Major League Baseball is investigating the players named in the Miami New Times performance-enhancing drug report. The New York Yankees are looking behind the scenes to see if they can void Alex Rodriguez's large contract due to his implication in the report.
According to Jeff Passan at Yahoo Sports, Major League Baseball will be interviewing and investigation all of the players that were named in the Miami New Times report released on Tuesday. Rodriguez, Nelson Cruz, and Gio Gonzalez, as well as the previously suspended Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon and Yasmani Grandal were all mentioned in the article.
The league is planning to travel to Florida to speak with editors and lawyers at the newspaper to see if they will provide the league the records they used in the article. The players were lined to Biogenesis owner and alleged peddler Anthony Bosch's steroid operation.
According to Yahoo, the newspapers records could give MLB a good case to suspend the players for 50-games (for first time offenders) since the league has the power to give down penalties even without a positive test due to the collective bargaining agreement. If the league can prove the players bought, obtained or were in possession of PEDs, they have to power to suspend.
The same situation happened with Manny Ramirez in 2009 when the MLB discovered a prescription for human chorionic gonadotropin, written by Bosch's father, Pedro.
According to MLB rules, "baseball can suspend Rodriguez or any of the other players without a positive test. In what is known as a non-analytic positive, the league will need documentary evidence -- a sworn affidavit from Bosch or a prescription from a doctor for a banned substance -- that would convince an independent arbitrator."
Cabrera, Colon and Grandal were suspended last season, which means each could face a second 100-game suspension later on. Passan writes that New Times editor-in-chief Chuck Strouse did not to include all of the names of major league players in Bosch's ledger because it "couldn't confirm enough details to link them to PED use."
According to Passan, "a league source said MLB's Department of Investigations would begin looking into players beyond those accused in the report."
"We will most certainly take that request very seriously," Strouse said. "We're in the business of reporting news. And we're also in the business of justice. I don't know what we would do if they asked. We're talking with our lawyers, and we don't want to stand in the way of any investigation. We'll have to determine it when it comes to that."
The main evidence in the article was Bosch's hand-written mentions of Rodriguez and Gonzalez, tying the Yankees third baseman to human growth hormone, synthetic testosterone creams and lozenges, insulin-like growth factor and DHEA. The newspaper has posted the notes online and plans to do the same with more documents in days ahead.
"We want to do what's right," Strouse said.
The report has Yankees executives fuming and they are planning to figure out a way to get out Rodriguez's huge 10-year, $275 million contract, according to ESPNNewYork.com.
The website writes that the team is waiting on discipline from the MLB and that if it comes down, the franchise will try to void the contract and is currently exploring all options. There is still five-years, $114 million on the contract for the three-time American League MVP.
The report says that it will be difficult for the Yankees to do so since there currently is no precedent to successfully void a contract in baseball over PEDs. The team tried to do it once before with Jason Giambi after he admitted to using PEDs, but the language in Giambi's deal would not allow the team to do it. According to the source with knowledge of Rodriguez's contract, his deal contains no such language.
"All contracts have moral clauses," a baseball official who handles contract negotiations said. "It will come down to the language in (Rodriguez's) contract. If it is a normal moral clause, (the Yankees) won't have much of a case. If there are specific clauses that went into steroids and performance-enhancing drugs, then I doubt he would walk away with his money."
According to a source, the fact that the Yankees continued to honor Rodriguez's 10-year, $275 million contract extension after his public admissions of PED use in 2009 might further weaken their case to void the contract.
Rodriguez had hip surgery this offseason and is expected to miss up to six months or possibly the entire season. He had an awful finish to 2012 and was benched multiple times in the playoffs by manager Joe Girardi.
The injury to Rodriguez's hip was found in November and likely was a main reason why the likely future Hall of Famer struggled during the postseason, going just 3-for-25 (.120) with 12 strikeouts against the Orioles and Tigers.
The perennial All-Star last underwent hip surgery in 2009, after which he helped carry the Yankees to a World Series championship. He hit .365, with six home runs and 18 RBIs in 15 games during that postseason and the Yankees are hoping this surgery will have a similar effect to that one did.
Rodriguez is one of the greatest home run hitters of all-time, but has been slowed in recent years due to age and injuries. He has 647 career home runs and has numerous incentives written into his contract that pay out bonuses if he makes it to the record of 762, which is held by Barry Bonds.
The third baseman admitted to taking steroids during his career in 2009, then proceeded to have a great regular season, hitting .286 with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs while leading the Yankees to the World Series. The past two seasons he has only hit 34 home runs in 221 combined games and has struck out 194 times.
Either way, the Yankees are extremely upset at the report and even if they cannot void the contract, it looks more and more likely that Alex Rodriguez has played his last game in a Yankees uniform.