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Alex Rodriguez reportedly stormed out of the room during his appeal hearing when independent arbitrator Frederic Hororwitz determined that Bud Selig did not have to give testimony. A-Rod slammed his hand down on the table and told MLB COO Rob Manfred he was "full of shit" and left the room.
Rodriguez released a statement about the incident:
"I am disgusted with this abusive process, designed to ensure that the player fails," Rodriguez said in a statement. "I have sat through 10 days of testimony by felons and liars, sitting quietly through every minute, trying to respect the league and the process.
"This morning, after Bud Selig refused to come in and testify about his rationale for the unprecedented and totally baseless punishment he hit me with, the arbitrator selected by MLB and the players' association refused to order Selig to come in and face me. The absurdity and injustice just became too much. I walked out and will not participate any further in this farce."
If the plan is to convince Horowitz that MLB is being unfair to him, having a temper tantrum is probably not going to help him out. Calling it a farce is also not going to make Horowitz any more likely to side with him either.
At the same time, if A-Rod's entire defense is that MLB was on a witch hunt, how can Selig not have to testify so that they have a chance to prove/disprove whether or not Rodriguez has a legitimate claim. Allowing Selig to get away without testifying gives off the message that the hearing is not interested in giving Team A-Rod a fair shake at trying to prove their point. It could easily be viewed as unfair, but reacting in the manner that he did will not help him in the future.
Alex Rodriguez was expected to testify some time this week, but now who knows what will happen. His lawyers stayed behind and filed an official complaint.
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