Alex Rodriguez: Is He in Trouble with MLB over PED-Popping Cousin?

Alex Rodriguez found himself in some more hot water this week, courtesy of a family member who was unwelcome at the Yankees' team hotel. 

A-Rod's cousin, Yuri Sucart, found himself subject to a ban from all team facilities earlier this season, but that didn't stop him from showing up on a frequent basis in the team's hotel and facilities on the road. 

In fact, as recently as last week, Sucart was photographed in the lobby of the Yankees' team hotel on the road in San Francisco, in a blatant disregard for baseball having banned him from being with the team. 

Why is Sucart banned? Simple—he was Rodriguez' drug trafficker. When A-Rod admitted to having taken performance enhancing drugs back in 2009, he told Sports Illustrated that an unnamed cousin would take trips to the Dominican Republic to get him what he needed. While the slugger didn't name his cousin, ESPN.com ascertained Sucart's identity later, eventually prompting the club to ban him from all team facilities, and from interacting with the team in any way, after he picked Rodriguez up after a spring training game. 

While representatives for Major League Baseball said that the incident was over with, the fact of the matter is that A-Rod is in deep trouble with the league over this. 

Rodriguez knew the ban was in place, as did Sucart. But, that didn't stop them from flaunting the ban and having Sucart continue to travel with the team and show up at the team's hotel.

The ban was there for a reason, and either A-Rod was too dumb to figure it out, or too arrogant to care. Sucart was the slugger's PED provider, the one who gave him the banned substances in the first place. So, by keeping Sucart away from the hotel and forbidding him from interacting with Rodriguez or the other members of the team, the league (and the team) were trying to keep A-Rod out of more trouble for using PEDs. 

Does he know how bad it looks to have the guy accused of providing you steroids following you around? Did the thought even cross his mind? 

Maybe Sucart's presence in the hotel was harmless. Maybe he was actually just there to support his cousin, or maybe he's learned the error of his ways. 

But why risk it? Why would A-Rod put himself (and his cousin) into a situation where they're in violation of baseball's ban? 

This time, all Rodriguez got from baseball was a not-so-friendly reminder about the ban. But, you can bet that baseball (and probably the New York media) will be watching A-Rod and the Yankees hotel very closely from here on out. He's shown that he can't be trusted to honor the restrictions put in place without supervision, so hopefully, with the knowledge that Big Brother is watching, he'll figure it out.

They didn't want to resort to this—if they had, they would have done it from the beginning. But, A-Rod forced their hand, and now he's the one who's going to be facing the heat in the future. By flaunting the ban, Rodriguez got baseball to pay attention, and if he gets caught again, odds are good that there will be some sort of punishment—for himself and for Sucart.

This is precisely the kind of brazen act that has made fans root against him, come up with brilliant nicknames like "A-Fraud", and even hoping he doesn't catch Barry Bonds in the career home run race. Hopefully, he's figured out that it's not a good idea, but he certainly didn't win himself any fans with this stunt.