A spokesperson for Tony Bosch’s attorney, Susy Ribero-Ayala, told ESPN’s Outside the Lines on Sunday that Alex Rodriguez paid her a $25,000 retainer in February in the wake of the Biogenesis scandal and later transferred an additional $50,000 that was immediately returned to Rodriguez.
Outside the Lines reviewed the documents for the second transfer. Ribero-Ayala said through her spokesperson that the money was “unsolicited and unwarranted” and was returned. A lawyer for Rodriguez’s former law firm, said that the $50,000 had been sent in an error and asked for it to be returned.
Of course, all of this suggests that Rodriguez was trying to enlist Bosch’s aid in the Biogenesis investigation before MLB earned Bosch’s cooperation. And it’s that involvement in trying to muck up the investigation that MLB has and will use to justify its 211-game suspension of Rodriguez.
Which all seems pretty specious. Of course Rodriguez deserves a steroids suspension, just like everyone else nailed by MLB. But the idea that him attempting to cover up his cheating being worse than the cheating itself is ludicrous, and it’s going to be a tough argument for MLB to make given that Melky Cabrera drew no extra punishment for his attempted coverup in 2012.
