The cousin Alex Rodriguez identified as his steroid supplier during questioning by top Major League Baseball officials two years ago has been spotted traveling with the Yankees slugger on road trips and at a Yankees hotel despite being banned from team-related functions and facilities, a team source told the Daily News.
Major League Baseball is now once again investigating the relationship between A-Rod and his 48-year-old cousin Yuri Sucart, whom A-Rod claimed injected and supplied him with performance-enhancing drugs from the Dominican Republic while he played for the Texas Rangers from 2001-03.
The Yankees later banned Sucart from team activities and facilities as a result of A-Rod’s claims, but the team source tells the News he’s traveled with Rodriguez on road trips this season as well as last season.
The now infamous cousin was also spotted sporting a hooded Yankees sweatshirt at the team’s St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco Tuesday night following the game against Oakland, the source added.
“We have been in contact with the Yankees about this matter,” Rob Manfred, MLB executive vice president of labor relations, told the News. “We are looking into it.”
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman declined to comment on the matter, reports the News.
A-Rod’s 2009 admission that he used steroids rocked the sports world and prompted a lengthy MLB investigation. He met in Tampa for a two-hour grill session with officials from the league’s Department of Investigations and Labor Relations Department shortly after his public confession.
At the time, the commissioner's office released a statement saying Rodriguez was "cooperative" in the interview but did not elaborate on the details of the discussion.
