What's Next For A-Rod?

So reality finally has hit Alex Rodriguez, who on Friday dropped all the lawsuits, said he will not attend Yankees spring training, and ended this long running farce.

Alex Rodriguez has accepted ruling of an independent, impartial arbitrator and will miss the entire 2014 season for violating the Major League Baseball Joint Drug Agreement and obstructing baseball's investigation into Biogenesis.

It's the first smart decision A-Rod has made since, since ... well, let's just say a long, long time.

Finally, everyone can move on. The Yankees, Major League Baseball, the players union, the players, and even Rodriguez himself.

The Biogenesis sage is over, even if the PED era clearly isn't.

So what's next for A-Rod?

The A-Rod Error Should Be Over

Major League Baseball did over-reach when it suspended Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez for 211 games ... but not by much.

On Saturday, arbitrator Frederic Horowitz finally issued his ruling of A-Rod's appeal of baseball's ban for PED use and cut the penalty to the entire 2014 season, including the playoffs.

Rodriguez, as expected, is crying foul, saying in a statement that the ban didn't come as a surprise and the deck had been stacked against him. He added that he will seek an injunction and jury trial, though it is highly unlikely either will ever happen, according to ESPN legal analyst Lester Munson. Basically, short of being able to show that Horowitz engaged in any sort of misconduct, Rodriguez is highly unlikely to convince the courts to review an arbitration decision. Horowitz's ruling itself also has not yet been released, but could be made public if A-Rod follows through on his threat to seek and injunction.

Yes, there are questions about baseball's investigation and evidence, but we should learn more about that Sunday on "60 Minutes," which will have an interview with Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch. I'll hold off on commented on the evidence against Rodriguez until I see the piece, though I expect that based on Horowitz's decision, MLB had A-Rod dead to rights.

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Wondering where it all went wrong, Alex? Start with PEDs.

So unless Rodriguez's legal team delivers a Hail Mary, A-Rod's 2014 baseball season is over. And the Yankees should make sure his time with them is over as well.

Emails Don't Clear A-Rod, But Put Levine In Hot Seat

None of it exonerates Alex Rodriguez. None of it takes the Yankees' embattled slugger off the hook. None of it makes A-Rod look any better.

The only thing it does is raise serious questions about Yankees president Randy Levine.

Over the weekend, New York magazine published a series of email exchanges between Rodriguez and Levine. It is fascinating reading, but lacking in anything close to clearing A-Rod.

During the climax of the arbitration hearing in front of arbitrator Fredric Horowitz in November, Rodriguez stormed out the hearing and his legal and public relations team then threatened show everything it had to the public. Among the things they said they were going to show was a series of email exchanges with Levine.

While we don't know for sure that these emails were leaked by Team A-Rod, if these are the messages Rodriguez wanted to make public, then he needs better representation.

Simply put, there is nothing there to show that A-Rod was not using performance enhancing drugs. There is nothing there to show A-Rod is the victim of a witch hunt. There is nothing there to show that A-Rod is a victim of anyone besides himself.

If anything, these emails would have been better served as leverage to gain some sort of plea bargain with MLB for a reduced suspension.

Enough Already, A-Rod!

I am no fan of Alex Rodriguez. I never have been and I never will be. He's arrogant, self-centered, oblivious and phony.

That said, I've tried to be fair with him. Afterall, most things and people are rarely all good or all bad. Truth is rarely black or white. So when A-Rod deserved praise, I didn't hesitate.

A-Rod, however, was way out of line on Wednesday when he stormed out of an arbitration hearing after arbitrator Frederic Horowitz ruled that commissioner Bud Selig did not have to testify. Rodriguez described the process as disgusting. He behaved like a spoiled, petulant brat and did nothing to help his cause. And I find it highly unlikely that releasing the hearing's evidence, as A-Rod's attorneys said on Thursday they would do, will help help the third baseman's cause.

Simply put, it's time for Rodriguez to put an end to this circus. Enough already.