Major League Baseball is expected to announce suspensions for the players connected to the Biogenesis PED scandel on Monday and it appears MLB has evidence showing Alex Rodriguez had been using steroids consistently since 2009, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
Rodriguez is being threatened with a lifetime ban for his involvement with the Biogenesis clinic, but Heyman reports few people in baseball see that as a likely outcome. His sources say that the commissioner's office is hoping to work out deals with the players involved, but Rodriguez's camp remains far apart from MLB on the issue. Commissioner Bud Selig does have the power to ban a player under the Collective Bargaining Agreement's "best interest of baseball" clause, but Heyman's sources believe that he is unwilling to invoke that power and risk upsetting a players' union that has been very cooperative in the Biogenesis investigation to this point.
Rodriguez's side believes that he should not be suspended longer than Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun, who was given a 65-game suspension earlier this month. Unlike Braun, Rodriguez has not failed any test for performance-enhancing drugs under MLB's current agreement. He did admit to using PEDs in 2009 in an interview with Peter Gammons of ESPN. Rodriguez said he had taken banned substances as a member of the Texas Rangers from 2001-2003 after a Sports Illustrated report came out claiming the Yankees star had failed an anonymous 2003 survey test. If Heyman's sources are correct, Rogriguez would appear to have continued buying and using banned substances even after his admission and apology.
At the time of his admission, he said he had never used PEDs as a member of the Yankees (he joined the team in 2004) and he asked people to judge him on what he did before and after that time. Given those statements, evidence of his continued use would seem to be particularly damaging to his case and that could explain MLB's aggressive stance on his punishment.
More from SB Nation:
• David Roth: On Alex Rodriguez, the performance artist
• Report: MLB sets deadline of Sunday for Biogenesis pleas
• Grant Brisbee: In search of baseball’s dumbest rule