Major League Baseball is preparing to suspend Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun and roughly 20 other players who have been connected to the Biogenesis clinic in Miami, according to a report from T.J. Quinn and Pedro Gomez of ESPN.com. The announcement could come within the next few weeks.
Rodriguez, Braun and the others could receive up to 100-game suspensions with the penalties being handed down within the next few weeks, ESPN reports. If the penalties are given and upheld, it would be the largest PED scandal in American sports history.
According to the report, the break in the investigation came when Tony Bosch, the founder of the clinic, agreed to cooperate with the investigation. MLB had been investigating the Biogenesis clinic in an effort to determine whether the clinic supplied performance-enhancing drugs to players. Nearly 30 major and minor league players have been connected to the clinic. In addition to Rodriguez and Braun, Melky Cabrera, Nelson Cruz and Francisco Cervelli have been connected. MLB conducted an investigation into whether Robinson Cano was also connected to the clinic.
Of those players, Cabrera has served a 50-game suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Braun was suspended for a failed test, but the suspension was overturned after an appeal. The full list of players is yet to be known, but according to ESPN's report a number of players have already been identified after their code names were revealed. Those players include Rodriguez, Braun, Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, Yasmani Grandal, Cruz, Cervelli, Jesus Montero, Jhonny Peralta, Cesar Puello, Fernando Martinez, Everth Cabrera, Fautino de los Santos and Jordan Norberto among others.
More from SB Nation:
• Suspensions coming to Biogenesis-linked players
• Neyer: MLB had to act | Goldman: No one looks good
• Interview: Fay Vincent on the never-ending steroid era
• MLB draft: Scouting report roundup