Via Michael S. Schmidt -

Just days before the Yankees headed north from Florida to begin the 2010 season, third baseman Alex Rodriguez sat down for an interview with investigators for Major League Baseball near the team’s spring training complex in Tampa.

The investigators, according to several people briefed on the interview, wanted to question Rodriguez about his ties to a Canadian doctor who said he had treated Rodriguez and who was under investigation by federal authorities in the United States on suspicion of distributing performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes.

In the interview, which lasted several hours, Rodriguez was emphatic: the doctor had treated him but had never given him performance-enhancing drugs.

Fourteen months later, the investigators for baseball still have not accepted those answers as fact and are trying to determine what the doctor, Anthony Galea, might have given Rodriguez, according to several people briefed on the federal investigation.

In recent weeks, the investigators have sought to obtain the medical records Galea kept about his treatment of Rodriguez. To date, they have been unsuccessful despite the fact that Rodriguez has cleared the way for the records to be released, according to two people with knowledge of the request.

Galea, who was indicted in October by a federal grand jury in Buffalo on five charges that alleged he distributed performance-enhancing drugs — including human growth hormone — to professional athletes in the United States, has been in plea negotiations with federal prosecutors in Buffalo for several months, according to several people briefed on the case. The people would not be identified because the dealings between the government and Galea and his lawyers are confidential.

A guilty plea in the case, one that would probably involve Galea’s laying out exactly what he did and did not do for the athletes, could provide baseball with its answers and would probably make clear whether Rodriguez faces any criminal exposure. Rodriguez, according to the people briefed on the case, testified in 2010 before a federal grand jury hearing evidence in the case. It is not clear what his testimony was.

Mark J. Mahoney, Galea’s lawyer in Buffalo, said he knew nothing about baseball’s efforts to gain records of Galea’s treatment of Rodriguez. Galea’s lawyer in Canada, Brian H. Greenspan, did not respond to two e-mails and a voicemail message left at his office on Sunday.

Rodriguez’s lawyers, James E. Sharp and Jay K. Reisinger, issued a statement to The New York Times on Sunday.

“Alex fully cooperated with Major League Baseball and federal authorities in Buffalo regarding his treatment with Dr. Galea, including granting a release of his medical records,” the statement said. “Regarding matters before the grand jury, strict secrecy rules do not permit us to comment.”

Reisinger as a result would not say whether Rodriguez had told the grand jury if he was treated with H.G.H., or even whether Rodriguez had appeared before the grand jury.

I wonder why “the investigators for baseball still have not accepted” A-Rod’s answers on this? Do they think he was lying? The answer has to be yes – or else why would they want more on this? And, if they find out that A-Rod did get HGH from Galea, what would they do? Would they suspend him for 50 games? What would that mean for Alex’s Hall of Fame chances? How would the Yankees react to all this?

It’s amazing that we’re still talking about this – all these months later, huh?

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Via Michael S. Schmidt -

Alex Rodriguez told investigators and lawyers for Major League Baseball on Thursday that he was treated by a Canadian-based doctor now under investigation by federal authorities but that he did not receive performance-enhancing drugs from him, according to two people in baseball with knowledge of the meeting.

In meeting with the Yankees’ Rodriguez for a three-hour interview Thursday night in Florida, baseball officials ended up beating the federal authorities to the punch. The authorities have sought to interview Rodriguez for weeks but have not yet done so. Baseball officials and the federal authorities want to know what interactions Rodriguez had with the doctor, Anthony Galea, who has stated that he treated him in 2009 with anti-inflammatories after Rodriguez’s hip surgery.

Rodriguez was accompanied to the meeting by several personal lawyers — including James Sharp and Jay Reisinger — as well as a lawyer from the players union, the people said.

Investigators from Major League Baseball’s department of investigations and at least one lawyer from the commissioner’s office questioned Rodriguez, the people said. Major League Baseball’s top drug-testing official, Rob Manfred, was not at the meeting.

Major League Baseball officials wanted to meet with Rodriguez before the season and have urged him to meet with federal authorities as soon as possible, said the people with knowledge of the Rodriguez interview. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing the details of a confidential meeting.

Rodriguez had planned to meet with federal authorities March 26 in Buffalo, where the local United States attorney’s office is leading the investigation into Galea. The inquiry is looking into the possibility that Galea distributed performance enhancers, including human growth hormone, to various athletes. But that meeting was put off after Rodriguez’s lawyers expressed concern that there would be a media spectacle.

Federal authorities had previously tried to interview Rodriguez in Florida last month, but Rodriguez put off that session.

Rodriguez’s relationship with Galea has left Major League Baseball and the Yankees concerned, in part because Rodriguez’s representatives told the team in December that he had never had any interactions with Galea, which now turns out to be inaccurate.

It is also clear that the Yankees are not pleased that Rodriguez, as of Friday afternoon, had yet to meet with federal investigators because he is now poised to create a distraction for the team just as the season is beginning.

A three-hour interview? That seems to be pretty long for what should have been as simple as “What interactions did you have with Anthony Galea?”

I wonder what else was discussed…

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It is a fair and good question, no? Via Mike Lupica this morning -

Here is the question that Alex Rodriguez will eventually have to answer, for the feds, for the Yankees, for Major League Baseball. It doesn’t have to be the first question he is asked, but it is still one that requires not just an answer, but a straight one:

Why exactly did you need to go to a Canadian doctor one who can’t practice medicine in New York to get anti-inflammatory drugs for a hip that may or may not have been “inflamed” at the time?

I don’t mean to be a cynic or skeptic with the Yankee third baseman, but are we supposed to believe he couldn’t get anti-inflammatory pills at Columbia-Presbyterian, a few minutes from Yankee Stadium?

He couldn’t get anti-inflammatory pills from the Yankee team doctors or at New York Hospital?

But apparently we are supposed to believe that Dr. Galea, who is on record about how much he likes human growth hormone as a way of keeping himself young, is as much of an expert on anti-inflammatory pills that’s what he told the Associated Press he gave to Alex Rodriguez as he is blood-spinning. What a guy. He should have his own TV show, like Dr. Oz.

Or maybe Galea is a different kind of wizard.

Come on, there are more things fishy about all this than the old Fulton Fish Market. If the whole thing is so easily explained, if Rodriguez is “at ease” with the whole situation as he told the media in Florida the other day, how come he hasn’t cleared some of this up already, no matter how lawyered up he is.

For me, it’s pretty obvious. Rodriguez went north of the border to seek out some form of treatment that is not approved in the United States.

Blood-spinning and/or anti-inflammatory prescriptions could have easily been done somewhere in New York or any other major city here. Yet, Alex went to Galea because he felt that there was something he could do/provide that was not available (or legal?) here.

And, in time, the truth will come out on this one. Of course, what happens after that is anyone’s guess.

