To say Fredric Horowitz has a big decision to make this fall would be quite the understatement.
Horowitz, a veteran arbitrator based in Santa Monica, California, will determine the fate of Alex Rodriguez and shape the future of the New York Yankees this fall, when the embattled third baseman formally appeals the 211-game suspension he received from MLB this week.
Rodriguez will earn $25 million in 2014, which means that he stands to lose more than $150,000 for each game that he is suspended. The Yankees, on the other hand, stand to pocket tens of millions if Horowitz upholds the suspension when the appeal takes place.
All of a sudden, Horowitz’s perspective matters a great deal, and fellow arbitrators say he’s well-equipped to handle the case. His peers consider him a sharp, experienced arbitrator who will deliver a fair decision.
Horowitz also happens to root for his hometown team.
“He’s a Dodgers fan, as most people in Los Angeles are, but he’s a fan of baseball who will be able to set everything aside for the appeal,” says Doug Collins, a Hermosa Beach, California-based arbitrator who has known Horowitz for 25 years. “He’s also knowledgeable about all the other big league teams.”
But Collins told Sportsnet that Horowitz would never allow his interest in the game to cloud his decision making, explaining that’s “not something that would even occur.” Earlier in his career, Horowitz represented both workers and management, and his current position demands complete neutrality.
“He’s very, very bright,” says Collins, who has worked as a professional arbitrator since 1978. “He’s thoughtful. He’s a kind man. But he’s nobody’s fool.”
MLB will argue that Rodriguez earned the 211-game suspension for the “use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including Testosterone and human Growth Hormone, over the course of multiple years” and for “attempting to cover-up his violations.”
The league is expected to argue that exceptional circumstances surrounding Rodriguez’s case warrant a historic ban despite the fact that the 38-year-old has never failed a drug test.
Philip Tamoush, a full-time arbitrator since 1976, says Horowitz is well-known and respected within the relatively small community of arbitrators.
“He is affable, helpful to newer arbitrators,” Tamoush told Sportsnet. “Fred is decisive and will do our profession very well and I am sure will serve the parties as they wish. He is knowledgeable about baseball, contrary to many of us.”
Horowitz is no stranger to high-profile cases, having worked salary arbitration cases for MLB and the NHL. He has served on the panels that heard cases for MLB players including Dan Uggla, Hunter Pence, and Wandy Rodriguez.
Horowitz was also set to oversee Mark Fraser’s case before the Toronto Maple Leafs agreed to terms with the defenceman last month.
Though Horowitz has ruled on salary arbitration cases in the past, the Rodriguez case is different. Player salaries are determined through final offer arbitration, and written decisions are not issued.
Horowitz, a 1970 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and a 1975 graduate of University of California Hastings College of the Law, has been a full-time arbitrator since 1988.
He was named to his current position after MLB dismissed Shyam Das, the arbitrator who ruled to overturn the league’s 50-game suspension of Ryan Braun.
There’s a chance that Horowitz will be fired one day, just as Das was before him. MLB and the MLBPA pay arbitrators jointly and either side can dismiss an arbitrator. In fact, dismissals are just part of the job for experienced arbitrators.
“If they don’t like his decision, he’s not exactly going to starve to death,” Collins said.
