⚾ A-Rod dropped his suits after a 162-game ban cost him $25M

Alex Rodriguez quit the courtroom fight on a Friday. On Feb. 7, 2014, his lawyer Joseph Tacopina confirmed to ESPN that a notice of voluntary dismissal had been filed in federal court in Manhattan. It ended Rodriguez's lawsuit against Major League Baseball for tortious interference, and his suits against then-commissioner Bud Selig and the players' union, ESPN reported. No explanation was given.

The scoreboard: a 211-game suspension trimmed to 162, a salary loss ESPN put at $25 million, and a legal campaign that ended in a dismissal notice. Rodriguez has said he did not use banned substances. MLB defended the ban. MrMuscles has the filings and the statements; here is how the game went.

The ban

MLB announced the suspension on Aug. 5, 2013. Its statement said the discipline rested on Rodriguez's "use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years," plus a course of conduct meant to obstruct the commissioner's investigation. The case was not built on a failed drug test, the New York Times reported; MLB officials believed documents and witness accounts were enough. Rodriguez was allowed to keep playing while he appealed.

On Jan. 11, 2014, arbitrator Fredric Horowitz cut the ban from 211 games to 162, which covered the whole 2014 season and any playoff games, ESPN reported. Rodriguez's side called the ruling "inconsistent" and said it rested on "false and wholly unreliable testimony." Rodriguez said in a statement that he did not use performance-enhancing substances as alleged and would take the fight to federal court. MLB said it believed the original 211 games were appropriate but respected the panel's decision.

"The number of games sadly comes as no surprise, as the deck has been stacked against me from day one."

Alex Rodriguez, statement on the arbitrator's ruling, as reported by ESPN, Jan. 11, 2014

The money

ESPN reported that Rodriguez was losing $25 million in salary during the suspension. Before the ruling the exposure was reported as higher: about $34 million over the full 211 games (Yahoo Sports) and nearly $33 million (ESPN), with ESPN noting each game shaved off the penalty would save him $154,000.

The $27.5 million figure that attaches to this story is a different number. Per ESPN, it is one-tenth of the $275 million contract, the amount the Yankees are charged yearly for luxury-tax purposes. With the ban set at 162 games, ESPN put the team's luxury-tax relief at about $24.1 million. The Yankees still owed Rodriguez about $61 million for 2015 through 2017.

The lawsuits

The legal theory was floating around before the ban was even final. The New York Times reported in August 2013 that his legal team had discussed a federal suit claiming the Yankees and MLB worked together so the team could escape the rest of his contract. The Yankees said in a statement that they did not direct MLB's investigation or use it to avoid their obligations under his contract. After Tacopina alleged the club mishandled his hip care, ESPN reported that Yankees president Randy Levine and the team denied the allegations and MLB denied the accusations of a conspiracy.

The timing was set by the court. U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos told Rodriguez's lawyers on Jan. 30 to respond by that Friday to arguments from MLB and the union that the case should be dismissed, ESPN reported. They filed the dismissal instead. Tacopina told the Associated Press that the earlier statements "say everything that needs to be said." Rodriguez was in Miami and made no public remarks that day.

Why he walked is reporting, not record. Sources told ESPNNewYork.com that the anticipated $10 million in legal fees weighed on him and that he wanted to repair relations with baseball so he could keep working in the sport after his playing days. Those are unnamed-source claims, and Rodriguez's side gave no explanation on the day.

"We have been informed that Alex Rodriguez has reached the prudent decision to end all of the litigation related to the Biogenesis matter."

Major League Baseball statement, as reported by ESPN, Feb. 7, 2014

The players' union, which Rodriguez had also sued, said in its own statement that withdrawing was the right thing to do and that his decision to move forward was in everyone's best interest. One suit survived: his claim in New York state court against Yankees physician Christopher Ahmad and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, alleging they mishandled his care during the 2012 playoffs.

The timeline footnote

In November 2014 the Miami Herald reported on a 15-page synopsis of a Jan. 29 meeting between Rodriguez, federal agents and prosecutors. According to the DEA report as the Herald described it, Rodriguez said he bought banned substances from Biogenesis owner Anthony Bosch, paying roughly $12,000 a month over about two years, and received immunity from prosecution in exchange. The Herald noted that meeting took place less than three weeks after the arbitrator's ruling and his public statement that he did not use performance-enhancing substances. The lawsuits were dropped on Feb. 7.

Tacopina, who attended the meeting, declined to comment to the Herald, citing grand jury secrecy. When New York magazine's Intelligencer reported on the Herald story, it quoted him: "He didn't get indicted." And then, per the same report: "It's over. Game. Set. Match." The documents read here do not include any Rodriguez comment on the DEA summary.