ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Robinson Cano’s name has been further dragged into the Biogenesis scandal, but the Yankees have been assured by Major League Baseball that Cano is not a primary suspect in the league’s investigation, according to a person briefed on the situation. The latest news isn’t expected to deter the Yankees from negotiating a long-term contract extension with Cano.
As first reported by ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” MLB has information from Biogenesis — the now shuttered South Florida clinic at the center of the potential scandal — that includes the name of Sonia Cruz, who is the spokeswoman for Cano’s RC24 Foundation.
Cano’s friendships with teammate Alex Rodriguez and former Yankee Melky Cabrera, both of whom are reportedly named in the Biogenesis documents and who admitted to using illegal performance-enhancing drugs in the past, already had him answering questions about Biogenesis even before this latest report.
“I don’t know about that,” Cano said. Asked whether he would speak with Cruz about the story, he said: “No, it has nothing to do with me. I am focused on the team and winning games.’’
Cruz didn’t return a call and email from The Post yesterday.
In an interview with “Outside the Lines,” she said: “I met with a nurse who works for the clinic, but I met her outside the clinic just to talk to her about a diet program they have for women. I never went through with it once she explained what it was. I thought it was just a diet/nutritional thing, but it was diet, nutrition, pills and stuff.”
MLB spokesman Pat Courtney declined comment.
While baseball’s investigation team will look into Cano’s potential connection with Biogenesis as a matter of due diligence, a second source said on the condition of anonymity that a case to be made against Cano was “flimsy.” ESPN, which also acquired Biogenesis documents naming Cruz, reported that the $300 she allegedly owed the clinic last July and August is consistent more with a weight-loss regimen than with PEDs.
A-Rod, the Yankees’ Francisco Cervelli and Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun are among the players with a far more tangible connection to the Biogenesis allegations and therefore have occupied far more of the investigators’ attention.
“I don’t know where that is,’’ Cano said of Biogenesis.
Cano has repeatedly found himself in the middle of scuttlebutt surrounding illegal PEDs. Last year, a Charlotte television reporter wrote on Twitter that he heard rumors Cano was about to be suspended for a failed drug test. The reporter subsequently apologized.
Asked whether the continued association with illegal PEDs bothered him, Cano said, “No. I know what I am doing and I know myself. There is nothing else I can say about it.’’
Cano is enjoying another fine season, hitting his sixth home run during last night’s 5-1 Yankees loss to the Rays. He has shaken off the distraction of his impending free agency, including his high-profile switch in representatives from Scott Boras to Jay-Z and CAA, and now he’ll have to play through this, as well.
“I hope it wouldn’t be [a distraction],” manager Joe Girardi said. “He had to deal with it last year and people talked about his contract being a distraction. He gets to the field and he is all business.’’
The Yankees are hopeful of signing Cano to a new contract before he reaches free agency in November, and Cano seems to be interested in the same. And it seems as though he’ll survive this latest attention-generating affiliation with illegal PEDs.