Larry Brown Sports

Alex Rodriguez is apparently not anticipating that he will be traded to the Miami Marlins at any point in the near future. If that does happen, the injured superstar will have to purchase another home in Miami Beach.

According to TMZ, Rodriguez has accepted a $30 million offer on his 19,861 square-foot Miami Beach estate. A-Rod reportedly purchased the home in 2010 for $7.4 million and put another $7.6 million in work into it, meaning he stands to pocket about $15 million in the sale.

The estate, which is on the same street where actor Matt Damon owns a home, has nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and a four-car garage. A-Rod was asking $38 million for the property when he first listed it in 2012, but has apparently realized this is more of a $30 million market. More photos of the mansion can be seen here.

The real question is did A-Rod use some of that money to purchase incriminating records and destroy them? Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

There’s a saying that the cover-up is always worse than the crime. If you believe that adage plus a report from The New York Times, then you would be led to conclude that Alex Rodriguez is guilty when it comes to his alleged involvement with the Biogenesis clinic in Florida.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that MLB has paid some former Biogenesis employees for documents related to the case. They also reported that players implicated in the scandal were also attempting to purchase the records in order to destroy the potentially incriminating evidence. Now we’re learning that one of the players reportedly was Alex Rodriguez.

The New York Times reported on Friday that MLB investigators believe it was a representative for Alex Rodriguez who tried purchasing the documents. The Times says two people say A-Rod was the player who purchased the documents.

Rodriguez has denied the allegation.

The New York Daily News provided a more extensive account of the situation. According to The Daily News, an intermediary who invested with Biogenesis began shopping the documents to players named in the records and media outlets in an effort to recoup lost money. They say A-Rod bought it and sent one of his people to retrieve the documents.

Rodriguez was among several players implicated in the scandal that broke late January. He, Melky Cabrera, Gio Gonzalez, Bartolo Colon, Nelson Cruz and Yasmani Grandal were among the athletes whose names appeared in the now-defunct anti-aging clinic’s records. Ryan Braun was also later tied to the company, though he had an excuse for his name appearing in the records of clinic leader Anthony Bosch. Rodriguez faced the strongest allegations of all; reports said he personally received injections from Bosch.

Rodriguez is currently rehabbing a hip injury and under contract with the Yankees through 2017. He has admitted to using steroids in the past after being implicated by a 2009 Sports Illustrated report.

As if New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez didn’t already have enough on his plate, he is reportedly facing a $5 million lawsuit from his cousin Yuri Sucart. According to the website TheMLBNation.com, the lawsuit is based on libel, defamation of character, fraud and dues owed.

When Rodriguez admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs several years ago, he and Sucart had a falling out after A-Rod publicly accused his cousin of pushing him to use steroids and also injecting him with PEDs on multiple occasions. A-Rod made a peace offering when he bought a diamond-studded ring for Sucart after the Yankees won the World Series in 2009, but Sucart sold it to a collector in South Florida.

Sucart has been banned from the Yankees facilities, team flights and buses. He reportedly proposed a settlement for Rodriguez which was turned down, and the case is now headed for trial seeking $5 million in damages.

Both Rodriguez’s and Sucart’s names have surfaced in the MLB and DEA investigation involving Anthony Bosch’s anti-aging clinic in Coral Gables, Fla. A-Rod has denied his involvement, but authorities are in the process of determining whether Rodriguez, Sucart and several other players and people involved with baseball obtained steroids from Bosch.

Via NY Post

Alex Rodriguez appears to be hiding. Between rehabbing an injury that could sideline him for much of the 2013 season and facing accusations surrounding performance-enhancing drug use, A-Rod is likely not anxious to speak to the media any time soon. That is why the New York Yankees are doing their best to protect him.

“I’m not going to say to try and keep away the extra, whatever you want to call it, paparazzi, whatever it is, the stakeout, wherever he is working out,” general manager Brian Cashman said Monday night at a team fundraiser, via the New York Post. “That’s the only reason I’m not going to say where he is going to be on a given day.”

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he has seen A-Rod working out at Yankee Stadium since undergoing hip surgery on Jan. 16, but that he has only spoken to him about his health — not the latest steroid controversy.

“I think our club is used to handling distractions,” Girardi said. “The city we play in, there’s a lot of news always surrounding our club. A lot of times, it’s a lot of good news. Our club will handle it. A club like ours is going to go through adversity all the time. Going through a season is never easy. Why would this year be any different?”

It’s interesting to hear the Yankees’ brass come out and publicly state that they are protecting A-Rod, especially on the heels of this report that claims Rodriguez is wondering if the MLB and the Yankees have something to do with trying to smear his name. Since A-Rod has a history of lying about steroid use, he is not going to receive the benefit of the doubt. I understand wanting to hide from the paparazzi and tabloids, but at some point Rodriguez needs to tell his side of the story. The longer he waits, the more people will assume he is guilty.

