NYT: A-Rod asked players’ union to step aside during appeal

Via Serge Kovaleski & Steve Eder: Alex Rodriguez’s legal team formally requested that the players’ union step aside during the appeal of his 211-game suspension. The MLBPA serves as the player’s chief representative on the three-person arbitration panel. The letter with the request was sent to the union in late-August. The appeal hearing started last week and is not yet complete.

Rodriguez and his lawyers recently filed lawsuits against both MLB and team doctor Christopher Ahmad. The letter claimed, among other things, that the union failed to “fairly represent his interests” and missed opportunities to challenge the league’s aggressive investigation. Apparently the request was rebuffed, because MLBPA general counsel David Prouty is on the arbitration panel as A-Rod’s representative. This isn’t another lawsuit or anything, just a request on A-Rod’s part to use his own legal team.