Alex Rodriguez’s Biogenesis suspension hearing

Good work, Alex. Now no one will ever know. Your secret is safe with Cousin Yuri.

The Daily News also reports that Rodriguez could be called in to testify against Sucart in the trial, which would be a new wrinkle in a Federal crusade that’s seen Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens on the other side of prosecution.

A decision on Alex Rodriguez’s appeal of his 211-game suspension is expected to be announced “any day now,” but if Rodriguez doesn’t like the outcome, he could file an injunction that would result in further legal action, according to a report by CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa.

Rodriguez’s team of lawyers could claim that the arbitration of his appeal hearing was biased against him, and that the unprecedented suspension was a result of “the arbiter exceed[ing] the duties within his purview.”

Both the players union and the MLB are hoping to finish testimonies before Thanksgiving, according to USA Today. It remains unclear whether Rodriguez himself will be questioned. He had been slated for an investigatory interview with the MLB Friday, but cancelled when he said he was sick and could not travel from California. Because that meeting never took place, it is likely that the league will ask that he not be allowed to give testimony. There have also been no confirmations that commissioner Bud Selig will testify.

After confirming that he was on the witness list, Yankees President Randy Levine did take the stand on Tuesday, reports the New York Post. Levine was questioned by Rodriguez’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, for about 10 minutes, with MLB’s lawyers declining to cross-examine him.

“I’ve been on the witness list for a long time, really from the beginning,” Levine told reporters. “I’ve been told to stand by. I’m ready to testify if they need me. I don’t know what I could offer, but I’d be glad to testify if called.”

Part of the reason Levine has not been called to testify already is because there is likely little he could aid with as the team is not a part of the investigation. Rodriguez has said he believes the team would stand to profit from his suspension. His salary would be wiped off the books for however many games he ends up missing, giving New York payroll flexibility.

After months of declining to directly address whether Alex Rodriguez has used PEDs since 2009, the slugger’s attorney has finally spoken out on the issue.

Tacopina has admitted that Rodriguez had a relationship with Biogenesis and its clinic director, Tony Bosch, but said Monday that their correspondence was not nefarious in any way:

Rodriguez’s legal team initially called a news conference at 5 p.m. ET to present someone described as unhappy with the MLB’s investigation methods into Rodriguez’s case. About a hour later, Jamie McCarroll, a member of Rodriguez’s legal team, read from a paper by Horowitz issuing an order restraining any press conferences or briefings regarding subject matter pertaining to the hearing.

McCarroll said they had a presentation more than 100 pages long prepared to showcase the misconduct on MLB’s part, although he acknowledged it didn’t directly relate to the subject of the arbitration. The capacity in which the whistleblower works with MLB is unknown.

“Sometimes you listen to people who have nothing to lose; that’s dangerous,” Cervelli told Newsday. “When you’re desperate or anxious or scared, that’s when you have to step back, slow down and think about what can happen in the future with your actions in the present.”

Cervelli says he accepts full responsibility for his actions and said he told his lawyers that he wanted to come clean as soon as MLB began announcing suspensions.

The whole supporters thing is getting a little weirder now, as a couple of New York papers are insinuating (or straight-up saying) that A-Rod or his camp paid for supporters to show up and pretend to be Team A-Rod. From the New York Daily News:

Maybe this “college student” was just the Daily News’ Bill Madden in a disguise, attempting some vigilante justice to put a stop to the madness that is A-Rod once and for all. Or, maybe A-Rod’s camp really did pay for support, much the same way they reportedly paid to acquire and hide documents from Biogenesis in the first place. You know, part of what has A-Rod in trouble with MLB right now as you read this.

The Yankees third baseman’s claim is that he went to Biogenesis and founder Anthony Bosch seeking to obtain substances that would have been legal under MLB rules. However, he was unknowingly fooled into taking illegal performance enhancing drugs.

There may be a tiny window of opportunity for Rodriguez. He never actually tested positive for an illegal substance but is connected to Biogenesis through a paper trail and a connection with Bosch. However, MLB reportedly has a large cache of evidence including phone calls, emails and other documents.

Roenicke thought the statement released by Braun on Thursday was sufficient, the third-year skipper told Joe Kay of the Associated Press (via Yahoo! Sports) on Friday:

Catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who has stayed in touch with Braun over the course of his suspension, believes his teammate will hold a press conference to answer questions, per Kay. He also thinks the five-time All-Star made the right choice in confessing, and that fellow teammates will accept him upon his return:

The man who originally set the Biogenesis scandal in motion by leaking some of the company’s documents to the Miami New Times last year, has turned the remainder of the documents in his possession over to a federal grand jury in Miami, reports Mike Fish of ESPN.com.

Fischer, the former marketing director of Biogenesis, also spoke before the grand jury, but the nature of that testimony is still unknown. His appearance before the federal court could signal the beginning of a series of prosecutions of top staffers at the clinic, including founder Tony Bosch, who has been cooperating with Major League Baseball’s investigation. Fish reports that over 800 documents were included in the materials Fischer handed over and he speculates that evidence showing Bosch posed as a doctor and provided teenagers with steroid regimens could be contained here.

The source, who is identified only as a “person close to Rodriguez,” also said that A-Rod rejected a deal from the league days before his 211-game ban was handed out that would have limited his time on the sidelines to 100 games. MLB Vice President Rob Manfred has denied both of the source’s claims, and Rodriguez won’t talk about it.

