MLB Releases Statement, Denies Allegations in Alex Rodriguez Lawsuit

Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

Major League Baseball has released an official statement in response to the lawsuit filed in court Thursday evening by Alex Rodriguez and his legal team. The league has completely denied all of the allegations within Rodriguez’s suit, as expected. The release reads as follows:

"For the more than four decades that we have had a collective bargaining relationship with the Major League Baseball Players Association, every player and club dispute has gone through the jointly agreed upon grievance process. This lawsuit is a clear violation of the confidentiality provisions of our drug program, and it is nothing more than a desperate attempt to circumvent the Collective Bargaining Agreement.While we vehemently deny the allegations in the complain, none of these allegations is relevant to the real issue: whether Mr. Rodriguez violated the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program by using and possessing numerous forms of prohibited performance enhancing substances, including Testosterone and human Growth Hormone, over the course of multiple years and whether he violated the Basic Agreement by attempting to cover-up his violations of the Program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the Commissioner’s investigation."

Rodriguez received a 211 game suspension by Major League Baseball – a figure which at the time represented the remainder of the 2013 season and the entirety of the 2014 campaign. Rodriguez is the only one who received a suspension in connection with the BioGenesis Clinic who is appealing the ruling and it’s become clear that he’s going to take down anyone that he can along the way. He’s already been convicted in the court of public opinion, regardless of the fact that we have yet to see the results of a failed drug test and we’ve yet to hear an admission from Rodriguez himself.

He has a history of use that we’re all aware of, stemming back to his days with the Texas Rangers that culminated in a teary-eyed but never suspension-resulting press conference during Spring Training with the New York Yankees.

Rodriguez could have been considered among the greatest players in baseball history if it hadn’t been for the cloud surrounding him due to his ties to PED use and the stigma that became a part of him thanks to the albatross-like contract he’s yet to play up to.  Instead, the actions of a player likely facing the end of his career – because at best he’s still potentially facing the prospect of missing the entire 2014 season if the arbitrator reviewing his appeal elects to reduce his sentence at where he’ll be 39 this time next year there is no way to know how he’ll hold up physically with a year on the sidelines – are becoming a disappointing end to Rodriguez’s legacy.