Monday, January 13, 2014

So About That "60 Minutes" Bit Last Night...

If you missed it, "60 Minutes" devoted over half their show last night to the Alex Rodriguez suspension, trotting out Anthony Bosch, Bud Selig, Rob Manfred, and Joe Tacopina to give their versions of everything that's gone down in this case and basically pile on A-Rod a little more.  The reactions to the piece were quick and emotional, with the MLBPA issuing this statement:

“It is unfortunate that Major League Baseball apparently lacks faith in the integrity and finality of the arbitrator’s decision and our Joint Drug Agreement, such that it could not resist the temptation to publicly pile-on against Alex Rodriguez. It is equally troubling that the MLB-appointed Panel Arbitrator will himself be appearing in the “60 Minutes” segment, and that Tony Bosch, MLB’s principal witness, is appearing on the program with MLB’s blessing."

MLB, always quick to cover its own ass, followed up with a statement of its own:

“We have notified the Major League Baseball Players Association on numerous occasions that we intended to respond to all of the attacks on the integrity of our Joint Drug Program. Those attacks continued yet again yesterday with Mr. Rodriguez’s statement. Out of respect to the grievance process and at the request of the MLBPA, we waited until a decision was rendered to make our response."

There's more to each statement but the general theme is pretty clear.  The players union is pissed that MLB decided to take this public and allow statements to be made that make them all look bad after they stayed out of the way of the A-Rod arbitration hearing and said they respected the process.  MLB is pissed that the players made their frustrations public and now everything is public, everybody is pissed, and this circus is no closer to ending than it was when the story first broke last year.

This whole thing is so tiresome and stupid.  I want to say I really can't wait for pitchers and catchers to report to push this to the back burner, but with A-Rod planning to attend Yankee ST I don't think that's going to happen.

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