Alex Rodriguez Set To Lose More Than Salary

Major League Baseball handed down some impacting punishments for many players on Monday stemming from the Biogensis performance-enhancing drug scandal. The biggest name being suspended was Yankee third baseman, Alex Rodriguez. After frequent denial of drug use, Rodriguez was suspended for the remainder of this season and all of the 2014 season. It is likely that he will be able to play some more games this year as the appeal process takes time to complete.

If the suspension is upheld Alex Rodriguez will lose considerable dollars in salary. It is projected that Rodriguez is set to lose anywhere between $30.6 million and $32.7 million. Although this is a significant loss for any person, Rodriguez will be able to handle the financial hit better than most people.

Alex Rodriguez will lose more than just his salary with his suspension. Rodriguez was not a well-liked athlete before the scandal broke. In fact, Forbes magazine ranked Alex Rodriguez in the top ten list for most disliked athletes in 2013. With the news of the suspension, fan support for Alex Rodriguez will be expected to fall further. For a player that has already made hundreds of millions of dollars, image must mean something.

Final Thought
Alex Rodriguez has proven that his image as a player and a person are important too him. If Rodriguez willingly took a risk by taking performance enhancing drugs, he clearly cares what others think of him. Rodriguez has a guaranteed contract and he knew how much money he could potentially be risking by trying to remain a dominant player in baseball.

I believe that performance-enhancing drugs provided Major League Baseball with years of success. Exciting players appeared all around the league and they were able to set records that previously seemed untouchable. Rodriguez was a part of this exciting era in baseball and I honestly can't blame him for using the drugs. The unfortunate decision for Alex Rodriguez was the continual denial of his use of the drugs. Had Rodriguez stopped using PEDs once baseball started to get serious about the situation, many fans around the league would have better understood the situation. Alex Rodriguez now faces over a year suspension that could potentially cost him a lot of money and any brand equity that he had left.

  @dmrosen7