This morning, Ryan Braun reported to Spring Training. For the second straight year, he faced a throng of reporters and gave a statement — a sort of "State of Ryan Braun" speech — and he went to work. Everybody probably figured that'd be the last Ryan Braun item we'd hear about today.
Then Outside the Lines happened.
ESPN's T.J. Quinn — who, as every Brewers fan will be able to tell you, was one of the reporters to break the story of Ryan Braun's failed drug test in December 2011 — and Mike Fish got their hands on another document from the Biogenesis labs, and wouldn't you know, Braun's name is on that one, too.
This piece of paper has Braun on a list with Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera and Fracisco Cervelli with a different dollar amount — $1500 — that was listed in the other documents. An anonymous source tells Quinn and Fish that this is a list of guys who got drugs from Biogenesis and still owed money, although there is nothing on the document actually linking Braun to any drugs — something made very clear in the article, as apparently Braun's people have threatened legal action over the report.
At the moment, it appears Braun attorney Martin Singer is playing his client's inclusion on this list off as Tony Bosch "trying to get whatever money he could from Braun from the consulting arrangement." Braun told reporters this morning that he wasn't going to address the issue anymore, but of course, that was before this latest twist came out.
As it stands, MLB still doesn't have anything they could use to suspend Braun, and the ESPN report made it sound like Biogenesis isn't even under investigation by any government law enforcement agency.
