When New York Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez used to make the headlines years ago, it was typically for some amazing feat he pulled off on the baseball diamond. However, times have certainly changed and most of his headline stories these days portray him in a negative light.
The latest news regarding A-Rod certainly isn’t good for him, since he’s been accused of being involved in a new performance-enhancing drug scandal. In addition, the Yankees are reportedly thinking about voiding his huge contract because of it.
The new PED allegations involves a Miami-based anti-aging clinic, which said it supplied banned substances to several Major League Baseball stars such as Rodriguez, Nelson Cruz, Melky Cabrera and Gio Gonzalez. After he was alleged to be involved, Rodriguez replied by issuing a press statement that refuted the claims.
The clinic is called Biogenesis, and reports say that Anthony Bosch, the head of the establishment, has named those players as people who received PEDs from him. Bosch is currently under investigation by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and MLB.
A statement was released by MLB, which said the league is very disappointed hear that some of its players have been linked to the use of illegal substances. The release also said that three of the accused players have already been punished by the league for using PEDs.
The New Times reported that the 49-year-old Bosch sold several types of substances to the players, such as testosterone, anabolic steroids and human-growth hormone. The report said he also supplied them to Manny Ramirez, who was suspended for 50 games in 2009 for illegal substance use.
Rodriguez has already admitted to using steroids between 2001-03. However, he claims that he hasn’t used anything illegal since then. But records obtained in the investigation mention Rodriguez 16 times and a private notebook belonging to Bosch mentions that he paid a total of $3,500 various banned substances. Some of the records are dated from 2009 and are recorded up until last season.
Either way, Rodriguez won’t be starting the year with the Yankees, since he’s recovering from a recent hip operation. He’s expected to miss the first few months of the season and he could possibly be sidelined for the entire campaign.
In the past, Rodriguez always denied using any type of PED until 2009 when Sports Illustrated reported that he had tested positive twice for steroid use in 2003 during a MLB anonymous survey. Just two days after the story broke, he admitted that he previously took PEDs, but stopped using them at the end of 2003.
Other reports have stated that the Yankees are fed up with the 37-year-old Rodriguez and are now looking at a legal way to void his contract. He’s still got another five years to go on his current deal and the Yankees owe him $114 million on it. The deal was for $275 million over 10 years and it was signed in December 2007.
However, his production at the plate also has something to do with the team wanting to dump him, since he’s not healthy and was benched during last season’s playoffs after going just 3-for-25 with the bat for a .120 average with no runs batted in.
