MLB

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez's 211-game suspension was reduced to 162 games today as a result of his appeal, as was first reported by Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Tim Brown of Yahoo!

It's been a relatively quiet but expensive offseason for the Los Angels Dodgers compared to years past. Last winter, they signed Hyun-Jin Ryu and Zack Greinke to big contracts. This year, it's been...Jamey Wright?

After months of arbitration hearings, deliberations and courtroom drama, Alex Rodriguez has been suspended for 162 games, according to a release from MLB.com, which also includes a statement from A-Rod. 

The Dodgers, who claim to be gearing their organizational philosophy more towards developing the farm system and spending less on flashy free agents, are now rumored to be the front runner for flashy free agent Masahiro Tanaka's services.

Alex Rodriguez's appeal finally has a resolution, and it's not one the slugger was hoping for, as he was suspended for the entirety of the 2014 Major League Baseball season. As you might expect, Twitter was absolutely ablaze with reactions upon hearing the verdict.

The New York Yankees and Washington Nationals are two teams that ended their seasons short last year but show no signs of repeating the same fate in 2014. While the Yankees made a much bigger splash than the Nationals this winter, they both seem to be doing what is necessary to propel themselves into the playoffs.

Alex Rodriguez has officially lost his appeal and will be forced to sit out the 2014 Major League Baseball season. His 211-game suspension was reduced to 162 games, but A-Rod says it isn't over yet.

Wallace Matthews of ESPN first reported news of the arbitrator's ruling:

Joel Sherman of the New York Post noted how much the Yankees saved due to this decision:

Plenty of Internet ink is spilled on rating and ranking individual players and teams in baseball, but what about doing the same thing for divisions?

Obviously, the offseason isn't over, what with some big names still available in free agency (Masahiro Tanaka, Ubaldo Jimenez, Matt Garza and Ervin Santana come to mind) and others on the trade market (David Price, Jeff Samardzija and Andre Ethier, to name a few) who can swing things, depending on where they land.

With roughly a month to go until the start of spring training, the free-agent market has thinned considerably at this point, but there are still a handful of impact players available and a number of secondary roster pieces as well.

The biggest remaining crop of talent can be found in the starting pitching market, where everyone is seemingly waiting to see where Masahiro Tanaka signs. Once he makes his decision, the likes of Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana will likely find homes shortly after as consolation prizes for the teams that lose out on Tanaka.

According to this tweet by Anthony Andro of Fox Sports Southwest, the Texas Rangers' rotation took a huge blow Friday: