Evan Longoria isn't happy that Alex Rodriguez has been able to play for the New York Yankees while he appeals his 211-game suspension from Major League Baseball.

"I don't think it's fair for the other teams, because I'm in the American League East. Whether he is 100 percent or not, whether his mind is where it needs to be or not, he can affect the game in a positive way," Longoria told SI.com's Jimmy Traina. "He can affect the game in a tremendous way, which is being in the lineup. In a pennant race, he's a guy you don't want in the lineup. Looking at it from that perspective and that perspective only, I don't think it's fair that we can't have an arbitrator hear the case sooner.

"If you get in a bench clearing brawl and a guy punches another guy and is ejected from the game and gets a 10-game suspension, you appeal that and it's heard in the next three weeks. You either get 10 games or six games or whatever. I don't understand why that process can't happen for this."

The Tampa Bay Rays are two games behind the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox and 3 1/2 games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles, the third-place team in the wild-card race.

Tampa Bay has six games remaining against Rodriguez's Yankees this season, including three in New York in the penultimate series of the regular season.