A-Rod reportedly confessed PED use to DEA
The Miami Herald reported Wednesday morning what everyone seemed to suspect already: Major league slugger Alex Rodriguez bought performance-enhancing drugs from Biogenesis clinic director Tony Bosch. A-Rod admitted as much in January to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which saw to it he had legal immunity in a case the government was building against Bosch and others.
In public, A-Rod had steadfastly denied a connection to Bosch, and even sued Major League Baseball after it suspended him for associating with Biogenesis. He dropped the suit after realizing he couldn’t win, and sat out the entire 2014 season. Once spring training 2015 comes, or even before, he’ll be asked to admit PED use again — but he’s already on the record, reportedly:
[I]n a Drug Enforcement Administration conference room back in January, facing federal agents and prosecutors who granted him immunity, baseball’s highest-paid player admitted everything:
Yes, he bought performance-enhancing drugs from Biogenesis of America, paying roughly $12,000 a month to Anthony Bosch, the fake doctor who owned the clinic. Yes, Bosch gave him pre-filled syringes for hormone injections into the ballplayer’s stomach, and even drew blood from him in the men’s room of a South Beach nightclub. And yes, the ballplayer’s cousin, Yuri Sucart, was his steroid go-fer.
When it was over, Rodriguez emerged from the Weston, Fla., conference room with his New York criminal defense lawyer, and has stood by his denials to this day. His attorney, Joseph Tacopina, could not be reached for comment Wednesday morning.
The Stew blogged Tuesday about A-Rod reportedly being extorted by Sucart so that he’d keep quiet. Well, these are the details A-Rod wanted to be kept under wraps. Rodriguez admitted in 2009 that he used PEDs for a time with the Texas Rangers, but otherwise had denied using.
What about other players linked to Biogenesis?
[P]rosecutors granted immunity to a total of nine current and former professional players: Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, Melky Cabrera, Nelson Cruz, Francisco Cervelli, Yasmani Grandal, Cesar David Puello, Jordany Valdespin and Manny Ramirez.
A suggestion: Rather than continuing to go through a tedious cat-and-mouse process with the media, A-Rod should write an apology for lying about using PEDs (again), and say he’s not going to address the matter any further. The New York Yankees probably would appreciate such a gesture, too. Even though the Biogenesis case continues to wind its way through the justice system, Rodriguez could address it in a vague way that still leaves no doubt that he knows that we know he has been caught and he’ll never do it again. Again.
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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter!