Not only is Rodriguez not discussing the possible plea deal sitting on the table, he’s also not responding to the continued accusations that his new lawyer, Joe Tacopina, is slinging in the Yankees’ direction. Tacopina alleges that the organization knew A-Rod had a severely injured hip, but kept playing him in the hopes that he’d hurt himself to the point that he would be forced to retire.

The host of the show, Matt Lauer, showed the letter, which states that the league could leak “all documents, records, communications, text messages, and instant messages relating to Rodriguez’s treatment by Anthony Bosch,” to Tacopina during a live interview. Tacopina later issued a statement dismissing the letter as “a trap:”

Manfred would have to waive the confidentiality agreement in baseball’s joint drug agreement, which he is willing to do in response to Tacopina’s comments to ESPN New York on Saturday, in which he told Andrew Marchand he’d love to be able to talk more about the case:

Major League Baseball reportedly told Tejada he could accept the 105-game suspension as punishment for his amphetamine use or risk additional punishment from the league for his connection to Biogenesis. Biogenesis founder Tony Bosch provided the evidence proving that Tejada had been a customer of the now-defunct clinic.

• Neyer: When Ryan Dempster made us like A-Rod

Rodriguez is currently in the midst of the appeals process for his 211-game suspension from MLB for his connection to Bosch and Biogenesis. The second wire transfer, which was described as a mistake by Rodriguez’s former attorneys, is being used as evidence that the Yankees star tried to tamper with MLB’s ongoing investigation of Biogenesis.

Bosch’s attorney, Susy Ribero-Ayala, released a statement via a spokesperson to “Outside the Lines” on Sunday saying the second payment was unsolicited:

Joseph Tacopina, the attorney representing Rodriguez in his appeal of a 211-game suspension for his involvement with Bigoenesis, alleged on Saturday that the Yankees hid MRI results from Rodriguez that revealed he had a torn labrum. Rodriguez would eventually need offseason surgery on his hip, and was forced to miss the first four months of the season rehabbing from the surgery.

Rodriguez’s attorneys contacted the MLBPA within the last two weeks, which is the first step that could lead to a formal grievance between the Yankees and Rodriguez. There are four steps in the process. After the player notifies the union, the players’ association does its own research before contacting MLB officials. The two sides then attempt to work out an agreement to avoid a hearing, but if the two sides cannot mediate the issue, it is brought in front of the arbitrator to decide.

Rodriguez, per CSN New England:

60 Minutes reported earlier on Friday that the initial reports on the Biogenesis scandal that were released in January by the Miami Times did not include the names of Braun and Cervelli, but those same reports that were released by Rodriguez’s camp later on did include the redacted names. That has led to speculation that Rodriguez tampered with the investigation.

In a valuable column reviewing the scant statistical evidence of performance-enhancement resulting from the use of allegedly performance-enhancing drugs on Thursday, ESPN columnist David Schoenfield comes to one judgment that has been commonly associated with the reflexive condemnation of athletes who use: that use in itself may constitute evidence of efficacy. “I do believe steroids can help,” Schoenfield says. “Why do athletes continue to take them -- in all sports -- if they don’t believe in some benefits, however small?”

The answer is that human beings have a long history of dosing themselves with anything if someone says it will help. We like to believe in miracle cures and secret knowledge that will erase our wrinkles, heal our cancers, or allow us to perform feats that others cannot. Little concerns about the laws of science or medicine tend to fall by the wayside.

Selig discussed his decision making with reporters, stating:

MLB suspended 13 players on Aug. 5 for their connection to the Biogenesis scandal. Of those, 12 players received 50-game suspensions and have begun serving their suspensions immediately. Rodriguez appealed his suspension, and has received support from the MLBPA executive director.

Longoria talked about Rodriguez’s suspension, telling Traina that Rodriguez playing during his appeal is not fair to AL East teams:

Longoria also discussed the need for stronger PED penalties, stating:

Leno asked the billionaire for his thoughts on the suspension, and Cuban did not mince his words, stating:

Cuban also directed his ire towards Bud Selig, accusing the commissioner of questionable business practices:

MLB’s Biogenesis scandal is still ongoing and likely will be for some time, but the whistle-blower who broke open the case is now referring to Major League Baseball as a “bully,” according to ESPN. Porter Fischer, a former Biogenesis employee, has undisclosed information that the MLB wants and was ordered by a Miami-Dade County judge to respond by Aug. 21 to the league’s request for more information.

Fischer told the judge that he wanted more time to allow him to hire an attorney.

Per Erik Boland of New York Newsday, Rodriguez said “I have no reaction to that” when asked for his response to the filing.

• Spencer Hall: A-Rod should be allowed to take all the drugs

I don’t generally agree with Michael Douglas’s Gordon Gekko, the fictional millionaire who was taking the U.S. financial system by storm in Oliver Stone’s 1987 film Wall Street. Greed is not inherently good, and it is not inherently right. Naked, unrestrained greed doesn’t fix much, but it does break a lot of things down. At some point in the last 25 years, however, we’ve begun to conflate self-interest with greed, and to condemn them both equally. This has especially become true in our sports culture.

Take Buster Olney’s tweets in the wake of the Biogenesis announcement yesterday, for example.

The general reaction of most of the players seemed to be rather mild, but the players with more extreme positions might have preferred not to comment on the issue.

One man who made his opinion quite obvious, however, was White Sox GM Rick Hahn: