Major League Baseball finally handed out those suspensions related to the Biogenesis clinic scandal, and all but one player has accepted his suspension.
And, of course, that is Alex Rodriguez.
The Yankees played in Chicago yesterday, and of course, they lost, this time to the White Sox.
But let's face it, the game wasn't really that important yesterday.
What was important was that Alex Rodriguez was banned for 211 games, and yet, he was able to play in the game yesterday.
How is that possible?
Rodriguez did not accept baseball's ruling, and is ready to file an appeal.
He has three days to do so.
Once, he files an appeal, until that appeal is heard, he can play baseball.
Simple as that.
But according to those who were at the game yesterday, Rodriguez has become the main attraction in a very, very sad three ring circus that is the current state of the New York Yankees.
They are an awful team, poorly put together even before the rash of injuries killed their chances for this season before it even started.
Rodriguez, with his combatant stance, has only added to the misery of one of the worst seasons in Yankees history.
Why is he filing this appeal?
I really couldn't figure it out, either, but then I thought about it.
The penalty he has been given--more than 200 games--would stretch through the 2014 season, banning him until 2015.
At age 38, I think he can see the light at the end of the tunnel, anyway.
Even though he has a huge contract that runs several more years, Rodriguez sees the end of his career in sight.
The appeal was filed so it can lessen the number of games that he is suspended.
He has never said he didn't use performance enhancing drugs (PED), and he readily admitted using them early in his career.
But this case has to do with what he has done recently, and he has yet to say that he didn't use them.
Thus, the only reason for the appeal is that he believes the penalty handed down is way too harsh.
What does he want to get it down to--200, 150, 100, 50 ... that is anyone's guess.
But you just know that this will all come out in the wash.
If his appeal fails, these last games of the 2013 season will be his final games as a Major League player.
I guess he can go to Japan, if he wants, or play in the minor leagues, probably an independent league not affiliated with Major League Baseball.
But he will be done, for good, if his appeal fails.
Finally, let me tell you about Alex Rodriguez, the athlete that I have watched for the past 20 years.
When this guy came up with the Seattle Mariners, he could do it all.
He had the perfect build for a player, and his skills were way beyond those that any 18 year old I have ever seen had.
He could do it all, and he has proven that throughout his career.
Why a guy like this thought he needed PEDs is beyond me, but such a naturally gifted athlete shouldn't even think of such things.
And now we have this, this circus revolving around him.
What a shame it all is, isn't it?
And as an aside, I have to ask the question that no one else is asking?
Why, with the exception of Ryan Braun, are all the players who have been banned of Hispanic origin?
Sure, the clinic was in Florida, which, of course, is a state with a high level of Hispanic population, but is it simply coincidence that all of those banned have Hispanic roots?
Is it in the culture? Is it easy to get these drugs overseas in their home countries (if they are not American born)?
What is it that is driving so many Hispanic players to be using these drugs?
That is clearly something that Major League Baseball is going to have to sort out, too, because if they don't do it, they are only fighting maybe half the battle.
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