The Miami New Times Report that linked a number of Major League Baseball Players to performance enhancing drugs is getting push back from some of the players' agents, including from the ones who represent Seattle Mariners catcher Jesus Montero and Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera.
According to ESPN.com, in a statement Wednesday, Sam and Seth Levinson say no one at their agency, ACES, had ever heard of Anthony Bosch until his name surfaced in news reports recently.
The New York Daily News originally reported that Mariners catcher Jesus Montero has been "named in records from a South Florida anti-aging clinic linked to performance enhancing drugs." Other players that were linked to the clinic, Bosch's Miami based Biogenesis of America LLC, include Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, Nelson Cruz, and Gio Gonzalez.
"Anyone who knows us, knows that it is absolutely ridiculous to think that we would ever condone the use of performance enhancing drugs," the Levinsons said. "We are not involved and do not have any knowledge as to what took place or who was allegedly involved."
The report linked Alex Rodriguez, Gio Gonzalez and other players to purchases of banned drugs, including possible injections and other substances. Cabrera was suspended for 50 games last year after etstign positiibne for testosterone and later on, a consultant to ACES, Juan Nunez, took responsibility for fabricating a website to help Cabrera try to get out of the suspension.
According to ESPN.com: "The Levinsons said Nunez stopped working for ACES as soon as they learned of the scheme last summer. They also represent Gonzalez and Nelson Cruz; Gonzalez has denied the allegations on Twitter, and Cruz has denied them through a lawyer."
The main evidence in the article was Bosch's hand-written mentions of Rodriguez and Gonzalez, tying the Yankees third baseman to human growth hormone, synthetic testosterone creams and lozenges, insulin-like growth factor and DHEA. The newspaper has posted the notes online and plans to do the same with more documents in days ahead.
Some reports say Yankees executives are fuming and they are planning to figure out a way to get out Rodriguez's huge 10-year, $275 million contract, according to ESPNNewYork.com.
Other reports have come out that Rodriguez asked Bosch to come over to Rodriguez's home in Biscayne Bay, through the gate on North Bay Road, to inject performance-enhancing drugs into his body.
A spokesperson for Rodriguez last week said, "the allegations are not true."
It details a night last year when Bosch was kicked out of Rodriguez' home after he had trouble locating a vein for an injection, which infuriated the player. The sources did not say why Bosch would have been tapping a vein. "Tony said A-Rod was pissed at him," a source said. "He said he was bleeding everywhere."
The report says that it will be difficult for the Yankees to do so since there currently is no precedent to successfully void a contract in baseball over PEDs. The team tried to do it once before with Jason Giambi after he admitted to using PEDs, but the language in Giambi's deal would not allow the team to do it. According to the source with knowledge of Rodriguez's contract, his deal contains no such language.
"All contracts have moral clauses," a baseball official who handles contract negotiations said. "It will come down to the language in (Rodriguez's) contract. If it is a normal moral clause, (the Yankees) won't have much of a case. If there are specific clauses that went into steroids and performance-enhancing drugs, then I doubt he would walk away with his money."