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Via the New York Times –

A Toronto-based doctor under investigation for possibly smuggling drugs into the United States told The Associated Press on Monday that he treated Alex Rodriguez for an inflamed hip last year.

If true, Rodriguez could be in violation of his contract with the Yankees because the team said in a statement last week that it never authorized Rodriguez to be treated by the doctor, Anthony Galea.

In an interview Monday with the New York Times, Dr. Marc Philippon, the team-authorized doctor who performed hip surgery on Rodriguez last March, said he never gave approval for Galea to treat the third baseman following the surgery.

Philippon said that if Galea gave Rodriguez oral anti-inflammatory medicine than he has no problem. If Galea gave Rodriguez any injections, however, Philippon said he would be upset because he believes he should be consulted for all such procedures.

“He doesn’t work at my clinic,” Philippon said of Galea. “Here is the way it works — I am the surgeon. I oversee the rehab.”

The revelations come one week after Rodriguez told reporters that he had been contacted by federal authorities, who wanted to talk to him about his connection to Galea, who has been charged by Canadian authorities with conspiring to smuggle human growth hormone and other drugs into the United States.

Rodriguez has yet to meet with federal investigators, although that meeting could come this week. He was informed of Galea’s statement on Monday afternoon as he was talking amiably with several reporters in the Yankees’ clubhouse in Bradenton, Fla., where the team was in the midst of playing the Pittsburgh Pirates in an exhibition game.

However, when one reporter brought up Galea’s statements to The Associated Press, Rodriguez said, “I can’t talk about that,” and walked away.

In the interview with The Associated Press, Galea said he prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs to Rodriguez last year, after the hip surgery, but did not give him H.G.H. The article did not indicate whether he administered the drugs in oral or injectable form. “He had a damaged hip. Inflamed. It was damaged,” he told The Associated Press. “He needed anti-inflammatories for his hip. I was basically helping in the rehab.”

Galea also said that when authorities stopped his assistant at the United States-Canadian border last year, she was carrying only a small amount of human growth hormone, exclusively for his personal use. Authorities found 20 vials and 76 ampules of drugs, including H.G.H., in a car driven by his assistant, Mary Anne Catalano, according to federal court documents.Last week, The New York Times reported that in December, the Yankees asked representatives of Rodriguez whether he had had any dealings with Galea, and were told he did not. Their suspicions had been raised, they said, because after Rodriguez’s hip surgery, he was monitored by a chiropractor, Mark Lindsay, who has worked closely with Galea in the past.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there’s no joy in Yankeeland — as A-Rod’s credibility is again in doubt.

And, last, but not least, this would incomplete;
If I forgot to add this one mo’ closing beat,
About how ol’ Selena Roberts in all her glory,
Is probably smuggling peanuts while reading this story.

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Are the Yankees upset with Alex Rodriguez? Via Bob Raissman:

Certain members of the Yankees high command are very, very angry with Alex Rodriguez.

No one likes being deceived, especially these suits. They are furious over A-Rod hanging them out to dry, not immediately informing them he had been contacted by the FBI to testify in a matter concerning Anthony Galea, the Canadian doctor linked to the importing of illegal drugs.

“They (Yankees brass) don’t like being blindsided,” said a TV industry source who deals with the Yankees and YES. “If Rodriguez isn’t protecting the organization paying him a fortune, why should the organization go out of its way to protect him?”

So, it’s highly unlikely Bombers brass was shedding a single tear over how its Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network covered A-Rod’s first first plate appearance of the spring.

The angry Yankee executives could not have scripted it any better.

That “humongous gorilla” that once weighed A-Rod down in October was gone. The hip was better, too. There was also the official “one of the guys” proclamation hanging somewhere in A-Rod’s mind.

“That all amounts to a huge sigh or relief for Alex Rodriguez, who now comes into camp healthy,” Michael Kay, YES’ play-by-play man, said as Rodriguez stepped in Wednesday to face Pirates pitcher Ross Ohlendorf.

As soon as those uplifting words left Kay’s mouth, Ken Singleton, his partner, down-shifted into the dark side. Singleton started talking about last spring, hip surgery and “uh, uh, steroids.”

Kay quickly said: “Now Alex was looking to have a very, very quiet spring this year with health and the world championship, but he was questioned by the media the other day because he’s going to be questioned by FBI officials about the Canadian-based doctor Anthony Galea . . .”

Singleton tried to characterize this as a routine matter, but the prominent mention of A-Rod’s latest controversy – highlighting it during his first spring at-bat – was not business as usual for YES.

Highlighting tales of syringes and shady characters is not good for the Yankees brand. This time around, though, although it’s “just” about him having to talk to the FBI, A-Rod was not provided cover. For YES, this was a radical departure. It indicates the depth of anger here. While there’s no evidence Kay and Singleton were ordered by the higher-ups to highlight this so early in the telecast, you can be sure, absolutely sure, none of the Yankee higher-ups called their counterparts at YES to complain.

“At first they (Yankees execs) thought the media was blowing this up (out of proportion),” an MLB source said. “Then they found out he (Rodriguez) is being called in (by the FBI) to testify and this was coming directly from the feds. Thanks to Alex, the Yankees were caught off guard.”

Now, there is concern over this FBI situation – and where it will lead. Whenever players are called to testify under oath, there’s always the risk they can get caught up in perjury charges, as was the case with Barry Bonds and Miguel Tejada. There’s also concern that A-Rod may be backsliding into his days of scandal and turmoil.

“They (Yankee officials) are concerned this stuff is going to start happening all over again,” the source said. “They are not happy. He’s been in camp, what, a week? First he gets in the papers for his Maybach thing (fender bender). Then comes this FBI thing. They’re wishing he would have stayed with Kate Hudson.”

Ah, yes, Kate Hudson…the lady in white.

I’m not sure that I agree with Raissman here. After all, how could the YES booth not mention the FBI thing and A-Rod during his first At Bat?

But, if it’s true that Rodriguez didn’t plug the Yankees brass into this thing, immediately, when he first found out – and they were “were caught off guard” by the news – then you have to question, yet again, where A-Rod’s brain is…and whether all the talk about his transformation last season is, in the end, just talk.

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The Miami Herald Blog has the story.

With a name like that, A-Rod’s lucky she’s too young to date a retired and/or deceased ball player. Otherwise, I can think of one or two players she may have preferred over Alex…

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Via the Daily News with a h/t to WW reader cr1:

The Canadian doctor who performed a controversial medical procedure on Tiger Woods is under criminal investigation for drug violations on both sides of the border, bringing scrutiny to his colleagues, including one who worked closely with BALCO athletes and Yankee superstar Alex Rodriguez.

