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Jon Heyman: Biogenesis penalties could be handed down w/in 10 gms

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Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

http://deadspin.com/espn-mlb-plans-to-suspend-everyone-connected-to-biogen-511353484

ESPN: MLB Plans To Suspend Everyone Connected To Biogenesis
Jack Dickey 6/04/13 9:47pm 44 minutes ago

In late January, the Miami New Times broke the story of South Florida's Biogenesis anti-aging clinic, the shop that allegedly provided human growth hormone and other drugs to major leaguers. The press uncovered records linking lots of big names—Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez, Nelson Cruz—to Biogenesis's man in charge, Anthony Bosch. But no one had a sense then of whether the news'd change anything in MLB. The clinic's records were on the sloppy side; the players weren't facing any criminal charges; and MLB couldn't even get its hands on the evidence. But two months ago, MLB decided to buy the clinic's records from a former employee. And this week, according to T.J. Quinn, Mike Fish, and Pedro Gomez of Outside the Lines, MLB reached a deal with Bosch himself—whom the league had sued, in hopes of getting the documents, in late March. He'll spill, and the league will seek big, honking, vengeful suspensions against his alleged clients.

OTL writes:

Major League Baseball will seek to suspend about 20 players connected to the Miami-area clinic at the heart of an ongoing performance-enhancing drug scandal, including Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, possibly within the next few weeks, "Outside the Lines" has learned. If the suspensions are upheld, the performance-enhancing drug scandal would be the largest in American sports history.


Tony Bosch, founder of the now-shuttered Biogenesis of America, reached an agreement this week to cooperate with MLB's investigation, two sources told "Outside the Lines," giving MLB the ammunition officials believe they need to suspend the players.

One source familiar with the case said the commissioner's office might seek 100-game suspensions for Rodriguez, Braun and other players, the penalty for a second doping offense. The argument, the source said, is the players' connection to Bosch constitutes one offense, and previous statements to MLB officials denying any such connection or the use of PEDs constitute another. Bosch and his attorneys did not return several calls. MLB officials refused to comment when reached Tuesday.

The full list of players likely facing MLB's scythe, according to ESPN: Rodriguez, Braun, Cruz, Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, Gio Gonzalez, Yasmani Grandal, Francisco Cervelli, Jesus Montero, Jhonny Peralta, Fernando Martinez, Everth Cabrera, Fautino de los Santos, Jordan Noberto, and Mets minor leaguer Cesar Puello. Bosch may add names to that list. So many suspensions! So much vengeance!

Except: Does the procedural underpinning of the double-your-pleasure, double-your-fun suspension make sense? The league hates A-Rod, and it hates Braun, a star who wriggled his way out of drug trouble in 2012, even more. They're the white whales of this phase of the steroid era. But the league has to get those suspensions past a powerful players' union, one that presumably sees an unreasonable logical leap in the league equating a lie to investigators with a drug offense.


And how tenable is the first layer of suspensions, even?

The league has no biological evidence of players drugging themselves. Instead MLB has some scribbled records, and now it has, after striking a deal, the man who allegedly scribbled those records. The joint drug agreement covers players who have been convicted of possession of performance-enhancers, and those who have tested positive, but it has little to say about offenders who have been identified by a league investigation, let alone a half-assed, ethically bankrupt, scuzz-money-funded one. These suspensions, premised on flimsy evidence, are a long way from holding up. So far from holding up, indeed, that we have to ask: Is Bud Selig on freaking acid? Someone should look into that.
 
Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

It would be shocking if MLB decides to suspend these guys based on the words of Tony Bosch, who defines shady and simply cannot be looked upon as 100 percent credible.

Interesting how TJ Quinn/ESPN painted this guy as a shyster when he was first in trouble, yet neglect mentioning anything about his credibility given this new information. ESPN has much more to gain by making him look credible enough, but I would let this whole scenario play out before jumping to the conclusion that what Tony Bosch says will be the definitive blow in giving MLB enough information to suspend these players.

The MLBPA would go absolutely ape-shit.


