MLB roundup: A-Rod's lawyers contact union regarding grievance
Alex Rodriguez's lawyers contacted the Major League Baseball Players Association to begin a grievance regarding their claims that the New York Yankees mishandled Rodriguez's medical treatment this season and last season, ESPN reported Sunday.
Rodriguez's lawyers claim the Yankees had Rodriguez play last October despite his bad hip. Perhaps more significantly, they accused Yankees president Randy Levine of telling a surgeon that it would be all right with Levine if Rodriguez never was able to play again.
Finally, the lawyers allege the Yankees prevented Rodriguez from playing this year with a Grade 1 quad strain even though Rodriguez said he was healthy enough to play.
According to the report, Levine told Rodriguez on Saturday to "put up or shut up," saying he would make Rodriguez's medical records public if A-Rod consented.
The lawyers' notification to the players' union represents the first official step toward having the complaint resolved by arbitrator Frederic Horowitz. Horowitz will also arbitrate Rodriguez's 211-game suspension, although that ruling is not expected to occur until November at the earliest.
---Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson offered sharp criticism of Ryan Braun in the wake of reports that the suspended Milwaukee Brewers outfielder would soon apologize for his involvement with performance-enhancing drugs.
Braun played a key role in the Brewers defeating the Diamondbacks in a National League Division Series in 2011. Gibson said he was recently discussing his career with his wife, Joanne, and she brought up Braun's impact on that playoff matchup two years ago.
"Her point was, she gets pissed off about the PED stuff and goes back to the playoffs and Braun," Gibson said before Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. "I told her that if I get a chance to see Braun, I got a question for him, right to his face. Is he about rehearsed by now? About ready to come out? He's probably been practicing at theater school somewhere. Anyway, she was looking at how things like that can influence people's opportunities and the opportunity to do something like that."
The Diamondbacks lost the five-game series in which Braun hit .500 (9-for-18) with four doubles and a home run.
"I said this a long time ago: I think that people should have an opportunity to ask him some questions and have him answer them unrehearsed," Gibson said. "Something tells me he's getting really prepared for just about anything that they could throw at him."
--The New York Mets placed right-hander Jenrry Mejia on the 15-day disabled list with a bone spur in his elbow, the team announced.
The bone spur has bothered Mejia all season. He felt discomfort in the elbow during Saturday night's start against the San Diego Padres and departed in the third inning.
The 23-year-old Mejia is 1-2 with a 2.30 ERA in 27 1/3 innings spanning five starts this season.