Dr. Tony Galea was arrested in October and his Toronto clinic was raided by Canadian authorities after his assistant was detained at the U.S.-Canadian border and reportedly found to be in possession of illegal drugs, including human growth hormone (hGH) and Actovegin – a drug extracted from calf’s blood that has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The Daily News has learned that the Buffalo office of the FBI is investigating Galea, along with Canadian authorities.

Galea and Mark Lindsay, a Canadian chiropractor who treated Woods and managed Rodriguez’s rehabilitation this summer from hip surgery, are principals at a Toronto clinic called Affinity Health.

Lindsay also treated ex-Yankee pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, who was recovering from a hip injury, this year. Lindsay’s clients have included former NFL star Bill Romanowski, and sprinters Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones, who all testified in front of the grand jury that investigated the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative’s dealings with steroids.

Lindsay worked with Montgomery during the time that BALCO founder Victor Conte formed a group called “Project World Record,” intended to make Montgomery the fastest man in the world. Montgomery was later implicated in the BALCO scandal, along with Romanowski and Jones, and is now serving time in prison for heroin distribution. Jones served six months in jail for lying to investigators about her use of performance-enhancing drugs.

“Dr. Mark Lindsay is a world-renowned chiropractor that I met through Bill Romanowski,” Conte told the Daily News last night. “Mark is one of the best at active release techniques, and I referred a few athletes to him, including Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones.”

An interesting connection here? Maybe? Then again, almost 30 years ago, I went to High School with a guy who once knew a girl who used to visit another guy in prison…so, we have to be careful about connecting dots and drawing lines.

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Yup, just 300 days ago, Alex Rodriguez was hiding and partying in the Bahamas. And, now, he’s celebrating and partying in the Dominican Republic. Maybe the Vengaboys should do a song about A-Rod? Via the Daily News -

Just over a month after winning his first World Series ring – when he buried both his postseason demons of the past and the tumultuous beginning of his 2009 season – Alex Rodriguez is still speechless when it comes to reflecting on life as a champion.

“It’s still hard to put into words what we accomplished as a team. We just believe in Joe’s (Girardi) message, which is team, team, team. I’m still enjoying it,” A-Rod told the Daily News Saturday night.

Dropping by to support his good friend David Ortiz at the Red Sox slugger’s charity golf weekend, Rodriguez made a brief but memorable appearance at the Cap Cana resort. It was the latest stop of Rodriguez’s unofficial World Series champion tour. Friday night he partied with hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and teammate Robinson Cano in the resort town of La Romana, celebrating Jay-Z’s birthday. Last week Rodriguez was in London with main squeeze Kate Hudson as she did press for the premiere of the movie “Nine.” Last month, he was courtside for a Lakers game.

Yes, it’s good to be the king, even if Rodriguez is still keeping his cards close to the vest and his comments brief. Asked if he plays over in his mind any particular World Series memories, Rodriguez replayed an answer that was common this season, when he avoided headlines and controversy following a rough spring training.

“Nothing personal. To me it’s just the great team spirit,” Rodriguez said. “Everyone basically checked their ego at the door and was concerned about one thing, that’s winning games. The World Series, the championship (series) and the division series was really how we played all year as a unit.”

Rodriguez certainly looked the picture of contentment Saturday night, arriving in a golf cart and taking dress-casual to a whole new level. A-Rod sported shorts, a baseball cap and a Cap Cana polo shirt while most of the other guests were dressed in semi-formal attire for the dinner that raised money for Ortiz’s charity that supports needy Dominican and American children with heart problems.

“A-Rod, since day one, he told me, ‘I’ll be there, Papi. I’ve got to support you. I love the cause. I’ll be there.’ He always wants to help the most he can,” Ortiz said. But no sooner had Rodriguez arrived, doled out embraces to current and past athletes and slipped Ortiz a check, he was slipping out the entrance into a white SUV.

David Ortiz? A-Rod? I wonder if Angel Presinal was serving drinks at this party?

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This was in the New York Amsterdam News last week – an outlet that bills itself as “New York’s largest and most influential Black-owned and operated business institutions” – written by Jaime C. Harris:

The media has reared its hypocritical head again.

A large contingent of them has granted A-Rod a pardon while still portraying Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens and other steroid users as pariahs. Undoubtedly, their forgiving hearts have been opened as a result of Rodriquez’s tightly scripted apology, ongoing outward contrition, and subsequent emergence as a wholesome public figure and seemingly selfless teammate.

Ostensibly obsessed with his legacy, Rodriquez has methodically plotted a course he hopes will end with him being voted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame by the media when his playing days are done, moving ever so carefully since being outed.

Yet those unreceptive to A-Rod’s makeover objectively view him for what he is: a phenomenally gifted baseball player whose achievements have been forever tainted by his use of illegal performance enhancing drugs; including the amazing numbers he put up this past post-season in helping lead the Yankees to their 27th World Series title in which he batted .365 with 6 homers and 18 RBI.

Rodriguez’s transformation is immaterial to the fact that he should not be distinguished from any other transgressor simply because he has been on his best behavior since admitting using steroids. He no longer can be painted as the anti-Bonds, a role to which he was briefly elevated. Let’s not forget Rodriquez did not come forward voluntarily in an act of nobility. He got busted by a Sports Illustrated reporter.

You wouldn’t know this by reading and listening to revisionist historians who depict A-Rod’s return to glory as if were the story of Nelson Mandela. The subtext is the media’s collective ego will not allow them to move past their disdain for Bonds, McGwire and Clemens simply because these men dismiss the press and reject showing remorse.

So the media showers love on A-Rod as a gesture of reciprocal good will. However, even if Rodriquez maintains his current persona until the day of his retirement, the only way he should enter the Hall of Fame before Bonds, McGwire and Clemens, three players with unquestioned Hall credentials, is if he buys a ticket.

I don’t agree that Mark McGwire has “unquestioned Hall credentials.” But, Bonds and Clemens do…per most. And, they’ll probably get into Cooperstown before A-Rod. So, that’s sort of a moot point. But, it is interesting that many are quick to turn the page on Alex Rodriguez’ PED use – and not so quick to forgive Bonds and Clemens. I wonder why that is?

It very well could be that Bonds and Clemens are not working, all that much, with the media whereas A-Rod is a source for them now…

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An odd time for MLB to leak this story, eh? Via the New York Times -

The commissioner’s office has decided not to discipline Alex Rodriguez in light of its investigation into whether he lied about his use of performance-enhancing drugs in a meeting with baseball officials in March, according to people in baseball with knowledge of the matter.

Jay K. Reisinger, a lawyer for Rodriguez, declined to comment. The people within baseball spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing an internal investigation.

As part of the investigation, baseball investigators interviewed Angel Presinal, a Dominican trainer who has been barred from major league clubhouses since 2002 after being linked to an incident involving performance-enhancing drugs. The interview of Presinal, who has trained Rodriguez and dozens of major league players, yielded little information about Rodriguez’s possible use of banned substances.

