KHIKS attorney Aaron Liskin was quoted by Law360.com in Pete Brush’s article on some of the effects, legal and otherwise, of Major League Baseball’s 211-game suspension of Yankee star Alex Rodriguez for his alleged use of illegal performance-enhancing substances.
While MLB Commissioner Bud Selig could have banned Rodriguez from the game for life under the “integrity” clause that is a part of every major league player’s contract, he opted for a more conservative approach that imposes a suspension running through the end of the 2014 season. By doing so, Selig avoided potential damaging legal precedents that could have arisen in litigation that would certainly have been brought by Rodriguez following a lifetime ban.
A second effect of the suspension rather than a permanent ban is that the Yankees won’t save quite as much money since they will have to resume paying Rodriguez in 2015. As Aaron noted, “If the entire contract is voided, it’s a huge favor to the Yankees,” who will owe the third baseman $61 million between 2015 and 2017.
Aaron added that Rodriguez “will show up in 2015 but he likely won’t have much impact.”
