Alex Rodriguez Allegedly Ratted on Other Baseball Players
60 Minutes is reporting today that documents implicating certain baseball players in the Biogenesis doping investigation were actually leaked to the media by another baseball player: New York Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez.
.60 Minutes is reporting today that documents implicating certain baseball players in the Biogenesis doping investigation were actually leaked to the media by another baseball player: New York Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez.
According to the CBS report, after the Miami New Times newspaper first broke the story of the connection between Biogenesis and numerous professional athletes back in January, Rodriguez and members of his inner circle obtained unredacted documents showing specific doping regimens that had been created by the clinic's' owner for specific athletes. Those documents were later given to Yahoo Sports and published in a story that revealed that Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun and others were also clients of Biogenesis. Rodriguez was named in the original New Times story, but Braun was not. Both players have since been suspended by Major League Baseball for violating their doping policies.
One of the other players named on the leaked document was Francisco Cervelli, who plays for the same team as Rodriguez. Another, Baltimore's Danny Valencia, was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
Rodriguez's lawyers denies that his client had any involvement in the leak, but the claim throws yet another wrench into the works as A-Rod continues to fight his suspension and clear his name. Rodriguez was given a 211-game suspension earlier this month, intended to keep him off the field until 2015, but he is currently still playing for the Yankees while he appeals. One reason for the excessive length of the penalty is that MLB has accused him of interfering in the investigation. It's also another blemish on the reputation of what was originally looking like a certain Hall of Fame career for A-Rod.
It's also not clear why he would choose to leak the documents, other than to possibly distract from his own case by naming a former MVP like Braun, or to simply embarrass MLB. (A-Rod's name was on one of the same documents given to Yahoo Sports.) Revealing the names of players under investigation for doping is by itself a violation of the players union's Collective Bargaining Agreement and grounds for its own suspension. If this new information becomes part of the case, it could lead to even more severe penalties for Rodriguez, including a possible lifetime ban from the sport.