A-Rod got MLB OK to use PEDs during 2007, book says

NEW YORK – Alex Rodriguez is sitting out the Yankees' season on his Biogenesis performance enhancing drugs suspension, but he isn't sitting out the news cycle for the season.

A-Rod had permission from Major league Baseball to use PEDs during his heavy-hitting MVP year of 2007 with the Yankees, according to SI.com's excerpt Wednesday from the book "Blood Sport: Alex Rodriguez, Biogenesis and the Quest to End Baseball's Steroid Era."

The book, written by Tim Elfrink and Gus Garcia-Roberts, claims that Rodriguez asked to use testosterone for treatment of a low testosterone condition known as hypogonadism and was given a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) by a physician who was an independent program administrator.

"In 2007, of the 1,354 players subjected to testing, 111 were granted a TUE," the book states. "Only two, apparently including Rodriguez, received an exemption for 'androgen deficiency medications,' the category that would include testosterone."

The book states this exception came out during Rodriguez's 2013 grievance hearing. Rodriguez put up extra-large numbers in 2007, when he hit .314 with 54 homers and 156 RBI. He then re-signed with the Yankees after opting out during the World Series and received his now infamous 10-year, $275 deal with incentives. The book also states he received an exemption in 2008 to use clomiphene citrate, the women's fertility drug that also can build testosterone in men.

In addition, a New York Daily News report stated that one of the 38-year-old third baseman's lawyers, David Cornwall, is about to file suit against him for failing to pay legal fees from the Biogenesis case last year.

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