Inside Baseball

DRUG PROBE

Report: Alex Rodriguez, other local athletes linked to steroids

 

Seven major-league players and a University of Miami strength coach were among those who allegedly bought drugs from a Coral Gables “anti-aging’’ clinic, the Miami New Times reported.

WEB VOTE Alex Rodriguez denies a report that he bought performance enhancing drugs at a Miami Clinic. What do you believe?

sdegnan@MiamiHerald.com

Goins, 35, is a nine-year assistant strength and conditioning coach who lives in Coral Gables and was listed on the UM athletics website as “working primarily’’ with the UM baseball and track and field programs.

Goins’ name was taken off the UM website Tuesday afternoon. He was approached by a Miami Herald reporter as he was returning home Tuesday evening. He said he had no comment but referred calls to his attorney.

When asked if he was still employed by UM or on leave, Goins said, “I cannot comment,’’ before entering his house. His lawyer, Gordon Fenderson, said by phone that Goins hasn’t been charged with anything and his law firm is representing him to be proactive in his defense.

“We’re going to let UM do what they’re going to do and we’ll address it once they make it clear,’’ said Fenderson, who said his client hasn’t been fired but wouldn’t say if he has been suspended. “Naturally, the university is in a position that they’re going to look at this because there are allegations.’’

The New Times reported Goins’ name was on multiple client lists at Biogenesis. The story said, “In one detailed page dated December 14, 2011, [Biogenesis owner Tony] Bosch writes he’s selling [Goins] Anavar, testosterone, and a Winstrol/B-12 mix and charging him $400 a month. Another [report] from this past December includes sales of HGH and testosterone.’’

And though Grandal, a catcher with the San Diego Padres who was suspended by MLB for 50 games after having high testosterone levels in November; and Carrillo, a former Padre now a minor-leaguer with the Detroit Tigers, were mentioned in the New Times report, it does not say whether Goins supplied banned drugs to any UM players — while they were attending school, or even after they left.

Odesnik, the tennis player, was furious.

Reached by phone, Odesnik said he is giving the New Times 24 hours to print a retraction and apology or he will take legal action. In March 2010, Odesnik, at one time ranked No. 77 in the world, pleaded guilty to carrying eight vials of human growth hormone (HGH) into Australia before an event. He was banned from the tour for two years, and the ban was reduced to a year.

He says he has never met Bosch, and that the drugs he carried “absolutely did not’’ come from Bosch.

“I don’t know Tony Bosch, have never had any dealings with him, never stepped in his office, and I have no idea why my name would be connected to his,’’ Odesnik said. “Suggesting that I was a customer of this person is completely and utterly false. The part about my drug suspension is old news, and I’m not denying that. But the rest of it is just not true. When all that happened with me, I supplied the International Tennis Federation a list of all my doctors, and that guy was not on the list. I have never been his patient or client, and now my name is being smeared and spread all over the Internet in connection with this story.’’

Odesnik said he requested from the New Times a copy of the evidence it said had his name on it: “They sent me a piece of paper with my name handwritten on it and a bunch of other things marked out. That’s it. There was no payment listed, nothing, just the name ‘Wayne Odesnik’ written on a sheet of paper.’’

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