Here is a snippet from a Bosch article back in February:

Bosch told "Outside the Lines" the allegations against him are "bulls---" and "all wrong." His attorney, Susy Ribero-Ayala, followed with a statement denying the allegations and told "Outside the Lines" that Bosch wouldn't be talking "anytime very soon."

The twice-divorced Bosch is portrayed by those close to him as indulging in the South Florida lifestyle, living in a waterfront condo on Key Biscayne and frequenting the club scene along the trendy Miracle Mile in Coral Gables, just a short trek from his now-shuttered clinic.
Biogenesis

But, along the way, he's made enemies of at least a few former friends and colleagues, and at least in one instance he has been the subject of a death threat.

According to a 2010 Key Biscayne police report, Bosch said he was walking in a parking lot behind his then-office on an August afternoon when his life was threatened. He was startled by the roar of a truck coming up behind him. He turned, vaguely recognizing the driver, and suspecting bad intentions, he ran to his second-floor office.

Soon after, Bosch told police, he received a call from an unknown number in his office and a male voice warned, "I'm strapped, and I'm going to kill you." Bosch offered investigators vague information on the person he'd recognized earlier behind the wheel -- 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, brown hair, with a last name "Lopez." It was not enough information that led to anyone being questioned or charged. He said they'd met a year earlier and were "involved in an incident over a female," according to details in the report.

The office address listed in the report was a dental practice known as Smile with Zenitude. At one time, it billed itself as an all-purpose retreat, unique even by South Florida standards, that also housed the Ageless Medical Institute and its "de-aging" rooms -- offering rejuvenation therapy via hormone therapies, cosmetic and plastic surgery, and laser treatments. A dental patient in for a routine teeth cleaning told "Outside the Lines" that he was introduced to Bosch a little more than a year ago as the "anti-aging doctor." He said Bosch, who had a small office in the practice, yanked up his shirt to show off his abs as he pitched the value of growth hormone treatments.

Loretta Castellanos, the owner of the practice on the second floor of a strip shopping plaza, has not responded to numerous calls from "Outside the Lines." A friend, however, said she had had a falling out with Bosch that led to his removal from the practice.

When a reporter visited the office last week, a receptionist said the practice no longer offers anti-aging treatments or plastic surgery. She claimed not to know Bosch, but subsequently acknowledged seeing his name in "old records."

"He doesn't have a license, does he?" the receptionist inquired.

There is no license on record with the state, but friends and associates say that hasn't stopped Bosch from playing the role of doctor.

A former Bosch business associate, Alejandro Menendez, touched on Bosch's medical pedigree to "Outside the Lines," saying, "Yeah, he is a doctor." He cautioned, however, that "I don't think he is licensed."

Yet the doctor designation preceded Bosch's name in state corporation filings made on behalf of Medical Hrt Inc. in 2009. Bosch was listed as the vice president and Menendez as the president; records indicate Menendez filed for federal bankruptcy a year later.

Menendez told "Outside the Lines" that the ambitious venture never launched because of potential legal concerns voiced by attorneys he consulted. The plan, Menendez said, was to set up a lucrative national, online business to prescribe and primarily sell HGH and testosterone. It would have included a national network of doctors to see clients in person and to write prescriptions for online purchases.

Ultimately, it proved too risky an undertaking in the wake of authorities' having cracked down on similar ventures, most notably Signature Pharmacy in Orlando.

Menendez portrayed Bosch as the brains behind the plan, saying he would have been responsible for procuring the pharmaceuticals. "He was going to take care of it," Menendez told "Outside the Lines." "Supposedly he was already in that business. I think he is still in the business. He wanted to do this on a national scale. The problem is you can't sell it over the Internet. It is illegal. At least I don't think so. I mean it sure is done, but I don't think it is legal."




This story won't end with a suspension, if that even ends up being the case. Certainly this is something that is going to rock the baseball world on more than one occasion.
 
Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

Baseball was so much more exciting with the juice, let 'em have it!
 
Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

Seriously. A sport as boring as baseball is a hell of a lot more entertaining when you've got guys hitting 1.5-2* their standard amount of home runs.

Bring back the roids.
 
Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

The MLBPA would go absolutely ape-shit.

