Alex Rodriguez was named in a Sports Illustrated report that said he received performance enhancing drugs and now sources say that the Yankees third baseman received injections from the man who supplied them.
According to ESPN.com, a number of sources, who spoke speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Anthony Bosch, the man behind the Biogenesis of America clinic, spoke openly about his relationship with the Yankee All-Star, and two sources said that documents they reviewed detailed the drug regimens and schedules Rodriguez received.
The report says that sources told "Outside the Lines" about text messages from Rodriguez to Bosch that asked him 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 on Friday said, "the allegations are not true."
The public relations firm Sitrick and Company issued a statement on behalf of Rodriguez on Tuesday.
"The news report about a purported relationship between Alex Rodriguez and Anthony Bosch are not true," the statement says. "Alex Rodriguez was not Mr. Bosch's patient, he was never treated by him and he was never advised by him. The purported documents referenced in the story -- at least as they relate to Alex Rodriguez -- are not legitimate."
The ESPN report is fairly damning. According to the source, visits occurred every few weeks and that the service was always personal: "Only Tony handled A-Rod," one source told "Outside the Lines."
The report 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."
MLB is currently working to investigate the players and the claims that were written about in a Miami New Times report on Monday.
According to Yahoo Sports, Anthony Bosch, a self-styled biochemist seen frequently in Latin American baseball circles, distributed large amounts of human growth hormone, synthetic testosterone and other cocktails of PEDs to players who had been linked to steroids. The other MLB players named were Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, Nelson Cruz, Yasmani Grandal and Gio Gonzalez.
According to the report, some of the players could be subject to a 50-game suspension, while three of Bosch's alleged clients - outfielder Cabrera, pitcher Bartolo Colon and catcher Yasmani Grandal - already have been caught and suspended by the league.
Bosch termed the allegations against him "bull----'' and "all wrong'' when reached by "Outside the Lines.''
Rodriguez has denied ever having been treated by Bosch or having received PEDs from him and said he has no plans to retire from baseball. Gonzalez denied the charges as well.
The new report comes at a bad time for Major League Baseball, as the league recently just moved on from the issues related to Cabrera, Colon as well as the positive test by 2011 MVP Ryan Braun. Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies also tested positive.
The report offers information on each player and their records with the clinic.
According to Yahoo: The records of players' use, given to the New Times by a former employee at Bosch's Biogenesis clinic, are especially detailed in the cases of Rodriguez and Cabrera. Rodriguez, referred to as "Alex Rodriguez," "Alex Rod" or "Cacique," received HGH, testosterone cream and insulin-like growth factor, all banned under MLB's PED policy. He also was given "troches," a lozenge that has 15 percent testosterone, and other types of growth hormone, according to the report.
More from Jeff Passan: "Rodriguez's account was "paid through April 30th" of 2012, according to the records. Cruz, the slugging outfielder whom Bosch nicknamed "Mohamad," gave Bosch $4,000 in July 2012, the records said, for a regimen that included "troches."
With the new allegations, Rodriguez's team is reportedly looking for a way out of 10-year, $275 million contract, according to ESPNNewYork.com.
The website writes that the team is waiting on discipline from the MLB and that if it comes down, the franchise will try to void the contract and is currently exploring all options. There is still five-years, $114 million on the contract for the three-time American League MVP.
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."
