Alex Rodriguez says he and his legal team 'crushed it'
Alex Rodriguez is pleased with the way his legal team fought Major League Baseball. (Raymond Hall/Getty Images)
The grievance hearing between Alex Rodriguez and Major League Baseball is over, and A-Rod likes the way he and his legal team handled the process.
"We crushed it,'' Rodriguez told Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com. "They had nothing.''
Though arbitrator Fredric Horowitz's decision regarding A-Rod's 211-game suspension probably won't come until 2014, Rodriguez was excited about the work his team of lawyers did.
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"Now that it's over, as far as the state of the case, how the evidence went in, how my team challenged it, I feel great,'' Rodriguez said. "The only thing that concerns me is the process.''
Both sides have until Dec. 11 to file written briefs (the labor hearing equivalent of closing arguments) and another 10 days after that to reply to each other's briefs. After that, Horowitz has 25 days to make a decision.
A-Rod's lead lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, is already planning to obtain an injunction to prevent a suspension from being implemented, but Rodriguez's lawyers expect that some sort of punishment will be handed down.
"I firmly believe Alex should get a goose-egg here, but Horowitz has to be prepared for this to be his last arbitration to do that,'' said Jordan Siev, one of Rodriguez's attorneys. "But do I think he would have the courage to give him a goose-egg? I'd like to think so, but I frankly can't imagine Alex walks out of there with nothing.''
Rodriguez's storming exit from the hearing on Wednesday garnered him a lot of public support, he said.
"Today was nuts,'' he said. "The support has been overwhelming in the streets today. People were jumping out of their [bleeping] cars. I been coming to N.Y. for 20 years and, including 2009 [when the Yankees won the World Series], I have never had a more positive reaction in the streets. I couldn't believe this s---."
