Report: A-Rod Paid For Bosch's Attorney
NEW YORK (CBSMiami) – The controversy surrounding New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez took another bizarre turn over the weekend when ESPN.com reported that A-Rod paid for Tony Bosch's attorney and later transferred additional money that Bosch's attorney refused.
According to the ESPN.com report, a spokesperson for Bosch's attorney Susy Ribero-Ayala said that A-Rod paid the $25,000 retainer to defend Bosch in February. That would put the hiring shortly after the Miami New Times first broke the story about Bosch's Biogenesis clinic providing performance enhancing drugs to MLB players, including A-Rod.
A second, unexpected payment, of $50,000 was also sent to Ms. Ribero-Ayala, but according to the ESPN.com, the funds were "immediately returned."
Sources told ESPN that investigators believe A-Rod paid for Bosch's attorney and made the second payment hoping to curry favor with Bosch to keep him from providing testimony or other evidence to Major League Baseball.
Rodriguez and his current attorneys denied the charges and continue to prepare to fight the 211 game suspension handed down by Major League Baseball for A-Rod's part in the Biogenesis-steroid scandal.
In addition, over the weekend, A-Rod's lawyers accused the Yankees of misleading Rodriguez about the nature of his hip injury last year and said that team president Randy Levine told A-Rod's surgeon, "I don't ever want to see him back on the field again."
The allegations further poisoned the relationship between A-Rod and the Yankees. New York General Manager Brian Cashman said his conversations with Rodriguez are now simply hello and goodbye.
"I'm not comfortable talking to Alex about this because we feel we are in a litigious environment," Cashman said. "Hello and goodbye, that's about it. I'm not comfortable talking to him anymore. I don't want to be distorted."
Cashman also denied A-Rod's lawyer's claim saying he was on every conference call and "I can tell you that did not happen."
"Our trainers and doctors will continue to provide the best medical care possible," Cashman said. "That is for Alex as well as anybody else regardless of what they say and what they do. They're going to continue to do that for Alex as well as anybody else on the team."
Cashman also said that in his 16 years with the Yankees, he had "never seen anything like this" referring to the entire Biogenesis scandal.
