MLB calls Rodriguez’s bluff

NEW YORK – A lawyer for Alex Rodriguez declined Major League Baseball’s challenge to make public the drug evidence that led to the 211-game suspension of the New York Yankees star.

MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred wrote to lawyer Joseph Tacopina on Monday, urging him to waive his client’s confidentiality under baseball’s Joint Drug Agreement so the documents could be released. Tacopina had said he wanted to discuss evidence publicly but was constrained by the provision.

“We will agree to waive those provisions as they apply to both Rodriguez and the office of commissioner of baseball with respect to Rodriguez’s entire history under the program, including, but not limited to, his testing history, test results, violations of the program, and all information and evidence relating to Rodriguez’s treatment by Anthony Bosch, Anthony Galea and Victor Conte,” Manfred wrote in the letter, which was released by MLB.

Bosch was head of the Biogenesis of America anti-aging clinic accused of distributing banned performance-enhancing drugs. Galea pleaded guilty two years ago to a federal charge of bringing unapproved drugs into the U.S. from Canada. Conte was head of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, the target of a federal investigation.

Manfred proposed that both sides disclose information and documents relating to:

• All drug tests that were conducted on Rodriguez under the program and their results;

• All prior violations of the program committed by Rodriguez, and;

• All documents relating to the issue of whether Rodriguez obstructed the office of the commissioner’s investigation.

Tacopina said the players’ association would have to agree to waive confidentiality.

“The letter was nothing more than a cheap publicity stunt,” Tacopina said in a statement.