The New York Times reported in May that members of baseball’s department of investigations had contacted Selena Roberts, the author of “A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez,” and several of Rodriguez’s associates to determine whether Rodriguez had used performance-enhancing drugs for a longer period than he admitted.

The investigation began shortly after Rodriguez met with the investigators and baseball’s top labor lawyer, Rob Manfred, in March to question him after it was revealed that he had tested positive for steroids. He subsequently admitted publicly that he used a substance he referred to as “boli” from 2001 to 2003. In the meeting with the baseball officials, Rodriguez reiterated that he used boli from 2001 to 2003 and said that he had never received substances from Presinal.

Concerns about the truthfulness of Rodriguez’s statements grew in the commissioner’s office in April, after Roberts’s book was published. It contained assertions that Rodriguez used several different steroids under the supervision of Presinal and had human growth hormone in his possession in 2004.

The investigation proved difficult for the commissioner’s office, but it also showed that its investigations department was willing to try to develop evidence against one of the game’s premier stars, particularly in its effort to interview Presinal. Many of the accusations in the book were not damning and were based on anonymous sources. Other accusations were several years old, and Roberts declined to cooperate with the investigation. The baseball investigators have little power to compel witnesses who do not work for baseball to speak with them.

Although it was not announced, MLB also decided to not to discipline Roseanne Barr for butchering the National Anthem on July 25, 1990 or Deion Sanders for not running out a pop-up on May 22, 1990.

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Via the AP -

Remember that tell-all book about A-Rod?

Published in early May by HarperCollins with an announced first printing of 150,000, “A-Rod” has sold just 16,000 copies so far, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 75 percent of industry sales. The book sold 11,000 in its first week, then quickly faded.

At the Rizzoli Bookstore in midtown Manhattan, “A-Rod” has sold two copies. Twenty-seven copies have sold at Posman Books, based in Grand Central Terminal, but none in the past two weeks.

Only 16,000 out of 150,000 copies have sold? Wow. That’s a batting average of .107 on sales.

In his last 44 ABs in ALDS play, A-Rod has hit better that that. Granted, he’s only hit .159 in those 44 ABs, but, that’s still better than .107.

I wonder if they boo Selena Roberts when she walks into the offices at HarperCollins?

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Pete Abe shares a link to an interesting look at the charges that A-Rod tipped pitches in Texas.

See? I told you that it was Miggy Tejada.

I wonder if anyone will ask Alex about this new report? Of course, they could also ask Tejada too.

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Via Jon Heyman -

Major League Baseball is expanding its investigation of Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez by adding the pitch-tipping allegation spelled out in Selena Roberts’ new book A-Rod to the agenda, people familiar with the inquiry told SI.com.

While MLB is expected to call back Rodriguez himself, as well as others connected to those 2001-03 Texas Rangers teams when the pitch tipping supposedly took place, the expectation to prove any pitch tipping on Rodriguez’s part has to be extraordinarily low.

MLB’s burden of proof in a case like that would have to be extremely high to take action; they’d need either Rodriguez to admit to the charges, or for someone else intimately involved to swear to it. It would seem futile to go over video of the games and try to match up alleged tips and pitches, especially since ex-Rangers teammates have come forward to say they didn’t notice any tipping, and they were there.

Sounds like a smoke and mirrors due diligence attempt here by MLB, if you ask me…

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Want to read an excerpt from Selena Roberts’ book “A Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez”?

MYFOXNY.COM has one from Chapter One. Click here to read it. And, feel free to share your thoughts on this in the comments section below.

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Via the MLB official website:

The author of a new book on Alex Rodriguez said Sunday night that she believes Rodriguez used performance-enhancing substances during his time with the Yankees. Rodriguez has said his use of banned substances happened only when he played for the Texas Rangers.

Selena Roberts, who also co-authored the Sports Illustrated piece that led to Rodriguez’s admission of steroid use in February, told MLB Network in an interview with Bob Costas that her reporting has led her to conclude that his usage of PEDs was not limited to his time with Texas.

I had a chance to catch this MLB Network “exclusive” when it aired live at 7 pm ET this evening.

It was interesting to hear Roberts share that most of what she is reporting in the book was derived via “links” and “associations” in the absence of a smoking gun – while at the same time saying that, to date, A-Rod has provided a “threadbare acknowledgment” of his PED usage. Related, while it’s somewhat clear, now, that Roberts provides very little attribution in her book, she claims that she applied the same “litmus test” in vetting out her sources as when she reported that Rodriguez used PEDs in Texas – which Alex later confirmed, himself.

There’s enough stuff here on each side of the fence to keep both the A-Rod supporters and Roberts believers busy on this debate for a while. And, for good measure, in the post-interview recap, MLB Network reporter Tom Verducci reminded us that there have been many major stories in the history of journalism that have been broken via the utilization of unnamed sources.

Yet, what I found most interesting about this whole event was that the MLB Network – which is the official voice of Major League Baseball – elected to have a one-hour “special presentation” devoted to interviewing Selena Roberts on the eve of her new book coming out on Alex Rodriguez. We’ve come a long way from 1970, haven’t we? Somehow, I don’t see (then) MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn giving Jim Bouton a one-hour special to promote Ball Four the day before its release date.

Alex Rodriguez is supposed to be one of the crown jewels of Major League Baseball, right? After all, MLBAM hosts a website devoted to A-Rod, no?

Do you think, if, Selena Roberts had written a book which disclosed that American Idol was a fake and/or cheat, that the FOX Network would give her a one-hour special to basically pitch the work? Probably not – even with FOX’s rep to do anything for ratings. So, why would baseball support someone who’s trying to knock one of their assets down several pegs?

Sure, maybe the MLB Network is just trying to make a case that they’re an independent media source. You know, like how MLB.com puts that closing tag of “This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs” at the end of its reports. Yeah, maybe that’s it…

Or, is Major League Baseball so ticked with the A-Rod circus and the alleged acts therein that they’ll do anything to help support a case against him? Heck, for all we know, the Yankees could have urged baseball to support Roberts – with the hope that her book will enable baseball to uncover something on Rodriguez which will allow New York to void A-Rod’s contract (which now looks like a huge burden to the Yankees in the years 2013 through 2017 – if not sooner).

What did you think of the MLB interview of Selena Roberts today and the choice of baseball to air it?

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Adam Dorhauer, aka Kincaid at 3-D Baseball takes an interesting statistical look at the theory A-Rod was tipping pitches while playing in Texas. Click here to see what he found out. Here’s a snip:

They basically morphed from Joel Youngblood into Dave Parker at the plate. Or from Adam Kennedy into Miguel Tejada. What’s more, they should have been dropping to Mark Lewis levels instead. Notice especially the huge jumps in SLG: these hitters were flat out clobbering the ball like they knew what was coming. It’s not like those pitchers in Texas needed any extra help without “Crash” Rodriguez screwing with their ERAs either. I hate to say it, but it’s pretty clear from these numbers that something was up. This is beyond grey area even. And it’s not something he was just following the rest of baseball into. This is purely someone being an ass all on his own.

