Who’s Juicin’?
Ah, yet another potential PED scandal in sports. We have Lance Armstrong, of course, Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens (NFL) allegedy taking some weird deer-antler spray and deer-antler pills, and, more to the point of this blog, A-Rod and other MLB players have been mentioned in an investigation of a “self-styled” biochemist in Florida who allegedly has “distributed large amounts of human growth hormone, synthetic testosterone and other cocktails of PEDs to players” according to this Yahoo! sports article. The news was broken by the Miami New Times. The newspaper states that MLB officials think this will be as big as the BALCO case that involved Barry Bonds.
It can’t be a shock that A-Rod has been mentioned, and a few others named have already been suspended, but other names and suspensions will follow according to the report. More interesting for Phillies fans is that big-time Nationals pitcher and former Phillies farmhand Gio Gonzalez has been linked in some way. According to the article, his involvement is unclear and Gonzalez’s father said he saw this guy in Florida to lose weight. However, should the link be more firmly established and a suspension given, that could be an advantage for the Phillies for a few weeks.
For the record, A-Rod has denied being involved with this guy.