[Cyber Liberty]

I'm wondering if the Yankees won't take the position of "Look we hired you for X number of years, not X-1. If you can't play X number of years because of you own misconduct, you've breached the contact. Hit the pike; we don't owe you anything."

That's a reasonable approach to take, but I imagine his defense would be, "If I were suspended for 10 games you would keep me. If I were suspended for 50 games you would keep me. This is only a matter of degree, so you should keep me if it's just a bit longer than that." The team would have to have a stronger argument, such as "you brought dishonor upon the organization."

[PUGACHEV]

"I'm wondering if the Yankees won't take the position of "Look we hired you for X number of years, not X-1. If you can't play X number of years because of you own misconduct, you've breached the contact. Hit the pike; we don't owe you anything." That's a reasonable approach to take, but I imagine his defense would be, "If I were suspended for 10 games you would keep me. If I were suspended for 50 games you would keep me. This is only a matter of degree, so you should keep me if it's just a bit longer than that." The team would have to have a stronger argument, such as "you brought dishonor upon the organization."

The question then is whether a year's suspension is a material breach of the contract. That's a question of fact for a jury. Do you think A-Rod is likely to get a sympathetic jury in NYC?