Alex Rodriguez is having trouble understanding the recent report linking him to PED usage, and he thinks the New York Yankees or Major League Baseball are out to get him, the New York Daily News reports.

According to The News, Rodriguez is denying ties to Anthony Bosch and telling friends that the documents listed by the Miami New Times are forged. He also supposedly believes people are out to get him.

Here’s what the newspaper’s article states:

Sources say the embattled Yankee star is “scared” that bigger forces are at work to try to discredit him and sink his career. Holed up in Miami, Rodriguez has been huddling with an army of lawyers and PR people as the performance-enhancing drug scandal enveloping him intensifies.

“He’s scared, because he thinks this is so unbelievably false, and he’s wondering who could be behind this,” said a source, referring to last week’s Miami New Times report linking A-Rod to an alleged Miami-area performance-enhancing drug scandal. “He thinks something could be going on larger than anyone might think.”

The source added that Rodriguez is wondering if the Yankees or even Major League Baseball are behind the latest controversy.

It’s important to keep in mind that this is a report from The News based on a source whose credibility is unverifiable. Still, beyond denying the report in a statement issued through his people, Rodriguez has not given an interview or spoken to the media about the latest allegations he is facing. The best way for him to end the speculation is to talk. Unfortunately, given his history of using steroids — and lying about it — he has given the public very few reasons to believe him.

The New Times’ report was based on interviews with customers and former employees of Biogenics — Anthony Bosch’s former company. Not only do they have the words of several people supporting them, but they also have documents backing it up. That seems to be a lot of evidence, and the fact that three of Bosch’s alleged clients tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone last season makes their report look more accurate.

MLB investigators reportedly have met with the New Times’ reporters.

The News also reports that the Yankees could attempt to force Rodriguez to retire or reach an injury settlement with him. A-Rod is owed $114 million over the next five seasons and reportedly has no plans to retire.

Alex Rodriguez is denying allegations that he received performance-enhancing drugs from Anthony Bosch’s Biogenesis company, but the evidence against him is mounting.

On Tuesday, the Miami New Times reported that A-Rod was one of many MLB players who ordered performance-enhancing drugs (in many cases testosterone) from the now-defunct Biogenesis company. Their report was based on conversations with former Biogenesis employees and customers, plus written records and patient files. The evidence from the Miami New Times seemed very solid.

Rodriguez, through his publicist, denied the report.

“The news report about a purported relationship between Alex Rodriguez and Anthony Bosch are not true. Alex Rodriguez was not Mr. Bosch’s patient, he was never treated by him and he was 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.”

ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” reports that Rodriguez received injections from Bosch, which meshes with the New Times’ report which said Rodriguez received personal attention from Bosch.

ESPN says Rodriguez would send Bosch text messages telling him to come to his mansion to inject him with performance-enhancing drugs. These visits reportedly would occur every few weeks. They even shared a detailed anecdote about Bosch having difficult locating a vein to inject A-Rod, leaving the Yankees DH/3B angered and bloody.

Rodriguez has not tested positive for PEDs since MLB began drug testing, though he did admit to using steroids from 2001-2003 after his PED usage was exposed in 2009 Sports Illustrated story.

Three of the MLB players mentioned in the New Times report — Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, and Yasmani Grandal — failed drug tests last season and received 50-game suspensions. Other proven PED users like Manny Ramirez and tennis player Wayne Odesnik have ties to the Bosches/Biogenesis. We know who we’re believing in this situation, and it isn’t the self-admitted former user.

The New York Yankees would love to rid themselves of Alex Rodriguez. When the team signed A-Rod to a contract that pays him around $30 million a year and keeps him in New York through age 42, it was well-known that the back end of his deal would be a financial nightmare. Rodriguez’s best years are behind him. He can’t stay healthy and, to make matters worse, his name has once again been linked to performance-enhancing drug use.

Earlier this week, a report indicated that the Yankees are exploring various options to void A-Rod’s contract. There were also rumors that Rodriguez may simply retire and forfeit the $114 million on his contract, but it doesn’t sound like that is going to happen.

“Alex has no plans at all to retire,” a source with close ties to Rodriguez reportedly told ESPNNewYork.com.

After news surfaced that A-Rod may have a link to Anthony Bosch, a Miami-based nutritionist who is believed to have supplied human growth hormone to several players, the Yankees reportedly looked into the possibility of penalizing him or voiding his contract by establishing that his chronic hip issue is linked to steroid use. However, the surgeon who repaired A-Rod’s hip said the injury was not drug-related.

According to ESPNNewYork.com, Rodriguez has been hurt by the Yankees effort to void his contract. That hasn’t stopped him from continuing to rehab in hopes of returning sometime after the All-Star break.

The bottom line is A-Rod has $114 million remaining on his contract. Regardless of how much money he has made throughout his career, there are very few people who would voluntarily leave that kind of money on the table. The Yankees may not have envisioned A-Rod’s contract situation getting this out of hand, but that’s the risk you take when breaking the bank for a franchise-altering player.