Alex Rodriguez ratted out Manny Ramirez, Ryan Braun to feds in PED probe, report says

Alex Rodriguez told federal agents nine years ago that three Major League Baseball All-Stars — Manny Ramirez, Ryan Braun and an unnamed player — were performance-enhancing drug clients of Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch, according to an ESPN report.

In 2014, the New York Yankees star had been summoned by federal agents as part of their investigation into the Biogenesis of America clinic. Rodriguez was granted so-called "Queen for a Day" status that prevented any information he shared from being used against him in legal proceedings.

Rodriguez talked — and in the process ratted out some fellow big-name players for being involved in the doping scandal that rocked the MLB, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigation that exposed the largest PED operation in U.S. sports history.

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Two of those players were Ramirez, a star for the Dodgers and other teams whose MLB career had since ended, and Braun, a Granada Hills High graduate and the 2011 National League MVP who played for the Milwaukee Brewers from 2007 to 2020. The third player, identified by ESPN only as "another All-Star player," "never tested positive for any PED use, was never interviewed by authorities and was never suspended by MLB."

ESPN viewed more than 1,400 pages of confidential DEA documents. Those records showed that during his interview with agents on Jan. 29, 2014, Rodriguez told investigators of three players who Bosch told him were PED clients.

Months before his interview, Rodriguez denied a "60 Minutes" report that his camp leaked documents linking Braun and then-Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli to the scandal. (Cervelli never was named an All-Star in his 13-year career and presumably is not the third player named to investigators.)

All the aforementioned players declined to comment to ESPN.

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Rodriguez also admitted his own involvement to investigators but continued to deny it publicly, even after serving his 162-game suspension from MLB. While that admission will come as no surprise to anyone — Rodriguez previously admitted to and was suspended for PED use earlier in his career — the report lays out details of what went on during Rodriguez's Biogenesis days.

"He basically did everything he could to distract from his own behavior," a Yankees source said of Rodriguez, adding: "I mean, Alex is a complicated person. He had a lot of layers to him, and I think he's remorseful, but he did some bad things to a lot of people."

Rodriguez has been an ESPN analyst since 2018 and is scheduled to work for the network during the wild-card playoffs next month. An ESPN spokesperson told The Times that the company has no comment on the report.

Rodriguez also covers baseball for Fox Sports, which did not respond to The Times' request for comment.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.