In a flashback to the days of old, the players union actually won one Tuesday, getting a lopsided ruling in Kenny Rogers’ favor.
Arbitrator Shaym Das told baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, in effect, not so fast on the 20-game suspension Selig had handed Rogers after the Texas Rangers ace shoved two television cameramen.
Selig seemed stunned when Das in effect reduced the suspension to 13 games by lifting the ban with his ruling. Selig probably would not have been even the least bit surprised before 2002 because it seemed the owners, of which Selig was one until earlier this year, got trounced every time they went to a hearing of any kind.
Lately it has been management on a winning streak, beginning with the ’02 labor deal and including the right to test players randomly for steroids and other banned performance-enhancers. The end of this Selig-led winning streak comes at a bad time, as Selig has been threatening to test the commissioner’s powers by dropping the hammer on steroid users.
Selig would love to give a 50-game suspension for a positive steroid test rather than the 10-gamer Rafael Palmeiro drew for a first offense, a 100-game suspension for a second offense and a lifetime ban for a third. The guess here is he will be a little less likely to act without the union’s blessing after the Rogers ruling.
After Das ruled that Selig had overstepped his authority by issuing the suspension and then upholding it after hearing Rogers’ appeal himself, Selig criticized Das’ ruling as “seriously ill-conceived.”
Can he really believe that? Selig, who was livid after watching footage of the June 29 incident before batting practice at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, Texas, acted as the judge and jury. He took it upon himself to issue the ruling–taking it out of the hands of Bob Watson, who was then the dean of discipline–and declined to recuse himself from hearing the appeal, which historically had been his role.
Often portrayed as being weak, a charge Major League Baseball’s special investigator in the Pete Rose case leveled recently, Selig came out breathing fire on this one, perhaps because it touched a nerve.
“I strongly disagree with arbitrator Das’ decision,” Selig said in a statement. “It sends the wrong message to every one of our constituents: the fans, the media and our players. There is a standard of behavior that is expected of our players which was breached in this case. The arbitrator’s decision diminishes that standard and is contrary to the terms of the collective-bargaining agreement.”
Rogers is expected to pitch for Texas on Wednesday in Boston.
But in Das’ ruling, which he reached after a hearing Monday in Chicago, he did more than just make Rogers eligible to return. He left open an avenue for him and his agent, Scott Boras, to seek payment for any incentive bonuses Rogers might miss because of the time he was under suspension.
Rogers, whom players voted onto the American League All-Star team, is 11-4 with a 2.77 earned-run average in 20 starts. He’s in the last season of a two-year deal that includes $100,000 incentives for pitching 160, 170, 180, 190 and 200 innings. He has thrown 133 innings.
Rogers last started July 26, before Selig issued a ruling on his appeal. He has missed two starts, which Boras can argue cost him as many as 18 innings. Rogers also had given himself a chance to earn a $100,000 incentive for finishing in the top five in Cy Young Award balloting. That would be an interesting argument.
Rogers already has saved himself some cash. Under Das’ ruling, his $50,000 fine was transformed into a charitable contribution, making it deductible for tax purposes.
Texas has gone 7-6 between starts by Rogers but nevertheless appears to have fallen out of the wild-card playoff race. It lost four games in the standings to white-hot Oakland, sliding to eight games back in the wild-card standings.
Because Rogers wasn’t dealt before the July 31 deadline for waiver-free trades, it appears unlikely he will be moved to a serious contender. But at least Das gave him something to shoot for–innings-pitched incentives reached with phantom innings.
Score this round a knockout for the union, which needed it.
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progers@tribune.com