Very interesting, indeed.

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Via the Times –

Major League Baseball is investigating the accuracy of statements by Alex Rodriguez about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, according to people within baseball who were briefed on the matter.

Investigators have contacted several of Rodriguez’s associates to determine whether he used performance-enhancing drugs for a longer time than he has admitted, the people said.

The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a continuing investigation.

They said that the investigation began shortly after Rodriguez met with investigators March 1 in Tampa, Fla., because they had questions about the consistency of his statements at the meeting.

Questions about the truthfulness of Rodriguez’s statements were heightened among baseball officials last week after details of a new book about Rodriguez were reported by several news media outlets. The book, “A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez,” by Selena Roberts, asserts that Rodriguez used several different steroids under the supervision of Presinal and had human growth hormone in his possession when he played for the Yankees in 2004. In 2005, the book also says, Rodriguez was mocked by teammates who suspected that he was using drugs.

On Friday, an investigator asked Roberts if she would cooperate with baseball’s inquiry. Roberts said she would not.

“I said that as a journalist, I cover M.L.B., and cooperating with them on this would be a conflict of interest, and he said that he understood the position that I am in,” Roberts, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and a former reporter and columnist for The New York Times, said Saturday in a telephone interview.

A lawyer for Rodriguez declined to comment.

Commissioner Bud Selig can discipline a player if he feels the player was not forthcoming or truthful in a meeting with investigators. But pursuing whether Rodriguez told the truth will be difficult for the investigators; unlike law enforcement authorities, they have little power to compel a witness to speak with them.

…They said that the investigation began shortly after Rodriguez met with investigators March 1 in Tampa, Fla., because they had questions about the consistency of his statements at the meeting…

…Questions about the truthfulness of Rodriguez’s statements were heightened among baseball officials last week after details of a new book about Rodriguez were reported by several news media outlets…

If true, the fact that MLB started this two months ago, and before the details of Roberts’ book came out, is bad news for A-Rod. Obviously, MLB felt that Rodriguez did not come clean in his disclosure. Hence, their probe. If someone out there wants to spill some beans on Alex, that’s all Bud and his boys will need to run with this. And, in my opinion, I don’t think the Yankees will fight a suspension if MLB lays one on A-Rod. And, it would not shock me to see the Yanks try and use what’s found, if it’s big enough, to void Rodriguez’ deal with the team – especially now that we know Alex has a hip that may prevent him from being a star player three or four years down the line from now…

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And, in other news, cigarettes are bad for you, the sun will come up tomorrow, and Morganna Roberts will never fall through an open manhole…

Via the Daily News -

Alex Rodriguez was an insecure prima donna who made a clubhouse attendant load his toothbrush with toothpaste after every game in his three seasons with the Texas Rangers, a new book charges.

The Rangers were also required to send a basket of food to the controversial All-Star’s hotel suite during road trips, Sports Illustrated columnist Selena Roberts reports in “A-Rod.”

Many Texas teammates kept their distance from A-Rod, who they saw as a spoiled superstar. His relationship with other players didn’t improve when Rodriguez joined the Yankees in 2004.

His Bomber teammates regarded A-Rod as a phony and a hypocrite because he tried to project an All-American public image while pursuing a swinger’s lifestyle.

During a series in Texas, Roberts writes, A-Rod went to a sex club while his wife, Cynthia, pregnant with their first child, was at home in New York.

Rodriguez also turned off teammates by bragging about wild nights with strippers – and by making clumsy passes at other players’ wives and girlfriends.

“He would use these corny pickup lines on a guy’s wife,” one former teammate told Roberts. “He just wanted to know that he could, not that he would act on it. Seemed like an ego thing.”

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From the gang at the New York Times -

“A-Rod, The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez” (HarperCollins), by Selena Roberts, asserts that Rodriguez used steroids in high school, took them as a major leaguer under the supervision of the now-banned trainer Angel Presinal, had human growth hormone in his possession in 2004 and was suspected by Yankee teammates of using steroids in 2005, according to a copy of the book obtained by The New York Times. The book is to be released Monday.

The problem for Selig is that the assertions in the book and an account that Rodriguez previously provided to officials for Major League Baseball about his use of performance enhancers may not be consistent. Under Selig’s broad powers as commissioner, he can discipline a player if he believes the player was not truthful or forthcoming in an interview with baseball investigators.

Rodriguez met with investigators in February after Roberts, a columnist for Sports Illustrated and a former reporter and columnist for The Times, reported on the magazine’s Web site that he tested positive for steroids in 2003, when baseball was conducting anonymous testing.

In the interview with investigators, Rodriguez reiterated what he had said publicly after his positive test was revealed. He told them that he used a performance-enhancing substance from 2001 to 2003 and that his cousin had obtained it in the Dominican Republic. Specifically, Rodriguez said that he never received substances from Presinal.

While the book does not state that Presinal either gave Rodriguez drugs or injected him with them, it says that Presinal had direct involvement in Rodriguez’s drug use. The anecdotes about 2004 and 2005, meanwhile, suggest Rodriguez was using drugs in a wider time frame than he described to investigators.

What Selig will do in response to the book remains to be seen. Some of the accusations in the book are based on anonymous sources, and others are simply presented as knowledge the author has without an explanation of how the information was obtained. If Selig decides to pursue the matter, and possibly discipline Rodriguez, he would presumably need to have baseball’s investigators verify the accusations on their own.

…If Selig decides to pursue the matter, and possibly discipline Rodriguez, he would presumably need to have baseball’s investigators verify the accusations on their own…

That last line says it all. An investigation could be done in an amount of time as quickly as three months or it could take nearly two years to be completed. Betcha if Bud decides to take action on this one, he’ll want to make it a quick investigation…at least he should, if he’s smart…

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Ted Keith, over at S.I., has a great feature up where he talks to R.A. Dickey, Doug Glanville and Shane Spencer – who were with the Rangers when Alex Rodriguez was there – about the claim that A-Rod tipped pitches for friends. Here’s a snip:

Shane Spencer, though, was not surprised. Spencer came to the Rangers from the Indians in a July 2003 trade and it wasn’t long after his arrival that he began hearing whispers in his new, divided clubhouse about Rodriguez. “It was brought up. I overheard it but not from specific people,” said Spencer, now a coach with the high Class-A Lake Elsinore (Calif.) Storm. “I think I overheard it in our clubhouse, but that team was really split up — a bunch of groups of threes and fours. It wasn’t a real close clubhouse and guys start talking especially when you’re getting your butt kicked everyday. I remember hearing that.”

