Posted by tecwrg on 1/21/2014 9:54:00 AM (view original):
Posted by burnsy483 on 1/21/2014 9:24:00 AM (view original):
Posted by tecwrg on 1/17/2014 5:13:00 PM (view original):
Let me put it this way.
I think the union has an ethical responsibility to do what they feel is in the best interests of their members, as a whole in general and on a case by case basis for specific cases.
"Fight this to the bitter end" did not seem like if would be in the best interests of the MLBPA for this particular case, because there was a 0.0% chance that an independent arbitrator was going to completely toss the suspension, or even reduce it to something lower than what a negotiated settlement would have resulted in.
Trying to fight the battle the way ARod seems to have insisted it be fought would have undermined the credibility of the MLBPA which, as you know, has traditionally been the strongest union in professional sports since Marvin Miller became it's Executive Director in 1966.
From what I understand, the MLBPA has a responsibility to defend all of their players in any appeals process to the best of their ability. ARod is arguing they did not do that, and he seems to have a point. And what's the worst case scenario in not fighting for ARod as best as they could? They're just doing what a union is supposed to do.
That said, it doesn't seem to be enough to overthrow the entire suspension.
I think the union's responsibility is to work towards the best outcome for their client, not to go all in on a battle that has near zero chance of winning.
A negotiated 100 game (or whatever) suspension would have been in their client's best interests, as opposed to a 162 game suspension that just about everyvody saw coming.
ARod was his own worst enemy here, not the MLBPA or anything Weiner may have said in the media. He should be suing himself for massive stupidity. That's a legal battle that he would at least have a chance to win.
I suppose that's fair. But I don't see how Weiner publicly dissing A-Rod was in anyone's best interests. Unless you want to argue that by doing that, he's helping A-Rod in trying to convince him to take a smaller suspension.
There's also other stuff in there about the actual arbitration process. His guy wasn't defending him well enough, he asked for a new rep and the union declined, etc. It isn't going to work, but again, as BL says, he needs to show how the whole process was against him in order to get the case heard. I'm not sure that the law demands him to sue his union, but if he doesn't claim that his union is also not defending him as well as a union should, he's that much more unlikely to get the case heard.