The Yankees Win Again

What Me Amnesty

Today, MLB's record-setting punishment to Alex Rodriguez was upheld by an arbitrator today, putting all sorts of misery to rest. And what strikes me now, as the coverage turns immediately to their pursuit of Masahiro Tanaka, just how little, really, the club will suffer from their association and employment of one of the greatest pariahs of the modern era.

The Yankees won't have any hit to their contract from their over the top spending on A-Rod; instead, they will just walk away from this. They won't have to vacate his World Series MVP performance, lose any draft picks, pay any fine or offer any merchandise refunds. He'll just go away now, or at least he will as soon as the media allows it, and the machine will go back to printing money, with a shiny new toy to keep the most MLB+ franchise relevant.

This is not, of course, what happens to lesser franchises. The Brewers are going to wallow in Ryan Braun's stink for a good long while, the same way that the Angels will dwell in the mulch of Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton. Only the Yankees get the Get Out Of Bad Signing Free Card, because getting rid of Rodriguez is just such a priority for MLB that everything else gets tossed aside.

And here you thought that only the NBA had an amnesty deal...