The Latest On Alex Rodriguez

The Biogenesis fallout began the other day with a season-ending suspension for Ryan Braun and the news that Alex Rodriguez would likely face a lengthier punishment than Braun's 65-game ban. Yesterday it was reported that A-Rod plans to appeal his impending suspension, which would likely delay it until the 2014 season. As Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote on Monday, that scenario would benefit the Yankees in a financial sense; any money lost by Rodriguez to his suspension is money that the Yankees don't have to risk paying luxury taxes on. Here's the latest on Rodriguez…

• ESPN's T.J. Quinn reports that Major League Baseball is considering a lifetime ban for Rodriguez, but likely just to use as a weapon in negotiations. While the evidence against Rodriguez is "far beyond" the evidence MLB had on Braun, experts told Quinn it would be very difficult for MLB to convince an arbitrator to rule in favor of a lifetime ban (Twitter links).
• Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes that Rodriguez will likely leverage multiple lawyers to try to fight his suspension. Rodriguez hired David Cornwell, the attorney who helped Braun win his 2011 appeal, back in June to join Jay Reisinger on his legal team. Reisinger, who has a strong relationship with the MLBPA, tells Rosenthal that he no longer represents Rodriguez. One person close to Rodriguez offered Rosenthal the following explanation: "When people don’t tell him what he wants to hear, he goes out and finds someone who will." Rosenthal adds that Cornwell isn't well-liked by the MLBPA for his "bombastic, swing-for-the-fences" tactics.