AROD TO SELIG: "WE'RE LETTING IT ALL HANG OUT"

When Alex Rodriguez walked out of the arbitration hearing on Wednesday, he was not playing any games. He made it abundantly clear that he wanted one thing. For Bud Selig to sit in the court room, and testify. For the man responsible for his seemingly outrageous 211 game suspension to face him, and explain why he should have to serve that many games.

It's a simple request, right? Selig is responsible for all of this. ARod ask that he take the stand on Thursday, and would be willing to do the same on Friday. The same Commissioner that turned a blind eye on steroids for years now wants to save face, by going after the one player everyone loves to hate. You would have to be blind not to see that those were his intentions. Hell, even ARod sees it. Of course Selig wouldn't want to testify! It would bring up too many questions about the ethics, and legality of the investigation, as well as to why he chose now to clean up the sport. But ARod is not having any cowardice.

As the arbitration hearings came to a close on Thursday, ARod's attorney have made it clear that they will be releasing all evidence to the press. According to ESPN (HERE) Jim McCarroll, one of ARod's attorney's believes that the information they are making public is not only important to the case, but important enough to make it public knowledge. "A source with knowledge of the case told ESPNNewYork.com that the decision to go public with evidence that is supposed to be kept private under the confidentiality agreement is a sign that Rodriguez's side 'doesn't give a damn what Horowitz rules. They're taking this to the next level. They're like, Go ahead, make your ruling, and we're going to move on."

This entire thing resembles a damn soap opera. Why would Fredric Horowitz rule that Selig should not have to testify? Love ARod or hate him, he has a point. Selig should have to testify. Or have we forgotten Bonds and McGwire? Under the Joint Drug Agreement, 211 games suspension for a first time offender is unheard of. And regardless of your personal opinions on ARod that is what he is considered. This process smells of bull crap! It does seem like it has been set up to see the player fail. Especially when you deny them the opportunity to question someone that should be a star witness for both sides. The fact that ARod's team is releasing this information proves that they have lost faith in the process.

The hearings will continue, and we can hope that both sides will present their closing arguments soon. Horowitz will then have 25 days to either overturn, reduce, or uphold the suspension. And for those fans that want to debate that ARod just had a temper tantrum, I am not the only one that believes he was justified in his actions. Mariano Rivera weighed in on ARod's outburst by saying "He has the right to defend himself. I would have done it, too. Everybody has to defend themselves. We're still human beings." I will not proclaim ARod's innocence because I don't know if he is. But I also do not know if he is guilty. What I do know is that the MLB, Selig, and Rob Manfred are all showing their true colors with this.

If you want to read up on ARod's opinion on this matter, be sure to read Casey's piece "HEY JUNIOR, RIGHT HERE!" As always, BYB will continue bringing all the ARod vs MLB updates.

--Erica Morales BYB Senior Writer
Twitter: @e_morales1804




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