Gio Gonzalez named in PED report
In an off-season of relatively good news for the Washington Nationals comes a troubling report that Nats' 21 game winner Gio Gonzalez could be linked to performance enhancing drugs. We caution that it is just a report and that Gonzalez has not been disci-plined in nayway by Major League Baseball.
Alex Rodriguez, Gio Gonzalez, Nelson Cruz, and Melky Cabrera are among the players connected to performance-enhancing drugs in an investigative report by Tim Elfrink of the Miami New Times, which was published on Tuesday. Records from a South Florida clinic called "Biogenesis" show those players (and more) received various substances from Anthony Bosch, the clinic's chief who is already under investigation by MLB and DEA. There are different levels of implication throughout the report.
Here is a link to the main breaking story.
There's also the curious case of Gio Gonzalez, the 27-year-old, Hialeah-native, left-handed hurler who won 21 games last year for the Washington Nationals. Gonzalez's name appears five times in Bosch's notebooks, including a specific note in the 2012 book reading, "Order 1.c.1 with Zinc/MIC/... and Aminorip. For Gio and charge $1,000." (Aminorip is a muscle-building protein.)
Gonzalez's father, Max, also appears on Bosch's client lists and is often listed in conjunction with the pitcher. But reached by phone, the Hialeah resident insists his son has had no contact with Bosch.
"My son works very, very hard, and he's as clean as apple pie," the elder Gonzalez says. "I went to Tony because I needed to lose weight. A friend recommended him, and he did great work for me. But that's it. He never met my son. Never. And if I knew he was doing these things with steroids, do you think I'd be dumb enough to go there?"
Not sure what to think of the story right now. Obviously still digesting it.
I simply can not understand why players would pursue this route after all the publicity of PEDs and the major investigation by Congress and Major League Baseball. We hear time and time again the criticism levied on those that use PEDs. Most recently, we witnessed somewhat judgment with Hall fo Fame voting a few weeks ago, when MLB writers had their first opportunity to have say on the status and judgment of those involved or reproted involvement in the steroid scandal. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemons, and Sammy Sosa were eligible for the Hall of Fame for the first time this year. None of them received over 35% of the vote.
UPDATE: The one huge positive Gio has going for him is the notes indicate a purchase of Aminorip. According to multiple sources, if that is the case, then Gio may be fine. There are no indications that any ingredients in Aminorip are on MLB's ban list. Seems like the bigger pieces in this puzzle belong to Alex Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera.
