Based on the public statements of all parties involved, Alex Rodriguez would seem to be the person most surprised to learn that Alex Rodriguez confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs as part of the Biogenesis scandal that rocked Major League Baseball.
MLB officials, who initially suspended Rodriguez for 211 games, never seemed to have any doubt that Rodriguez used performance-enhancing drugs received from Tony Bosch and his clinic in South Florida. The New York Yankees, which accepted the punishment levied against their highly-paid third baseman, never seemed to doubt MLB. The only one denying that Rodriguez took or received performance-enhancing drugs from Bosch or Biogenesis was Rodriguez. The three-time American League MVP had vehemently denied reports of his drug use since the Biogenesis scandal broke in early 2013, railed against MLB's subsequent punishment and even threatened to go to federal court to defend himself.
"I have been clear that I did not use performance enhancing substances as alleged in the notice of discipline, or violate the Basic Agreement or the Joint Drug Agreement in any manner," Rodriguez said in a statement issued after an arbitrator reduced his ban to 162 games on Jan. 11, 2014. "And in order to prove it I will take this fight to federal court."
Later that month, Rodriguez reportedly sang a different tune when he met with Drug Enforcement Administration officials. Citing a 15-page report on Rodriguez's meeting with federal agents, the Miami Herald reported on Wednesday that Rodriguez confessed to receiving and using what he believed to be performance-enhancing drugs. In exchange for immunity, Rodriguez reportedly told the DEA that Bosch not only gave him the drugs but also instructed him in how to evade detection by MLB.
“Rodriguez injected the HGH into his stomach,” the DEA report stated, according to the Miami Herald. “Rodriguez said Bosch told him the HGH would help with sleep, weight, hair growth, eyesight and muscle recovery.”
The Herald reported that Rodriguez admitted to paying Bosch for testosterone cream, lozenges laced with testosterone and human growth hormone injections.
The Biogenesis scandal began in January 2013 when the Miami New Times published a bombshell report on the clinic and its all-star clients. Citing clinic records, reportedly obtained from a former employee, the Miami New Times linked Rodriguez and several other MLB players to Biogenesis and PED use.
"The purported documents referenced in the story -- at least as they relate to Alex Rodriguez -- are not legitimate," claimed a statement from team A-Rod, obtained by CNN in February 2013, just days after the Miami New Times' initial report on Biogenesis. "Alex Rodriguez was not Mr. Bosch's patient, he was never treated by him and he was never advised by him."
Following its investigation into Biogenesis, MLB suspended 13 players in August 2013. Twelve players accepted their suspensions and began serving them immediately. Rodriguez was the lone holdout, and vowed to fight his punishment.
"I did nothing. About the Bosch nonsense? Nothing," Rodriguez said during an appearance on Mike Francesa's WFAN radio show in New York in November 2013, just hours after storming out of his own grievance hearing with MLB.
Facing federal investigators in early 2014, Rodriguez reportedly stopped denying something the public had already accepted. According to the Miami Herald, he finally admitted that he had cheated and lied, again.
"If you'd seen the evidence, there was never really any doubt that it was compelling," T.J. Quinn of ESPN said after the Miami Herald published its report on Rodriguez's testimony to the DEA. "And obviously an arbitrator upheld baseball's decision to suspend him for the entire season. But once you're facing federal obstruction charges if you lie to agents, suddenly everything changes."
Read the full report from the Miami Herald.