The journeyman outfielder said that while he never saw or heard of other players doing that, he wouldn’t have been surprised if Rodriguez wasn’t the only one doing so. “I’m sure it does happen. There are friends of friends. I’m sure there are catchers out there that have told guys what’s coming. Hopefully it didn’t happen [in Texas] and hopefully it didn’t happen that often.”

In a phone interview with SI.com, [Selena] Roberts said that over the course of a couple years, some people with the Rangers began to detect a pattern whereby Rodriguez would appear to be giving away pitch type and location to hitters, always middle infielders who would then be able to repay him in kind when he was at the plate, with his body movement. According to Roberts’ sources, “If it was a changeup, he would twist his glove hand. To indicate a slider, he would sweep the dirt in front of him and he would bend in the direction of where the pitch was going to be, inside or outside.” Roberts’ sources stressed that this only occurred in games that had long since been decided and was done for “slump insurance. You can count on your buddy to help break you out of your slump. There was no intent to throw a game or change the outcome.”

Glanville suggested that perhaps A-Rod’s mannerisms that led to suspicion were actually a way to alert his fellow defenders what pitch was coming next, something the shortstop often does during a game. But Roberts’ sources said that the key difference is when Rodriguez would signal. “The thing Alex would do, and this is the critical difference between signaling your infield as quarterback and giving away the pitch to the hitter, is when you flash the sign. This was done to give the batter plenty of time to see it and figure what to do about it. What would usually happen would be for Alex to do something as the pitcher is in the windup; that way the batter is focused on the pitcher. These signs Alex would flash came before the windup and that made it even more noticeable.”

Interesting stuff. And, you can bet that someone (MLB?) who has access to video tape of blow-out games for the Rangers, played during the time Alex Rodriguez was there, will be checking this all out, soon, to see if there’s anything to these claims. It’s just a matter of time…

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Via the Miami Herald -

But [A-Rod's high school coach Rich] Hofman knows him better than most, has known him since he was a 15-year-old at Westminster Christian School. He coached Rodriguez and three other future major leaguers to the national No. 1 ranking in 1992. He predicted that Rodriguez would be the No. 1 draft pick and greatest player of his day.

Steroids in high school? Hofman scoffs.

”It’s totally unsubstantiated, totally false, all innuendo, a vendetta,” said Hofman, 64, retired after winning 10 state titles at Westminster Christian and at Westminster Academy in Broward. “We had a close-knit group and in all our conversations, steroids never came up. These kids loved to play baseball. We had a rigorous program and that’s why we were good — we earned it.”

In the book, a former teammate said Rodriguez used steroids (his connection was a dog kennel owner) and Hofman knew it. Another student said Hofman’s son David, who played football with Rodriguez, saw Rodriguez use steroids.

”Totally bogus,” Hofman said.

The only things Hofman saw his players ingest were protein shakes. Those, plus weight training and a growth spurt would explain how Rodriguez gained 25 pounds between 10th and 11th grade, and improved his bench press from 100 pounds to 310.

Hofman said Rodriguez wasn’t the deceitful type.

”Other than the usual tomfoolery, they hung out at Doug Mientkiewicz’s house,” Hofman said.

How does one reconcile Hofman’s belief in Rodriguez with the A-Rod who admitted he took steroids in 2001-2003, but also made the ridiculous claim that he didn’t know what he was taking at the time except that “they weren’t Tic-Tacs”?

He said he stopped after he left the Rangers, but Yankees teammates disagree and nicknamed him for his ample pecs, a condition called gynecomastia often caused by steroids. Watch the YouTube clip of a shirtless A-Rod on the Letterman show. An unnamed player said A-Rod and Kevin Brown were seen with human growth hormone in 2004.

‘Alex called me and said, `Coach, I can swear on a stack of Bibles that there’s nothing to this,’ ” Hofman said.

And, via mlb.com -

Recent accounts from excerpts in an upcoming book that Alex Rodriguez may have turned to steroids in high school were refuted Thursday by Dodgers utilityman Doug Mientkiewicz, who was a teammate of Rodriguez’s at Westminster Christian High in Miami.

“There’s no way,” Mientkiewicz told Yahoo! Sports. “I was with him too much, I was with him for too long. Our team was together, like, 20 hours of the day. Every day.”

The Warriors won the Florida state championship and were USA Today’s top-ranked team during Rodriguez’s junior year.

But Mientkiewicz, who graduated in 1992 and was a year older than Rodriguez, said the Yankees slugger naturally got bigger.

“He also grew two or three inches,” Mientkiewicz said. “You’re talking about a 15-year-old kid who looked really skinny and scrawny. Then he hit puberty and he grew into a man. Everybody goes through it. So now every 13-to-15-year-old kid is going to be accused of this, because he hits puberty?”

It’s funny. Those who want to discredit what’s in the Roberts book often say it’s a case of “he said, she said” and therefore you cannot take what’s in the book as truth. However, could not the “he said, she said” discount logic also apply to what’s being said by people like Hoffman and Mientkiewicz?

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Via Tom Verducci -

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday he will withhold comment about any possible disciplinary action against Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez until he has read A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez, a soon-to-be published book that details how Rodriguez tipped opposing hitters about what pitches were coming.

“I’m not going to respond until I see the book,” Selig told SI.com. “I just heard about it.”

When asked in general if giving pitches to an opposing team would subject a player to possible disciplinary action for striking at the integrity of the game and violating a contractual obligation to the “high standards of fair play,” Selig maintained his refusal to comment in detail. “I need to see the book and go over it,” the commissioner said. “I need to see the book, for goodness sake.”

Wow. Check out Bud, talking to Tommy Vee like he’s Cardinal Wolsey urging Queen Katherine…for goodness sake.

Actually, the whole pitch tipping thing is interesting. First, it would have to be a buddy of A-Rod, to be in on this one-hand-washing-the-other scheme. And, it would have to be someone who was in a position to tip pitches back to A-Rod when it was time to return the favor – meaning someone who played 2B, SS or C on the other team. That sort of narrows down the field, no?

Miguel Tejada?

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Via Nick Cafardo –

Alex Rodriguez said “I’m not going there” when asked about excerpts of a new book by Selena Roberts which appeared in the New York Daily News today which reveals that the Yankee slugger may have taken steroids as far back as high school and that he was taking human growth hormone while with the Yankees.

“I’m not going there,” said Rodriguez, wearing a blue T-shirt and blue warm up pants as he left the Yankees’ minor league complex early this afternoon. “I’m so happy about being back on the field and playing baseball. My team has won two games up there. Hopefully I can come back and help them win more.”

