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Why's a lifetime ban for A-Rod such a big story? The guy is 38-years old and injury-prone.

There's rumor that Major League Baseball is threatening Alex Rodriguez with a lifetime ban from the league unless he agrees not to fight a suspension which would be handed to him and several other players in the latest drug scandal. If he doesn't fight the suspension, he would likely be suspended through the 2014 season.

"Lifetime ban" is quite the headline, but it's not nearly as big of a deal as most people are making it. Alex Rodriguez is 38 years old. He hasn't played at all this year. He played a little over half the season in 2011. A-Rod has missed 24 or more games in every season since 2007. He's missed 297 games in the past 6 seasons combined - an average of 49.5 per. This isn't a guy who appears like he'll be playing for much longer. If he's suspended through 2014, he'll be 39 going on 40 heading into the 2015 season. The reason he might fight that very suspension is he only planned on playing one more season, so a one-year suspension would in essence be a lifetime ban for him.

If Major League Baseball does this and hands A-Rod a lifetime suspension, I'll see it as just a headline-generator and hopeful deterrent to other players. But at the end of the day, the difference between a one-year suspension and a lifetime ban will be very minimal in the grand scheme of things. It's not like A-Rod is a healthy 21-years old and one of the best young players in all of baseball. He's 38, injury-prone, and doesn't appear to have much baseball left in him either way - whether he's barred from the game for another year or for the rest of his days.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/MLB-threatening-Alex-Rodriguez-with-lifetime-ban-073113

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rodrial01.shtml

http://espn.go.com/mlb/standings

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