According to a report via Mark Townsend of Yahoo Sports, Major League Baseball plans on taking action on players they find to have any connection with the new steroids scandals involving Dr. Anthony Bosch and the Biogenensis clinic in Florida.
The main targets are said to be New York Yankess third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who is currently rehabbing a hip injury and Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun, who tested positive last season for elevated levels of testosterone, but escaped punishment because of a technicality.
On the heels of yesterday’s 100-game suspension for minor leaguer Cesar Carrillo comes word that Major League Baseball is prepared to hunker down and come hard after every player connected to the Dr. Anthony Bosch and the Biogenensis clinic in Florida. According to ESPN’s T.J. Quinn, that definitely includes Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, who he says are “strongly in their sights”.
…it will be more difficult for MLB to pin down players such as Rodriguez and Braun for a number of reasons. Chief among them being their protection from the MLBPA, not to mention their personal representation and the overall wealth the game has afforded them.
Still, MLB seems determined to make every effort they can to discipline both men for their connections to the alleged distributor of PEDs. And in the case of Braun, who actually escaped punishment last winter after challenging the chain of custody of his positive sample, they may really be determined to even the score. Not to suggest they’re targeting one player involved more than the other, but I’m sure that’s a bad taste in their mouth they can’t wait to wash out.
You would think with all the hoopla that surrounded the last steroid scandal, that players would stay away from the stuff, but I guess the risk is worth the reward in their eyes when you’re talking about earning as much as money as you can. I do think that MLB is doing a good job in the battle to keep the game as clean as possible, which wasn’t always the case.