Milwaukee Brewers outfielder and former National League MVP Ryan Braun beat accusations that he used performance-enhancing drugs once during his career, but he will have to do so again after his name has reportedly shown up on documents from the Biogenesis clinic.
Yahoo! Sports’ Tim Brown and Jeff Passan reported the following:
Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun’s name is in records of the Miami-area clinic alleged to have distributed performance-enhancing drugs to a rash of baseball players, and Major League Baseball will investigate the link to the former MVP who tested positive for illegal synthetic testosterone during the 2011 postseason.
UPDATE: Tuesday, Feb. 5, at 9:10 p.m. ET by Ben Chodos
In response to his name being mentioned in connection with Biogenesis, Braun released the following statement, via MLB.com beat writer Adam McCalvy’s Brew Beat blog:
During the course of preparing for my successful appeal last year, my attorneys, who were previously familiar with Tony Bosch, used him as a consultant. More specifically, he answered questions about T/E ratio and possibilities of tampering with samples.
There was a dispute over compensation for Bosch’s work, which is why my lawyer and I are listed under ‘moneys owed’ and not on any other list.
I have nothing to hide and have never had any other relationship with Bosch.
I will fully cooperate with any inquiry into this matter.
—End of update—
The Biogenesis clinic had been creating headlines recently for allegedly supplying New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez with steroids. As Brown and Passan note, the clinic’s director, Anthony Bosch, is at the center of the scandal in which several MLB players received banned substances.
According to the report, Bosch’s records contain the notation “RB 20-30K”, which is believed to be Braun’s initials followed by the amount of money he owed.
Braun is treading on a familiar path. During the 2011 playoffs, a urine sample he provided tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone. The left fielder was subsequently suspended for 50 games, but he appealed the ruling and became the first player to have such a punishment reversed.
The recent allegations against Braun come after a Biogenesis employee leaked records to The New York Times. Brown and Passan later notes that Miami (Fla.) strength and conditioning coach Jimmy Goins was allegedly a client of the clinic and has connections to several of the players implicated in the investigation.
The Brewers’ star is a former Hurricane, as is Detroit Tigers pitcher Cesar Carrillo, who is also linked to Bosch. Brown and Passan’s report also mentions that Washington Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez and San Diego Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal have connections to Goins as well.
Braun salvaged his reputation with an impassioned speech following the first steroid allegations he dealt with, but doing so again will be extremely difficult.
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