The New York Daily News claims that New York Yankees baseball player Alex Rodriguez is once again traveling with his cousin Yuri Sucart. Sucart was spotted at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco where the Yankees were staying during their road series against the Oakland A’s. An unidentified source told the Daily News that Sucart has accompanied A-Rod on several trips.
Rodriguez identified Sucart as his “steroid mule” in the days following his admission of steroid use. A “steroid mule” is the term used to describe an individual who smuggles anabolic steroids and/or performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) for another individual. Individuals employing steroid mules pay mules in order to avoid the risk of getting caught smuggling steroids into the United States.
During his 2009 mea culpa press conference at spring training following a Sports Illustrated report saying he had tested positive during MLB’s survey testing year in 2003, Rodriguez detailed how Sucart would travel to the Dominican Republic to procure steroids (he called them “boli”) for both men when A-Rod played for the Rangers between 2001-03. The News reported then that Rodriguez met in Tampa for about two hours with both MLB’s Department of Investigations and Labor Relations, answering questions about his relationship with Sucart as well as his affiliation with embattled Dominican trainer Angel Presinal.
Alex Rodriguez told the press during his steroid confessional that his cousin would travel to the Dominican Republic to purchase A-Rod’s preferred anabolic steroid – “boli” or Primobolan. Rodriguez described his 6-month Primobolan cycles during which his cousin injected him twice every month during the 2001-2003 seasons when he was a player for the Texas Rangers.
The New York Yankees had banned Yuri Sucart from any team-related functions or facilities involving non-public areas such as team charters, team buses or clubhouses. The New York Daily News suggested that Sucart may have violated the terms of his prohibition from team function and facilities.
Major League Baseball quickly responded to the Daily News report by contacting the Yankees management. The Yankees reassured MLB that the ban has been respected.
“Our position is, we told the Yankees, they agreed, that (Sucart) should not be allowed in any non-public areas; clubhouses, any team charters, buses. And it’s our understanding that that prohibition has been respected,” Manfred told ESPN.com. “We’ve talked to the Yankees and they’ve assured us the prohibition has been respected.”
About Millard Baker