While New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez's past is far from squeaky clean, BALCO founder Victor Conte insists that the controversial slugger wasn't cheating in 2012.
Conte appeared on ESPN Radio and said that he took a sample of A-Rod's blood last year before sending the embattled Yankee three months of "legal" supplements and found Rodriguez to be clean. Conte said there were no traces of illegal substances in the blood.
"The answer is no," Conte said on ESPN Radio Monday. "I'm not at liberty to talk in great detail about someone's blood test results, and I would never do that. But to answer your question directly, I, in general terms, just said these are some of the things that are markers that you can see if it looks like somebody has been doing things, and let's just say, in general terms, I saw none of that in terms of what we collected on A-Rod."
Rodriguez, 38, is currently appealing an unprecedented 211-game suspension that Major League Baseball handed down to him for his alleged role in the Biogenesis scandal. The suspension is supposed to last through the 2014 season, but A-Rod can continue to play baseball until arbitrator Frederic Horowitz hears his grievance around November or December.
Rodriguez has played in six games this season with the Yankees after undergoing offseason hip surgery in January and experiencing a set-back with a Grade 1 quad strain last month. A-Rod has had 25 plate appearances since his return, and is hitting .273 (6-for-22) with a homerun and two RBIs, while walking twice.
ESPN reports that in early May 2012, A-Rod and former BALCO client and ex-linebacker Bill Romanowski drove to Conte's office in the Bay Area to meet with him, but didn't want anyone to know about the meeting due to Conte's past connection with the BALCO case and Barry Bonds.
Conte admits that he gave A-Rod three months of legal supplements before the two lost contact, mainly due to the Biogenesis investigation.
Since A-Rod won't meet with an arbitrator until later in the year, he is expected to finish out the season with the Yankees (60-57) who are currently in fourth place in the American League East standings and 9.5 games behind the first place Boston Red Sox. New York is 6.5 games out of the second wildcard spot, currently held by the Tampa Bay Rays.
While what happens to Rodriguez in 2014 remains to be seen, Conte insists the three-time AL MVP was clean in 2012.
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