ESPN gave the Washington Nationals some good news today:
According to two sources familiar with Bosch’s operation, however, the Washington Nationals’ Gio Gonzalez, previously identified as being named in Biogenesis documents, did not receive banned substances from Bosch or the clinic.
Both sources, speaking independently, identified Gonzalez as the only Bosch client named thus far who did not receive performance-enhancing drugs. A document obtained by “Outside the Lines” bolsters their case: On a computer printout of clients, Gonzalez, identified by the code name “Gladiator,” is said to have received $1,000 worth of substances, but under “notes” are several substances not banned by Major League Baseball: “gluthetyn” (which a source said was a misspelling of glutathione), “IM [intramuscular] shots,” and amino acids.
Glutathione is an anti-oxidant, and one source said the “IM shots” Gonzalez received were “MICs,” a medically dubious but legal combination of methionine, inositol and choline, often used for weight loss.
Hat tip to Hardball Talk. While this may be good news for Gonzalez, it doesn’t help anyone else, including the five new names that came out in the story.
I would add that just as all these accusations should be taken with a grain of salt, so should the opposite.
So we’ve got an uncorroborated journal ostensibly by a non-doctor who’s held himself out as “Dr. Tony Bosch” listing who got what, and everyone got illegal (by MLB rules) PEDs except Gio Gonzalez. Who happens to pitch for the Washington Nationals, the exciting new club, based in the town that’s the seat of the federal government, which still gives MLB a partial anti-trust exemption.
Yeah, nothing odorous there.
Haven’t there been reports since the Biogenesis story first hit that the only drugs Gonzalez wasn’t linked to illegal drugs anyway? I’m glad to hear this, even if I’m not a fan of Gio in particular. It does sadden me a bit that people are so anxious to jump on these stories before all the detail are known, though. Even if he is never linked to anything worse than, say, cortisone, there will forever be people pointing to the lacking first reports as some sort of proof of his guilt.