The distraction of a playoff chase is gone for the New York Yankees, and the focus is turning back to Alex Rodriguez's fight with Major League Baseball over the 211-game suspension they doled out this summer for his use of performance enhancing drugs, and dishonesty.
Rodriguez is battling MLB, and contending that he should, in fact, not be suspended for "a single inning" as one of his high-powered attorneys, Joe Tacopina said.
Rodriguez's involvement with Anthony Bosch and the Miami anti-aging clinic Biogenesis is at the forefront of this legal tussle, but MLB is currently seeking to unseal grand jury documents regarding A-Rod's relationship with another doctor, Anthony Galea of Canada.
Galea was convicted of bringing illegal drugs into the United States, including human growth hormone (HGH). In fact, The Daily News refers to him as a human growth hormone "guru." It is unclear, though, what MLB expects to find in those documents.
Rodriguez's legal team is boasting that they will provide evidence that proves their client never used steroids provided by Anthony Bosch, and accuse MLB of using unlawful tactics in their Biogenesis investigation. An example of those tactics is an incident in which former Biogenesis employee Porter Fischer reported documents and a pistol stolen from his car. The documents were pertinent to the investigation of the clinic.
Fischer claimed that MLB officials were following him and had his phone tapped. The Daily News said that although he never provided real evidence of their involvement, he was tempted to expose the incident and "implicate MLB in the crime."
MLB vice president Rob Manfred dismissed that claim as nonsense, saying, "We did not steal anything from anybody."
Aside from Rodriguez, 12 other players were suspended in connection with Bosch's clinic. Ryan Braun received 65 games, while the rest of the players got 50; none of them contested MLB's penalty.
Robert Boland, a former prosecutor, defense attorney, and current academic chairman for NYU's Tisch Center for Sports Management thinks A-Rod has a tough uphill battle ahead of him convincing the arbiter to overturn a decision based on low tactics.
"A-Rod could say he was the target of a vendetta, which would force MLB to gather more evidence and put Bosch on the stand," Boland said.
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