitrator Fredric Horowitz about issues related to the New York Yankees third baseman's alleged performance-enhancing drug use. The best legal team A-Rod's overpriced Yankees contract could buy now will try to show why he shouldn't be banned for nearly a season and a half.

The hearings are closed. Aww.

Media outlets are reporting that Rodriguez will testify and proclaim his innocence, but it's apparently not 100 percent that he'll do so. A-Rod on the stand may not be his best strategy.

Darren Heitner, a Philadelphia sports and entertainment attorney, told Newsday: "There's certainly a risk involved, a very, very large risk that Alex Rodriguez's testimony will be used against him."

The New York Post's Ken Davidoff wrote: "On the surface, A-Rod testifying sounds like an awful idea for him and a great one for MLB, whose attorneys would salivate at the chance to cross-examine the accused. A-Rod, to be kind, is not a good speaker, nor is he quick on his feet verbally."

As far as other parts of Team A-Rod's strategy, Davidoff wrote that it will be raising plenty of issues that don't directly address the did-he-or-didn't-he matter at hand.

"[Rodriguez's legal reps] often seem less interested in disproving MLB's case … and more invested in raising questions about the motives and actions of commissioner Bud Selig as well as his investigative team," he wrote in the Post.

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