MLB Bullets Strikes Out

So. Alex Rodriguez is scared of needles. Huh.

• There really isn't any chance that you haven't heard this yet, but arbitrator Frederic Horowitz reduced Alex Rodriguez's suspension from 211 games to 162, which is, of course, a crushing defeat for A-Rod and a big win for Major League Baseball, despite the reduced sentence. Rodriguez will miss the entire 2014 season.
• Biogenesis Clinic operator Tony Bosch talked to CBS' 60 Minutes in a story that ran Sunday night in which he explained how he came to know Rodriguez and what PEDs he gave him. Additionally, MLB COO Rob Manfred and Rodriguez's lawyer Joe Tacopina spoke to the program. You can watch the complete segment or just read the transcript here.
• The MLBPA wasn't happy that Manfred was talking to 60 Minutes, saying it was a violation of the arbitration process. However, MLB defended his participation by pointing to Tacopina's participation.
• Rodriguez has vowed to appeal the decision in federal court. Lester Munson explains what that means and why Rodriguez has little to no chance to get the decision overturned.
• I don't link to Baseball Prospectus as much as I'd like because most of their articles are for subscribers only, as is this one. But they went back and looked at the last time a player tried to get a judge to overturn an arbitration decision. ($) For those without a subscription, it was Steve Garvey, who appealed an arbitrator's decision not to award him any money from the fund set up to compensate players who suffered damages from the collusion cases in the 1980s. In 2001, the Supreme Court reversed an appeals court decision that had overturned a federal judge's decision to uphold the arbitrator's decision. (Got that? The first judge upheld the arbitrator, but he was overturned on appeal. Then the Supreme Court overturned the appeals court, which resulted in the arbitrator's decision standing.) The Supremes said that unless an arbitrator can be shown to have been dishonest, the courts can't get involved, even if the decision is based on factual errors or misinterpretations. So essentially, unless Rodriguez can prove that Horowitz is corrupt in some way, he's screwed. Just being wrong isn't enough.
• If you're not an Baseball Prospectus subscriber, you can read the important passage from the 1960s Steelworkers SCOTUS decisions that were cited in Garvey's loss.
• Craig Calcaterra lists some winners and losers in the decision. I'm guessing Alex isn't one of the winners.
• Mike Bauman says that this proves that MLB's drug policy and arbitration procedures work.
• Tim Brown says Alex Rodriguez needs to be the center of attention, so he'll continue to fight. And that's probably what got him into this mess in the first place.
• Jerry Crasnick says the decision is a big victory for Bud Selig's legacy.
• Bob Nightengale says this is a great day for baseball.
• Jon Paul Morosi disagrees, saying that while it was a big win for MLB, it was a hollow victory because it shows how much PEDs are still a part of the game.
• Richard Justice says to any other player that might think of using illegal supplements "Let this be a warning to you!"
• Tom Verducci says this proves that Rodriguez is a fraud. I don't know. If the decision would have been overturned, it would have been because the arbitrator felt Selig exceeded his authority. I don't think anyone would have changed their mind about Rodriguez's honesty one way or the other.
• In fact, it is the fact that the decision gives the commissioner rather large and arbitrary powers that makes Wendy Thurm queasy about the suspension. Not because she thinks Rodriguez is innocent.
• Andrew Marchand has a quick take on what the ruling means for Rodriguez and the Yankees.
• Jay Jaffe looks at the Yankees options for replacing Rodriguez at third base. He doesn't think any of the options are good ones.
• Kelly Johnson, whom the Yankees signed as a free agent over the winter, says he's ready to play anywhere, including third base.
• The arbitrator suspended Rodriguez for the regular season and the playoffs. So he says he's going to spring training, although the Yankees aren't likely to want him around.
• Jayson Stark says it's not likely to happen and that it's unclear whether the collective bargaining agreement allows him to attend or not.
• If he tries to come to spring training, the Yankees could send him to the minor leagues.
• The independent league Long Island Ducks say Rodriguez can play for them in 2014. But since he's still under contract with the Yankees, they would have to give permission for him to play for anyone else and that's not likely to happen.
• Wallace Matthews thinks that the Yankees ought to just bite the $61 million bullet and cut Rodriguez before spring training.
• OK, that's all the A-Rod news I have. There are a couple of hundred other articles out there about him if you're still interested. You can find them yourself. Now back to the last controversy in baseball, the Hall of Fame voting. Deadspin responds to the BBWAA's stripping of a vote from Dan LeBatard in a crude but not totally inaccurate manner.
• Bill Madden, one of those voting BBWAA members, says there's nothing wrong with the Hall of Fame voting.
• As far as keeping suspected PED users out of the Hall, SB Nation's "Amazin' Avenue" has a great piece dismantling the idea that Mike Piazza's power is in any way evidence that he was juicing. It's a great article and you should read it, but it has Piazza's amateur scouting report and explains how a "62nd round draft pick" could hit so many home runs without juicing.
• I really wish that Buster Olney's column wasn't ESPN Insider only. For those of you who wonder what my "Tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster" means, it's a riff/tribute to Olney's column. In this one, he completely dismantles Bob Costas' argument that steroid users need to be kept out of the Hall of Fame to keep it "authentic." ($)
• Gwen Knapp looks back at the 90s and says it's a myth that baseball attendance increased because of the large number of home runs.
• Here's something that none of you are going to want to hear, but it doesn't surprise me at all. According a report out of Japan, the Yankees, Dodgers and Angels are the finalists to sign Masahiro Tanaka. I don't think this is out of any lack of trying on the part of the Cubs. But selling Chicago and a team that has lost 197 games over the past two seasons to a star Japanese pitcher was a rather hopeless task.
• Jeff Passan thinks the Cubs are in store for another bad year in 2014.
• Homer Bailey denies reports that he wants out of Cincinnati. But if you change your mind, Homer, the number is 1-800-555-THEO.
• The Yankees may not be ready to cut Alex Rodriguez yet, but they did designate Vernon Wells for assignment. Of course, they were only on the hook for $2.4 million of his salary.
• Jason Bay says he's going to retire.
• Johnny Damon, on the other hand, still wants to play.
• As does Chone Figgins.
• And Dontrelle Willis, who signed a minor league deal with the Giants. Willis has more lives than the villain in a slasher movie.
• Derek Holland injured his knee in a fall and will miss the first half of the 2014 season.
• How did that happen? He tripped over his dog. The kicker? The dog's name is "Wrigley." I hear he's been hanging out with Chris Perez's dog too.
• Carlos Gonzalez had his appendix removed.
• Bill Conlin, the longtime Philadelphia Daily News baseball writer and J.G. Spink Award winner whose career ended in scandal a few years ago, died on Thursday.
• John Axford pitched better after he traded to the Cardinals than he had in two years. One big reason was that the Cardinals told him he was tipping his pitches with the Brewers.
• Jon Paul Morosi says that it's looking more and more unlikely that the new replay and home plate collision rules will be adopted for 2014, as the MLBPA has still not signed off on them.
• Rob Neyer thinks that the Indians are trying to slowly phase out the "Chief Wahoo" logo. He wonders whether it might be better to just "rip the Band-Aid off." If they were going to do that, they should have done it over the weekend. No one would have noticed.
• Finally, the problem with trying to figure out whether teams with "good chemistry" perform better than teams that don't is that last spring training, pretty much every team claimed they had good chemistry going into the season. Except, of course, the Mets. That's not a joke. That's just the Mets.

The Iowa Men's Basketball team defeated #3 Ohio State in Columbus, 84-74. The Women beat Wisconsin, 82-65, in Madison.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.