by Amanda Malool
After 20 seasons in the MLB, Alex Rodriguez has been given a 162-game suspension, including the regular season and post-season, a decrease from the original 211-game suspension.
The three-time MVP was originally suspended for his repeated use of performance-enhancing drugs (PED), stemming back to the scandal at the Biogenesis clinic located in Florida. The clinic supplied steroids to Rodriguez and 12 other players, though the others’ suspensions were not nearly as long as his.
   Alex Rodriguez may have lost the battle but he doesn’t believe he’s lost the war. In a statement released on Jan. 11, he said, “I will continue to work hard to get back on the field and help the Yankees achieve the ultimate goal of winning another championship.”
Though he’ll turn 39 years old during the 2015 season, Rodriguez seems to be optimistic about his return to the league.
“At this point, he should be happy he’s allowed in the league,” said senior John Horre.
Rodriguez will be unable to play in other leagues, such as the Japanese, South Korean or Taiwanese leagues, since they all honor the MLB’s drug policy.
“Our players are supplied to us by the New York Yankees, so if they are suspended they cannot play with any affiliated teams, such as our own,” said Trenton Thunder Director of Public Relations Bill Cook. “He may be able to play in some independent leagues. As far as I know, even though he’s suspended, he still is under contract so he can’t play for anyone.”
The Somerset Patriots, located in Somerset, New Jersey, said that if Rodriguez became available for signing, the team’s answer would be “unequivocally no,” expecting that “all other teams within the Atlantic League [would] operate the same as allowing a suspended player to continue playing and representing any of our teams would be a damaging precedent.”
So what’s next for Alex Rodriguez? He’s heading to court, hoping to overturn arbitrator Fredric Horowitz’s decision. Because the decision was not “put before a fair and impartial jury, does not involve [Rodriguez] having failed a single drug test, is at odds with the facts 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,” according to Rodriguez’s statement.