The MLBPA will fight for the players on the list because they must. In Unions, players have the option to grieve something or contest something. Having a Union rep tell them that they won't work on their behalf is not good for that rep... Players could then file a grievance against them for not protecting..

Make no mistake about it, though. The players do not want to encourage PED use... They're all guilty by association as it is, they're working hard to find ways to hinder the amount of players who break the PED rules. Melky Cabrera is going to net over 15 million over the three years that he would likely be suspended for these violations...
 
Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

If he has physical evidence, like any kind of record of payment, then it doesn't matter how shady he is- he has the proof. Plus possession is all that is needed for suspension- look at one of Manny's suspensions.

And frankly, I don't see the MLBPA defending its' clients quite as rigidly as some of you think- it was Braun who made an embarassment of the drug testing policy that the MLBPA worked hand-in-hand with Selig to design and implement. It probably ends up going to an arbitrator, but I have to think that MLB thought through whether their evidence would stand up in that kind of situation. The MLBPA will do their job in this circumstance, but I don't think they are looking to blindly back the blatant cheaters anymore.
 
Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

Manny's first suspension was allegedly confirmed due to notations in his medical file. Surely they can find similar cause here on these guys
 
Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

MLB To Suspend Braun, Rodriguez, Others:

5:44pm: Rodriguez will meet with baseball officials on Friday, sources familiar with the meeting tell Michael O'Keeffe, BIll Madden, Nathaniel Vinton, and Teri Thompson of the Daily News.

5:21pm: An MLB spokesperson tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (via Twitter) that the news on Braun is premature and no decisions have been made.

5:07pm: Major League Baseball is expected to suspend Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez, and as many as 20 players connected to the Biogenesis clinic sometime after next week's All-Star break, several sources told T.J. Quinn and Mike Fish of ESPN.com. Commissioner Bud Selig's office is considering 100-game bans for Braun and Rodriguez, the punishment for a second offense, despite neither player receiving a previous suspension for violating MLB drug rules.

Suspensions appear to be a certainty for both players and the only issue in question is the length of time that they'll be sidelined. One source said that the league's argument would be that they, and possibly other players, committed multiple offenses by receiving PEDs from Tony Bosch's clinic and lying about it.

As Quinn explains on Twitter, suspensions are usually levied, appealed, and ruled upon by an arbitrator months later before becoming public, but MLB is allowed to announce suspensions publicly because case has been public. Players who appeal the forthcoming suspensions may continue playing until an arbitrator rules, however.

Braun, who has repeatedly denied using PEDs, refused to answer questions during a recent meeting with the league office about his connection to Bosch, according to sources. A source said that A-Rod has not been interviewed, but a meeting is expected to take place this week.

Late last month, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reported that suspensions were likely in the Biogenesis case. Nelson Cruz, Everth Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta, Jesus Montero, and Bartolo Colon were among the other players linked to Biogenesis in the initial report.


http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/...tml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
 
Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

Manny's first suspension was allegedly confirmed due to notations in his medical file. Surely they can find similar cause here on these guys

great point.
 
Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

Speaking as a Tribe fan, I'd like to see Jhonny Peralta suspended this year.
 
Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

Ryan Braun suspended for the rest of the season without pay:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Brewers&amp;src=hash">#Brewers</a>’ Braun suspended for rest of season, according to MLB. Effective immediately.</p>&mdash; Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/statuses/359427059434520576">July 22, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

A-Rod is up next. If players are appealing the suspension you will not know yet.
 
Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

Already been announced that Braun isn't appealing & admitted guilt:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>ryan braun agrees to an MLB ban for rest of year, admits to wrongdoing in miami ped case. <a href="http://t.co/eS6zmynfr5">http://t.co/eS6zmynfr5</a></p>&mdash; Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS/statuses/359429921342373890">July 22, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Also:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Braun suspension of 65 games sets a baseline for coming A-Rod suspension. And one source expects A-Rod's to be even longer.</p>&mdash; Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/statuses/359431095751671809">July 22, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Re: big steroid bomb about to drop?

Third hand speculation says ARod is trying to limit his damage to approx 150games because they are going for a multiple season ban.
 

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