“I’m not going there” [Rodriquez said] when asked about the high school use and when asked whether he’d been truthful with the media when admitting his steroid use during a spring training press conference, he ended the press conference and said again, “I’m.not going there.”

Asked if he were tired of the steroid talk, he said, “Ahhh, ya,”

Rodriguez faced live pitching for the first time yesterday and went 1 for 6 with two walks. His only hit was a home run against extended spring training A-ball pitchers.

“I think I’m in a good place,” he said. “I think I’m feeling better physically. I’ve had a great week here. I’ve worked extremely hard and I’m very anxious to do what God put me on this Earth to do and that’s play baseball.”

Of course Alex won’t “go there.” After all, the Yankees took his driver, Yuri Sucart, away from him…just kidding.

Seriously, at some point, A-Rod is going to have to address this book, right? Or, can he “No comment!” it forever?

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If you heard a noise this morning that sounded like “Awwww, crap!,” it was the collective sound of Yankees fans across the east end of America waking up and reacting to hearing this news…

As per the Daily News today:

Alex Rodriguez may have bulked up with steroids as early as high school – and was suspected of juicing while playing for the Yankees, a bombshell new book reports.

Although the slugger insists he dabbled in steroids only while with the Texas Rangers, the book “A-Rod” strongly suggests he didn’t give up performance enhancers when he came to New York.

Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts, who broke the story that A-Rod flunked a steroid screening in 2003, reveals fellow Bombers nicknamed the third baseman “B—h T–s” in 2005.

That was after he put on 15 pounds in the off-season and seemed to develop round pectorals, a condition called gynecomastia that can be caused by anabolic steroids, she writes.

In addition, an unnamed major-leaguer is quoted as saying Rodriguez and steroid-tainted pitcher Kevin Brown were seen together with human growth hormone – HGH – in 2004.

Jose Canseco, an ex-teammate and friend of Rodriguez who accused him of steroid abuse even before last year, believes A-Rod was on ‘roids in pinstripes.

“I absolutely think Alex is using HGH,” he said. “Probably a combination of growth and steroids.”

Canseco said he believes Rodriguez’s steroid use goes back to his teens, when he was a high school standout in Miami.

“Was he on steroids in high school?” he said. “I think probably so. I worked out with him when he was 18. He could lift almost as much as I could.”

Rodriguez put on 25 pounds of muscle between his sophomore and junior years, and word was that his connection was a dog kennel owner.

A former high school teammate told Roberts the future No.1 MLB draft pick was on steroids and his coach knew it.

Another student said the son of coach Rich Hofman admitted he saw Rodriguez use steroids.

Hofman said it was news to him. “Whatever he was doing, he was doing it somewhere else,” he said.

Roberts dishes up a highly unflattering portrait of A-Rod as a needy me-firster who had to have his ego constantly stroked.

In one shocking disclosure, the book accuses A-Rod of “pitch tipping” when he was with the Rangers – letting a friendly opponent at the plate know which pitch was coming in lopsided games.

Rodriguez expected players he helped would do the same for him when he was having an off night and needed to get his batting average up and it wouldn’t affect the outcome of the game.

I suspect that Bud Selig could (or should) be interested in the suggestion that A-Rod intentionally tipped pitches. That borders on game fixing – in the sense that it could impact the run spread in a game…and it would help or hurt some gamblers.

Gynecomastia? Well, maybe that would explain this?

Yeah, I know that was from 2007…and, I was just joking on that….

Back to the serious side of this…whether this news has some teeth behind it, or not, it’s still yet another distraction in Yankeeland – thanks to having Alex Rodriguez on the team. Way to go Hank Steinbrenner!

I’m sure that many Yankees fans will want to make Selena Roberts out to be the villian here and say things like “Big deal” and “There’s no proof to any of this” and “Who cares?” But, that’s not going to stop the media and many other baseball fans from feeding off this news.

Oh, boy, are the next two weeks going to be something in Yankeeland…and, sadly, it will have nothing to do with what’s happening on the field…

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Via Sam Borden -

And yet despite that, [Alex] Rodriguez has not surprisingly become a polarizing figure in the Dominican, just as he is in the United States, where he also holds citizenship. While some Dominican businesses have taken out advertisements in newspapers in the DR offering support for Rodriguez, there also appears to be a segment that views Rodriguez with disdain.

Much of that feeling likely goes back to 2006, when Rodriguez opted to play for the U.S. instead of the Dominicans in the inaugural World Baseball Classic. This year, Rodriguez has chosen to play with the Dominican Republic, and there are some who believe his flip-flopping is inappropriate.

“I get the Dominican cable channels on my TV here,” said Michelle Badia, a teacher at Somers High School who is Dominican and visits the country several times a year. “You see it quite a bit – people saying, ‘I don’t want him on the team.’ ”

Badia added that she recalled visiting Jamaica Plain, Mass., which has a heavy Latino presence, shortly after Rodriguez picked Team USA over the Dominicans in ’06. “There were a lot of posters of him on the fronts of Dominican businesses there,” she said, “and they had X’s through his face. It was like, ‘He’s not one of us.’ ”

Ulysses Serpa, a baseball fan from West Harrison who is of Dominican and Cuban descent, said, “I would say there are a good number of people who don’t even know A-Rod is Dominican and don’t associate him with that at all. They know David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, (Albert) Pujols. Not A-Rod.”

This has nothing to do with the A-Rod thing here…but…is it just me, or, is Ulysses Serpa a great name or what? I would love to see a baseball player in the big leagues with the name Ulysses Serpa…

Awesome, awesome, name.

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Amy K. Nelson, at ESPN.com, tells us everything we ever wanted to know, or not, about A-Rod’s primo, Yuri Sucart. Some highlights:

A few years ago, Roger Ball called his good friend Yuri Sucart about getting tickets to a Texas Rangers game for a female friend. Sucart willingly helped Ball; he could, since his younger cousin was the team’s star shortstop. When the woman who would be picking up the tickets asked how she would recognize Sucart, Ball didn’t hesitate.

“He’s the Dominican Shrek,” Ball said. “Yuri looks like this big, mean thing coming at you, but he’s got the softest hands. … He’s sweet as a baby.”

Sucart might physically resemble Shrek, but in everyday life, he is more like the green ogre’s friend and companion, Donkey. For the past 16 years, Sucart has been Alex Rodriguez’s loyal lieutenant, a full-time assistant — and salaried employee — whose job has been to safeguard his cousin and devote himself, at times blindly, to whatever the superstar desires.

“He lives and breathes to please Alex,” one source close to both Sucart and Rodriguez says. “He seriously does whatever Alex tells him to do. He depends completely on Alex’s good nature.”

