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Major League Baseball will seek to suspend up to 20 players connected to a performing-enhancing drug (PED) clinic in the Miami area, including Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, possibly within the next few weeks, according to sources for ESPN.
The suspensions - which would purportedly range from 50 to 100 games, according to MLB's current drug testing policy - would represent the largest PED scandal in American sports history.
Tony Bosch, founder of the since-defunct Biogenesis company, has agreed to testify as part of MLB's investigation, presumably in exchange for a softer landing as MLB seeks punitive damage from the company that went around the organization's back to deliver the banned substances to the players involved.
If Alex Rodriguez is implicated in the scandal, it will represent a giant public relations blow to the aging Yankee third baseman. In 2009, A-Rod admitted to ESPN using steroids from 2001-2003 as a member of the Texas Rangers, but denied continued consumption. Rodriguez's 57 home runs in 2002 are his career high. Currently, A-Rod is on the disabled list since undergoing hip surgery in January. At 37, the slugger's performance numbers have declined precipitously the past three seasons.
Ryan Braun, 29, is by contrast at the peak of his game. Braun escaped a steroids scandal indignant and unscathed following the 2011 season. After winning National League MVP honors, the Milwaukee outfielder tested positive for PEDs but won a hearing that overturned his suspension, with Braun's defense claiming that his urine sample had been tampered with, rather than delivered directly to a laboratory. It marked the first time a PED suspension was successfully overturned.
Steroids first came to the public eye when retired outfielder Jose Conseco wrote "Juiced", a tell-all book about their rampant use in the sport. In 2005 a congressional investigation into steroids lead the charge for stricter regulations. Some of the Major League's top sluggers for the beginning of the century have been directly or indirectly implicated in their use, including Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and all-time home run leader Barry Bonds.
The suspensions - which would purportedly range from 50 to 100 games, according to MLB's current drug testing policy - would represent the largest PED scandal in American sports history.
Tony Bosch, founder of the since-defunct Biogenesis company, has agreed to testify as part of MLB's investigation, presumably in exchange for a softer landing as MLB seeks punitive damage from the company that went around the organization's back to deliver the banned substances to the players involved.
If Alex Rodriguez is implicated in the scandal, it will represent a giant public relations blow to the aging Yankee third baseman. In 2009, A-Rod admitted to ESPN using steroids from 2001-2003 as a member of the Texas Rangers, but denied continued consumption. Rodriguez's 57 home runs in 2002 are his career high. Currently, A-Rod is on the disabled list since undergoing hip surgery in January. At 37, the slugger's performance numbers have declined precipitously the past three seasons.
Ryan Braun, 29, is by contrast at the peak of his game. Braun escaped a steroids scandal indignant and unscathed following the 2011 season. After winning National League MVP honors, the Milwaukee outfielder tested positive for PEDs but won a hearing that overturned his suspension, with Braun's defense claiming that his urine sample had been tampered with, rather than delivered directly to a laboratory. It marked the first time a PED suspension was successfully overturned.
Steroids first came to the public eye when retired outfielder Jose Conseco wrote "Juiced", a tell-all book about their rampant use in the sport. In 2005 a congressional investigation into steroids lead the charge for stricter regulations. Some of the Major League's top sluggers for the beginning of the century have been directly or indirectly implicated in their use, including Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and all-time home run leader Barry Bonds.
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