A-Roid Update, and the kinds of things that what he's been involved with MAY imply...

It appears as if we will know how Bud Selig will attempt to proceed on Alex Rodriguez in the next few days.

The AP, through ABC News, has reported that Selig will probably try to suspend Rodriguez through the Collective Bargaining Agreement, meaning his suspension is for more than just using performance-enhancing drugs.

In the report, the AP/ABC News reports:

• Numerous "charges" are going to be levied on Alex.  They include:  Obstruction of the investigation, lying in the investigation, and the open recruitment of players to Biogenesis.
• As a result, Selig may attempt to suspend Rodriguez for those offenses, which might open the door to an additional suspension for PED use later on.

And, yes, ESPN had to weigh in on it:

Much to the disgust of some, I include this for several key points of discussion:

• I find Smith's admission as to the culpability of MLB franchises in the perpetuation of the Steroid Era shocking, for it cuts right to the heart of one of ESPN's money franchises.  Yet, he does not believe MLB itself is so culpable.  For the record, I believe both MLB and the MLBPA could be actionable under the RICO Act for the stuff allowed during the Steroid Era.
• Though I disagree on the equivalence that Smith gives between A-Rod's situation and Ryan Braun's, I do actually see a point he makes:  Whatever punishment A-Rod gets, Smith does not want it to be a Get Out of Jail Free card for the Yankees.  I actually see that argument.
• Skip Clueless (Bayless) actually, for the first time, appears to make a valid point on what will and probably eventually will happen to A-Rod.  I agree that I believe Selig will go for the Disqualified List for Rodriguez -- a life ban.  I believe (and I'll explain why below) this should've happened two years ago for Rodriguez's ties to an illegal poker ring which led to 30 arrests in April, 2013.  Apparently, Russian gangsters and cocaine were involved!
• However, it's clear A-Rod would challenge such a punishment, and the word I've been hearing is the same Skip says eventually will happen -- rest of this year, all of next, career effectively over anyway.

I've been doing quite a bit of thinking over the course of the last couple of days, as we await the word on the suspension.

And a lot of it centers around that we know that the only entity Alex Rodriguez ever was playing for was...  Alex Rodriguez.

Let's put some facts together:

• We know that both A-Rod and Jason Giambi admitted to PED use in the years 2001-2003.
• Major League Baseball was actually cautioning Rodriguez to steer clear of such poker games as far back as 2005!  (Source:  Time Magazine)
• The poker games in New York (which went all the way into 2013) were "A-list" and "high-stakes" affairs.

Where am I going with this?

Somewhere which, if eventually proven true, would make Shoeless Joe Jackson look sane.

I'm going to forward a theory.  Yes, probably a conspiracy theory.

But if it's right, it would explain a lot of things, including what kinds of things are going on with some very compromise-able athletes.

Let's take a look at the 2004 ALCS, the classic "first ever comeback from 3-0 down" series.

A-Rod was 8/31, 2 doubles, 2 homers, 5 runs batted in.

Giambi, recovering from a benign tumor (related to his PED use, perhaps?), did not play.

I hearken back to Stephen A. Smith effectively accusing the New York Yankees franchise of turning the other way on PED use for the benefit of their team.

But it wasn't until 2009 (the one Yankees championship they got for the ~$2,000,000,000 they've spent the last decade, according to Smith) that Rodriguez seemed to finally shed the choker label.

So it makes one ask the question that I seem to be the only one who still asks, at least of those who write things:

Am I the only person who recalls the A-Rod poker investigation, and openly wonders why it got swept under the rug so quickly?

Especially on the latter, I do begin to wonder if it's because he wasn't the only Yankee involved in it!

The only reason that people knew about A-Rod's poker habits was that it was getting press in the likes of Star Magazine (which the Time article, linked above, referenced).

What if he wasn't the only Yankee playing, and it was 2004, and people were losing to the likes of these Russians who were running the games?

We already know of at least two Yankees who were on performance-enhancing drugs.

What if that entire 3-0 -> 4-3 situation was a manipulation because of the conduct of not only Rodriguez, but of a number of other compromise-able New York Yankees?

We may well never know the truth (because no one would dare say it -- no one dares piss off the Russian mob, and it's a Federal crime anyway), but it is the kind of thing that A-Rod's conduct does bring into the equation.