Sucart’s life, like his role with Rodriguez, is cloaked in mystery. Sucart declined to be interviewed for this story, and Rodriguez is declining to respond to non-baseball questions. But according to Ball, who’s known the family since the early ’90s, Sucart was born in 1962 and orphaned as an infant when his mother died in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. Lourdes Navarro, Rodriguez’s mother and the sister of Sucart’s mother, helped raise Sucart, according to Ball and family friends. It is unclear where Sucart lived when Navarro moved her family to New York, where her son Alex was born in 1975.

But when Rodriguez returned to the Dominican Republic for a few years in the early 1980s, the cousins became friendly; Sucart, 13 years Rodriguez’s senior, was more like an older brother, according to sources. Sucart attended college for a few years in the Dominican before leaving for the United States, always reminding friends that he wasn’t “a dummy.”

Ball lived in the west Kendall section of Miami when he first met Sucart at the Rodriguez house. The two became friends, and Ball watched as Sucart started his life as Rodriguez’s personal assistant in 1993, when Rodriguez was drafted No. 1 overall and then signed by the Seattle Mariners. Rodriguez had Sucart live with him in a two-bedroom apartment in downtown Seattle. Sucart took care of his cousin and received a salary that enabled him to provide for his family.

Sucart continued to stay with Rodriguez when Rodriguez went to Texas in 2001 after signing an unprecedented 10-year, $252 million deal. Although his role decreased when Rodriguez married Cynthia Scurtis in late 2002, Sucart remained a key person in his cousin’s life.

In the early years, sources say, the relationship was brotherly, and Sucart — whose first name is most often pronounced “Judy” — was Rodriguez’s friend and protector. But as Rodriguez experienced success in the big leagues, the dynamic with Sucart and the rest of Rodriguez’s family began to shift.

“As Alex’s star rose, his sense of entitlement grew,” says a source who once was close to Rodriguez. “Yuri, Alex’s brother [Joe Dunand] and others became more subservient. … Alex’s sense of entitlement combined with the rest’s lack of success on their own made them ‘yes men.’”

Sources say Sucart was chief among the “yes men.” Whatever Rodriguez asked for, Sucart scrambled to provide. Rodriguez needed a soda? Sucart fetched one. The shoes needed shining? Sucart was on it. When women wanted to cozy up to Rodriguez, they would climb on Sucart’s lap, trying to ply him with money and attention just to reach his rich, famous cousin, says a source who witnessed such scenes on numerous occasions.

“If Alex called at 3 in the morning and said, ‘Make me soup,’” Ball said, “Yuri would be there.”

It’s unclear what Sucart’s exact income is or has been, but friends say his compensation couldn’t be much. Sucart always seems, according to one friend, to “just be getting by.” The one-story house Sucart owns in Miami sits on a beautiful estate, but from the street, it looks to be in rugged shape. Friends say the house is “a dump.”

Sucart, though, is not a saint. He has had a reputation for not always following through on promises, whether it has been free tickets or signed memorabilia. Sucart often has left people hanging. But his reputation also is that of someone who never really seems to have a bad day, a fun person to party with who always is very social. When asked about her cousin, Rodriguez’s half-sister, Susy Dunand-Silva, said he’s “a great person” before adding that she could no longer speak to the media.

Somehow, I don’t think we’ll be seeing that Yuri Sucart Yankeeography any time soon…so, for now, this is a good source for more on A-Rod’s cuz.

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Via the Times -

Alex Rodriguez is scheduled to meet with officials from Major League Baseball on Sunday. The officials want to know who provided him with performance-enhancing drugs and whether that person had access to major league clubhouses.

Three people who know about the details of the meeting confirmed that it was still scheduled to take place, despite comments Saturday by Yankees Manager Joe Girardi that Rodriguez wanted to have the meeting postponed. Rodriguez said he expected to play in Sunday’s exhibition game in Sarasota. “I’m on the 9 o’clock bus,” he said.

Rodriguez will be interviewed by Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball’s top drug-testing official, and members of baseball’s department of investigations. An official for the players union and at least one of Rodriguez’s lawyers will attend the meeting.

Along with questioning him about where he received the banned substances, the officials want to know about his relationship with the trainer Ángel Presinal, who has been accused of distributing steroids to major league players.

Although Presinal has been barred from major league clubhouses, many players continue to train with him, including Rodriguez, who worked with him as recently as 2007.

There’s a part of me that thinks this whole thing is about Ángel Presinal – and baseball wants to crack this guy. And, for now, A-Rod is a way to try and get more on Presinal.

Betcha Rodriguez says nada about Ángel Presinal. Why should he – unless baseball cuts Alex a deal or something?

But, if A-Rod says nothing on Presinal; and, then, somehow baseball and/or the feds get their hands on Presinal…well, Rodriguez better hope that Ángel is more like Greg Anderson and less like Joe Valachi…because, if Presinal has some post-2003 dirt on Alex, then it’s a whole new ballgame on the A-Rod PED scandal.

And, if it’s proven that Alex was using something in 2007, it would not shock me to see the Yankees try and use that to void out his contract (or, at the least, try and get his salary reduced) – especially if baseball then tries to suspend Rodriguez for using post-2003.

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Via an Alan Schwarz feature on ESPN.com on July 17, 2002:

“ As a fan, you don’t want to believe it. It’s surreal. My hero was Keith Hernandez. If you had said anything bad about Keith I would call you a liar. It tarnished the purity of the game. ”

— Alex Rodriguez on drug abuse in baseball during the mid-’80s

Then again, A-Rod was young, dumb and naïve when he said this, right?

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Via George King -

There are pros and cons connected to [Alex] Rodriguez leaving camp [to play in the World Baseball Classic].

The positive is that the WBC drug tests are more exhaustive than MLB’s and if he passes that test, he can point to being clean, which Rodriguez insists he has been since 2004.

One drawback is that Rodriguez has developed a support system inside the Yankees clubhouse that will not be with him during the WBC.

He also knows what to expect from the media that covers the Yankees. Starting Monday, he will be treated like new meat for another army of reporters. And given Rodriguez’s ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, he could cause himself additional trouble.

That’s an interesting point about A-Rod becoming open game on Monday. If Alex is smart, he won’t say a word to anyone about anything. But, what are the odds of that happening?

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Via the Daily News -

Yankee officials have told Alex Rodriguez that Yuri Sucart, believed to be the cousin who injected Major League Baseball’s biggest star with steroids, is no longer welcome at team facilities or hotels.

Baseball sources told the Daily News Thursday that the Yankees’ front office issued the ban after Rodriguez was seen jumping into an SUV driven by Sucart after Wednesday’s spring training opener against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla.

Rodriguez did not protest the decision, after he was told that Sucart, who serves as the star’s driver and go-fer, would no longer be given access to clubhouses, training rooms and other team facilities.

“He acknowledged that it was a problem,” one source said.

Baseball has changed so much these days. I remember when Charles O. Finley was allowed to take Charlie-O everywhere with him…

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