Report: MLB To Sue Miami Clinic Linked To Perf. Enhancing Drugs
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Major League Baseball is planning to file a lawsuit Friday against multiple people linked to the Biogenesis clinic that has been connected to performance enhancing drug use by athletes by multiple published reports.
According to the New York Times, the suit alleges that the people named damaged baseball by "providing some of the game's biggest stars with performance-enhancing drugs." The suit, according to the Times, will seek money from the defendants and baseball has another hope for the investigation as well.
Major League Baseball has the same problem the NCAA has when it comes to investigations, no subpoena power. Without that leverage, it's near impossible to build a PED case against a player that could lead to the player being suspended.
According to the Times, to make a successful PED case against a player who has not tested positive, the investigators "need documentary evidence or witness testimony." A lawsuit would allow MLB to subpoena records from the Biogenesis clinic and compel depositions, according to the Times.
The Miami New Times blew the case open with a January report that said players including Alex Rodriguez, San Francisco Giants player Melky Cabrera, Washington Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez, and Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal were all named in the records as using PED's.
The report detailed what the New Times calls "the East Coast version of BALCO" which is the lab that eventually ensnared baseball stars like Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds along with other pro athletes.
According to the New Times, A-Rod paid Anthony Bosch (the owner of Biogenesis), 49, $3,500 and received what the records detailed as "1.5/1.5 HGH (sports perf) creams test., glut, MIC, supplement, sports perf. Diet."
The New Times report found evidence it claimed kept A-Rod's name receiving inventory through last season, which would be completely contradictory to everything A-Rod has claimed on the steroids issue if true.
Cabrera, now a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, was having a career season in 2012 before testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs and was suspended for 50 games.
After the New Times report was released, other news agencies linked more players, like Milwaukee's Ryan Braun, to the clinic and ESPN alleged that Bosch personally injected A-Rod with performance enhancing drugs.
According to ESPN's Outside the Lines, Anthony Bosch, who operated the Biogenesis clinic in Coral Gables, would get a text message late at night telling him to come to A-Rod's house on Biscayne Bay. Once inside, he would inject performance-enhancing drugs into A-Rod.
"Only Tony handled A-Rod," a source told ESPN.
Outside the Lines reported that other athletes "relied on intermediaries to transport the performance-enhancing drug regimens Bosch provided."
According to ESPN's report, Bosch would visit A-Rod every few weeks, but said he'd been kicked out "after he had trouble locating a vein and infuriated the player." ESPN said HGH and testosterone do not require veins, "but whatever he was doing, 'Tony said A-Rod was pissed at him,' a source said. 'He said he was bleeding everywhere.'"
ESPN reported multiple sources have reviewed the documents that detailed the drug regiments and schedules A-Rod received from Bosch.
Bosch has not commented in public since the initial Miami New Times report was published. According to the New York Times, only one play, minor league pitcher Cesar Carrillo has been suspended for being connected to the clinic.
