If Major League Baseball despised Alex Rodriguez for his past scandals of steroid use, they are not going to be very happy that the slugger is now suing them. ARod countered the MLB’s ongoing case against him that he used steroids by bringing a lawsuit against them. Lawyers for ARod brought the lawsuit to the State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Thursday. The ARod legal team is accusing that Major League Baseball engaged in “tortious interference,” towards Rodriguez’s existing contracts and future business relationships. The suit also claims that the MLB bought Biogenesis PED clinic head, Anthony Bosch’s testimony and documents. Rodriguez’s lawyers state that an investigator gave a bag containing $150,000 in cash to Bosch at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla. restaurant for ARod’s records from the now-closed clinic. The initial story is that the records were stolen from the clinic. Rodriguez’s lawyers also claim that the MLB has paid Bosch a total of $5 million in monthly installments “to buy his cooperation.” The suit in which named MLB commissioner Bud Selig as a defendant, claims that Bosch was also promised to pay his legal fees and indemnify him from civil liability stemming from the case. The legal team has deemed that baseball has gone on vindictive “witch hunt” to force him out of the sport. What the suit fails to address is whether or not Rodriguez used banned substances.
Rodriguez addressed the situation with this statement:
The entire legal dynamic is very complex, and my legal team is doing what they need to in order to vindicate me and pursue all of my rights. This matter is entirely separate from the ongoing arbitration. I look forward to the arbitration proceedings continuing, and for the day to come when I can share my story with the public and my supporters.”
This legal attack comes days after the arbitration over Rodriguez’s 211-game baseball ban began. The New York Yankees have not addressed the lawsuit and would be very pleased to see ARod banned from baseball and unshackling them from the $86 million on the remainder of his enormous contract.