Is the A Rod Suspension too much?

I am not a fan of Alex Rodriguez.  I have little sympathy for someone who has made hundreds of millions of dollars playing baseball and who, by his own admission, broke the rules.
But, I think the 162 game suspension is too much. The suspension is not truly tied to baseball's new steroid testing policies. Rodriguez has never flunked a test.  Rather, the now affirmed 162 game suspension rests within more esoteric readings of baseball's Collective Bargaining Agreement. 
While one's first impulse is "get that cheater", one has to wonder exactly what they are punishing Rodriguez for? Again, he did not fail a test which would have brought a 50 game suspension. A second failed test would have meant 100 games.  The number of the original suspension, 211 games, is not referenced in the potential penalties contained in baseball's collective bargaining agreement ("CBA").
So how was the number arrived at?  The Commissioner of Baseball's sense of an appropriate penalty.  The Commissioner's office believes it has evidence that not only was Rodriguez guilty of using banned substances and consorting with a distributor of those substances, he also actively impeded baseball's investigation.  So while Jhonny Peralta and Nelson Cruz got 50 games for consorting with the same clinic, Rodriguez gets 162.
Yes, Ryan Braun got a little more (64 games) than some of the others, but he failed a test and impugned the integrity of the test handler. 
So why does Rodriguez get hit with a suspension three times longer than others involved in the same scandal?
Could it be that Major League Baseball, while drawing some satisfaction from the lack of Hall of Fame votes for alleged steroid users, wants to try and emphatically slam the lid shut on the "steroid era" with a long high profile suspension?  Bonds and Clemens retired before baseball could hand down any discipline.  By effectively kicking Rodriguez out before he can leave on his own, MLB can say "mission accomplished" (although the political junkies among us know that phrase hasn't always worked out so well).
Or could it be that Major League Baseball wants to lend a hand to one of its glamour franchises, the New York Yankees, by giving them some payroll and soap opera relief? The suspension could allow the Yankees to move on from the A-Rod saga and rebuild their lineup (although there is the pesky matter of A-Rod's guaranteed contract for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons).
So what should become of Alex Rodriguez? A-Rod says he is going to seek an injunction and pursue a lawsuit. The lawyer in me recognizes that there are millions of dollars in contractual obligations at stake.  The baseball fan in me sees little way that A-Rod, with declining bat speed and limited defensive value, will be at all effective as a 39 year old player returning in 2015 from a one year layoff. 
So settle it.  Convince A-Rod to retire but make sure he gets his money. Maybe they can structure the payments out over several years to afford the Yankees some payroll relief and A-Rod an income stream into middle age.  I am not worried about either party's finances in this situation, but a contract exists and the money needs to be addressed. It's not going away. Baseball cannot wave a magic wand and make Alex Rodriguez disappear.
But maybe, just maybe, if he gets his money, Alex Rodriguez will.