FLORIDA INVESTIGATOR SAYS MLB HINDERED HIS INVESTIGATION

Almost a year ago I wrote a piece called MLB KNEW WHAT THEY WERE PURCHASING. To summarize, it was about a report on ESPN Outside the Lines that claimed the MLB knew the documents they purchased were in fact stolen.

The MLB adamantly denied this. They claimed that Dan Mullin had no idea the documents were stolen, and justified their purchases by saying that their investigation was regulatory not criminal. Rob Manfred, who will be taken over for good 'ole Bud Selig, even went on record during the Alex Rodriguez arbitration hearings saying that he did not know the documents were stolen until after they were purchased.

As it turns out, and as BYB has suspected all along, the MLB did in fact know the documents were stolen prior to the purchase being made. According to Jerome Hill, former Florida Department of Health investigator, he had warned Manfred himself. According to the Miami New Times, the same publication that broke the biogenesis story, Hill went on record stating "MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL HINDERED MY INVESTIGATION."

Okay, that is a loaded statement from Hill. It means a lot of different things. We all know that this biogenesis scandal goes far beyond the MLB. They don't care about suspended players, the authorities want the supplier. I'm curious if Hill were making a case to bring down the suppliers, and was relying on these documents for leads. If that is the case, for the MLB to knowingly purchase documents that they knew were stolen, and completely disregard warnings given to them by Hill, would be selfish and catastrophic. The smallest piece of mismanaged evidence can effectively end an investigation.

I was going to do a huge "I told you so," bit, because I have been saying this for months. But really, if you have read enough of my pieces on this case, you know. And you have either accepted it, or sent me angry tweets, and messages. Either way, I was right, and now there is proof. With ARod having served a suspension, where more than half of those games were do to obstruction of evidence, this further proves what I have been saying for months. ARod may not be a saint, but in this case, he is certainly a scapegoat. Selig used him to be able to retire the commissioner that cleaned up baseball. He deflected allegations that the documents had been stolen, and pointed fingers instead to ARod. No personal responsibility for his actions at all!

The idea that Manfred would know that the documents were stolen, order Mullin to purchase them anyway, and then deny any knowledge that they were stolen speaks volumes. Selig, ultimately did nothing as commissioner. Nothing other than nurture the steroid era. His mad dash to "clean up" the sport is a joke, and was poorly executed. The story is not as simple as "this player tested positive, so let's suspend him." There are so many layers... from TUE's down to these stolen documents.

I'll be watching how this thing plays out. I'm sure Manfred and the MLB will have a few choice words about this.

--Erica Morales BYB Senior Writer 
Twitter: @e_morales1804

 



You've made BYB the fastest growing Yankees fan site in history. Now shop at the Bleeding Yankee Blue store!  Follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and LIKE Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook!