MLB wants documents Alex Rodriguez used to rat out Ryan Braun and Francisco Cervelli

A public relations firm hired by Alex Rodriguez leaked documents to Yahoo! Sports in February linking Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun and Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli to the Biogenesis doping ring, according to documents filed by Major League Baseball in Manhattan Supreme Court Tuesday.

In its petition for an order compelling Michael S. Sitrick, owner of the Sitrick & Company P.R. firm, to comply with a subpoena in the arbitration between MLB and Rodriguez, baseball contends that Rodriguez obtained documents that “had been maintained by (Biogenesis owner Anthony) Bosch ...for the purpose of preventing MLB from obtaining those records and from uncovering evidence of Rodriguez’s use and possession of prohibited substances.”

The petition went on to say that MLB has a “good faith basis” to believe that Rodriguez or others acting on his behalf provided records to Sitrick & Company implicating Braun, Cervelli and others claiming they had received performance-enhancing substances from Bosch. The public relations firm then provided the information to Yahoo! Sports, the court papers said.

MLB’s filings noted that CBS’ 60 Minutes reported on its website in August that members of Rodriguez’s inner circle had obtained and leaked the Bosch records to Yahoo! Sports.

“It is our intention to work it out,” said Sitrick's attorney, J. Michael Hennigan of McKool Smith Hennigan. “Mr. Sitrick wants to cooperate to the extent that he can.”

The assertions in MLB’s court papers directly contradict claims by a spokesman for Rodriguez, who said last week that the embattled superstar did not attempt to obstruct MLB’s Biogenesis investigation by purchasing evidence.

he Players Association, acting as Rodriguez’s representative, agreed heading into the arbitration that Rodriguez would share any documents and information regarding his attempts to obtain Biogenesis records with MLB, the court papers say. The union, however, has told MLB that it was unable to produce the documents provided to Sitrick. The Supreme Court petition is an attempt to compel Sitrick to appear at Rodriguez’s appeal of his 211-game suspension with copies of the documents baseball says it believes are relevant to its case against Rodriguez.

“To date, MLB has received neither responsive documents from Sitrick & Co., nor an affidavit from Mr. Sitrick certifying that he and the company has or ever had the documents in question,” according to the petition. “The testimony of Mr. Sitrick is necessary to establish whether Rodriguez or his representatives have or had documents relevant to MLB’s allegations in the arbitration in their possession and when these documents were obtained.”

The Daily News reported in April that Rodriguez had purchased Biogenesis records and other evidence in an attempt to keep them from MLB investigators. A-Rod’s spokesman, Ron Berkowitz, denied then that Rodriguez or a representative purchased evidence.

The News reported earlier this month that Rodriguez’s lawyers acknowledged during the appeal of his 211-game suspension that they had spent $305,000 on evidence.

Berkowitz first denied that report, but later admitted that the evidence had been purchased this month but said it was not an attempt to interfere with baseball’s Biogenesis investigation.

Berkowitz declined comment on Tuesday.

Meanwhile in U.S. District Court for the Southern District, MLB will ask Judge Lorna G. Schofield to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Rodriguez that accuses commissioner Bud Selig of mounting a "witch hunt" against the scandal-stained superstar by Nov. 8, according to a letter one of Rodriguez's lawyers sent to the court on Monday.

MLB attorneys will argue that the Labor Management Relations Act requires that Rodriguez's dispute with baseball should be addressed by an arbitrator as outlined by the sport's collective bargaining agreement, the letter from attorney Jordan Siev said.

Team A-Rod, meanwhile, will argue that under the act, the case belongs in New York state court, where it was originally filed on Oct. 3, before MLB moved it to federal court.

The suit says Selig and other MLB officials engaged in unethical and even criminal behavior against Rodriguez to “gloss over” their past inaction and tacit approval of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

The court papers claim MLB officials conducted a "witch hunt" against Rodriguez to secure Selig's legacy as the "savior" of the national pastime. MLB called the lawsuit a "desperate attempt" to circumvent the appeals procedure outlined in the game’s Basic Agreement.


(nydailynews.com)