Alex Rodriguez Suspended for the Entire 2014 MLB Season (@arod)

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez will be suspended for the entire 2014 season, as an independent arbitrator upheld the majority of a 211-game suspension Major League Baseball assessed him in August. It is reported that Saturday’s ruling will cost Rodriguez $25 million in salary and casts considerable doubt over the All-Star’s overall career as a baseball player. Rodriguez will turn 40 during the 2015 season.

Rodriguez, who was involved in a yearlong Biogenesis scandal, said in a statement released Saturday morning that he will pursue appealing the ruling in federal court. “The number of games sadly comes as no surprise, as the deck has been stacked against me from day one,” he said. “This is one man’s decision, that was not put before a fair and impartial jury, does not involve me having failed a single drug test, is at odds with the facts and is inconsistent with the terms of the Joint Drug Agreement and the Basic Agreement, and relies on testimony and documents that would never have been allowed in any court in the United States because they are false and wholly unreliable.”

Rodriguez continued, defending himself and insisting he did not use any PEDs, “I have been clear that I did not use performance enhancing substances as alleged in the notice of discipline, or violate the Basic Agreement or the Joint Drug Agreement in any manner, and in order to prove it I will take this fight to federal court. I am confident that when a Federal Judge reviews the entirety of the record, the hearsay testimony of a criminal whose own records demonstrate that he dealt drugs to minors, and the lack of credible evidence put forth by MLB, that the judge will find that the panel blatantly disregarded the law and facts, and will overturn the suspension.”

The three-time American League MVP was biggest name linked last year to Biogenesis.

Source: ESPN