Paul Molitor: Hall no place for A-Rod

— -- Count Hall of Fame infielder Paul Molitor among Alex Rodriguez's legion of detractors.

Molitor says Rodriguez's suspension was justified and that the New York Yankees third baseman has no place in Cooperstown.

"I don't think he was overly targeted by Major League Baseball," Molitor told the Canadian Baseball Network this past weekend. "I [didn't] think they would impose such a severe suspension.

"I know that there was not a positive drug test, but there was just cause."

The last half of Molitor's career straddled the golden years of baseball's so-called steroid era, and he played his last season for the Minnesota Twins in 1998 amid  Mark McGwire's and Sammy Sosa's chase of Roger Maris' single-season home run record.

Rodriguez was in his fourth full season and already sparking future Hall of Famer talk by 1998, when he batted .310 and belted 42 home runs -- the first of six straight seasons in which he would hit 40 or more homers.

"Regardless of where [Rodriguez's] career was going, from the information I've been exposed to and from what I have read, I don't think he will get in," said Molitor, who also played for the Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays in a 21-year career that began in 1978. "But hey, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds get roughly 30 percent of the vote."

Rodriguez expressed gratitude last week for the support he's received from everyone from his Yankees teammates to "retired players and players that are in the Hall of Fame" and voiced sadness that his suspension ordeal has dominated recent headlines.

Molitor isn't among those who have shown their support.

Molitor was hired by the Twins in October to supervise the team's baserunning, bunting, infield instruction and positioning as well as assistance with in-game strategy. He has worked for the team since 2005 in various minor league capacities.

He was adamant in the interview with the Canadian Baseball Network that Rodriguez shouldn't be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

"No, I don't think he belongs," Molitor said.

Rodriguez filed suit last Monday seeking to overturn arbitrator Fredric Horowitz's ruling that suspends him for the 2014 regular season and playoffs for violating the sport's drug agreement and labor contract.

The arbitrator found "clear and convincing evidence" that Rodriguez used three banned substances and twice tried to obstruct baseball's investigation of the Biogenesis of America anti-aging clinic.

Commissioner Bud Selig had initially suspended Rodriguez for 211 games in August.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.