HOUSTON — The days of baseball players blindly pledging union solidarity in the face of common sense are gone.
Or at least they are when the “brother” in question is Alex Rodriguez.
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The Biogenesis suspensions finally came down Monday and only one of the 13 players punished is refusing to go quietly. That man is, of course, Rodriguez, who long ago ceded his once-mythical A-Rod sobriquet to less flattering variations like A-Fraud or A-Roid.
Rodriguez was suspended through the end of the 2014 season, but the New York Yankees third baseman won’t begin serving his time immediately.
Needless to say, this does not sit well with his opponents, especially multiple members of the Red Sox.
Take Jonny Gomes, a heart-and-soul kind of player. The outfielder was asked if it’s fair that Rodriguez is taking the field.
“I don’t think so, to tell you the truth,” Gomes said. “I can’t imagine being the pitcher, just knowing this guy is on or has done steroids. That’s not an equal battle right there. I don’t know how that would really work out. Good thing I don’t pitch. It doesn’t make much sense that he’s still playing.”
While there is certainly a fair question to be asked about due process — can it really be called an appeal if the looming suspension has already been announced? — players don’t seem interested in pondering it on behalf of Rodriguez.
“I don’t know enough details about the specific instance to speak insightfully on that,” said reliever Craig Breslow, the Sox’s assistant union rep. “Certainly, any time you deal with something like this, you walk the line of the need for some kind of appeals process, that every voice needs to be heard. But at this time, given the circumstances, it seems like a pretty uncomfortable situation.”
If there’s one thing the players agreed on to a man, it’s that this was a good day for the game, even if it meant 50-game suspensions for standout players like Texas Rangers All-Star right fielder Nelson Cruz or Detroit Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta, who beat the Red Sox with a walkoff homer earlier this season.
And it’s been a very good season so far for the Red Sox, who continue to hold their lead in the American League Eastern Division. In Tuesday night’s 15-10 victory over the Houston Astros, Jacoby Ellsbury homered twice and Gomes added a three-run shot in the come-from-behind win.
“I saw some people saying it’s kind of a sad day in baseball. I don’t think it’s a sad day in baseball,” Gomes said. “There are two ways to look at it: It shows the testing policy is working but it shows guys are still willing to take the chance. Maybe the risk and reward of doing steroids and the suspension might have to get picked up if guys are still wiling to take the risk. It’s a really selfish act.”
While Breslow is happy to see the game take another step toward eliminating cheaters, he’s also concerned about the nature of the way most of the Biogenesis players were caught — because Tony Bosch kept detailed records, not because they failed a test.
“Anytime you can acknowledge the existence of cheaters, and you’re able to identify and suspend them, that’s a good thing,” Breslow said. “The deeper question is how effective our testing policy is. How many of these guys would have been caught otherwise?
“I don’t want to discredit our testing policy, because it has been as effective or more effective than other policies in other sports, but that said, the number of guys caught was only four out of 20 guys indicted. That’s 20 percent. I don’t think that’s good enough.”
One of the players caught was Rodriguez. Should A-Rod somehow still be playing when the Yankees visit Fenway Park next week, starter Ryan Dempster isn’t going to get too worked up over it.
“I just worry about winning the game,” Dempster said. “Whatever he has to deal with, he can deal with. Those are Alex’ problems.”
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