Whether Alex Rodriguez ever steps on a Major League Baseball field again remains to be seen, but the third baseman’s drama keeps making its way into the public forum.
Rodriguez has had his 211-game ban from baseball reduced to 162 games by an arbitrator, effectively keeping him off the field for the 2014 season and playoffs. On the heels of arbitrator Fredric Horowitz‘s decision to reduce A-Rod’s suspension for his connections to performance-enhancing drugs, the man who says he supplied Rodriguez with banned substances, Anthony Bosch, took to CBS’ 60 Minutes to give the sordid details.
Bosch, along with MLB commissioner Bud Selig and Rodriguez’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, appeared on the TV newsmagazine program Sunday night, each telling his side of the A-Rod story. Bosch revealed how far he went to supply Rodriguez with banned substances and to cover up his use. At one point, Rodriguez had Bosch draw a blood sample for a drug test in a bathroom stall while the two men were at a Miami club, Bosch told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley.
Bosch said he supplied testosterone, human growth hormone and other banned substances to Rodriguez, who knew the substances were not allowed. The two reportedly never called the drugs by name, using code names in text messages and voice mail messages.
Among other revelations by Bosch were that A-Rod reportedly took “gummies” (illegal substances that provide a testosterone boost) in the clubhouse before games. The substance looked like candy, so Rodriguez’s teammates probably didn’t even notice.
Bosch also said that A-Rod specifically asked him what Manny Ramirez was taking in 2008, when he exploded after being traded to the Dodgers.
Bosch is MLB’s main witness in its case against Rodriguez. The Biogenesis founder told Pelley that he believed Rodriguez’s camp would kill him to keep him from talking about the PEDs he supplied the third baseman with for years, though A-Rod claims he never used banned substances while with the Yankees.
“One of [Rodriguez’s] associates said, ‘Well, you should, I think you should leave town. We’re gonna get you a plane ticket to Colombia,’” Bosch said. “‘We want you to stay there until this blows over. We’re gonna pay you,’ I forgot what the number was, $25,000 or $20,000 a month. ‘Then when you come back, we’ll, you know, we’ll give you another $150,000.’”
After he turned down the offer, Bosch said his ex-girlfriend received a text message in Spanish saying Bosch would not live to see the end of the year.
Photo of the Day
Sunday was Wes Welker bobblehead night.
Tweet of the day
Darren Rovell has the digits.
[tweet https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/422726930518245376 align=’center’]
Video of the day
Robert Ayers mocks Philip Rivers.