Exhibit A for Alex Rodriguez's defense

So the baseball world has been in a bit of a tizzy over the news that Tony Bosch was going to cooperate with Major League Baseball's investigation of his former Biogenesis of America clinic and the hefty suspensions that could result, also known as "YYYYEEESSSS! THEY'RE FINALLY GOING TO GET ALEX RODRIGUEZ ... (and Ryan Braun, and a bunch of other guys)!"

Hell, it's so bad, I'm not even sure Yankees fans have had A-Rod's back, although their fondest wish in that regard may not come true.

But as the details of the story game out, I started to think people who were assuming the players would have the book thrown at them about 20 minutes ago should pump the brakes a little bit.

After all, any suspension is going to be met with an instant appeal, and given the severity, I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually hit the courts. When it does, Major League Baseball's lead witness will be a guy who only agreed to cooperate if he could be indemnified against liability, have the lawsuit against him dropped, be provided security and have a good word put in with anyone who might charge him with a crime.

However, I understand those things happen sometimes, that bad guys agree to become state's evidence to prosecute a larger crime ...

... but then came this.

When (Alex) Rodriguez rebuffed Anthony Bosch's request for money, believed to be in the hundreds of thousands, the self-styled "biochemist" turned to a strange bedfellow -- MLB.

In the most-charitable explanation, Bosch was desperate, tried to get help from Rodriguez and agreed to take MLB's deal when that didn't happen. In the least-charitable, as Mrs. Last Honest described it this morning when I told her about it, it could be blackmail.

Either way, probably not good for the ol' credibility for a guy who might be viewed as not exactly credible anyway.

To be clear, I think it's entirely possible that Rodriguez, Braun and the other Biogenesis clients were getting performance-enhancing drugs. I am also not a lawyer, nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. I don't even watch a lot of courtroom dramas on TV.

However, if Braun can get a suspension overturned because the person who collected his urine didn't ship it out fast enough, it's possible that a decent lawyer (and A-Rod's and Braun's, at the very least, will likely be far better than decent) can make a certain A-to-B-to-C connection between "witness went to player for money," "player said no," "witness went to Major League Baseball" and that it might actually work.