Report: A-Rod's Camp Leaked Biogenesis Docs With Braun's Name

According to a report from 60 Minutes, Biogenesis documents showing the names of three previously unidentified players were leaked to Yahoo Sports earlier this year by Alex Rodriguez's "inner circle." Why would A-Rod narc out his fellow players?

The original story from the contained a number of documents, including Tony Bosch's handwritten client list. It looked like this:

Three names were blacked out. By whom, we don't know (it would have been either the New Times or Porter Fischer, the disgruntled ex-Biogenesis employee who leaked them in the first place.) We also don't know why they were initially redacted.

One week later, a report appeared on Yahoo. In addition to the players previously mentioned in the New Times story, it named Ryan Braun, Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli, and Orioles 3B Danny Valencia, who was later cleared by MLB. Yahoo posted what appears to be the same document the New Times had, only without redactions.

According to today's CBS report, that ledger and two other documents were separately obtained by people close to Rodriguez, and given to Yahoo. In a June , Porter Fischer said another worker at the clinic had sold copies of the documents to Rodriguez.

It's not clear why Rodriguez would willingly provide evidence that MLB didn't yet have, but the implication seems to be the inclusion of another big name—Braun's—would deflect attention away from him. It worked, at least initially—the media anger at Braun for successfully appealing his 2011 failed drug test was still fresh. In the long run, Braun accepted a 65-game suspension; Rodriguez received 211 games.

Rodriguez's lawyer denied these latest claims:

"The allegations are untrue and are another attempt to harm Alex — this time by driving a wedge between Alex and other players in the game. While Alex focuses on baseball and repeatedly states that he is going to respect the appeal process, the drumbeat of false allegations continues."

If there's any truth to these allegations, it could be very bad for Rodriguez. It would be a violation of the CBA's confidentiality clause, as well as an instance of interfering with baseball's investigation, and MLB could seek additional punishment. On a more personal level, Rodriguez will suit up for the Yankees tonight under the shadow of a claim that he ratted out fellow players, including a teammate.

[ CBS]