TAMPA — Dr. Anthony Galea’s admission yesterday that he gave Alex Rodriguez anti-inflammatory medication — but not human growth hormone — raised more questions than it answered.
If Galea, who is under investigation in Canada and the United States, is telling the truth and didn’t give Rodriguez performance-enhancing drugs, Major League Baseball and the Yankees have several questions to ask Galea and Rodriguez after the feds complete their investigation of the relationship between the doctor and Yankees’ cleanup hitter.
When the news broke last week that the feds wanted to talk to Rodriguez about Galea, the Yankees distanced themselves from Galea by saying they never authorized Rodriguez to be treated by anybody other than Dr. Marc Philippon and Mark Lindsay, a Toronto chiropractor who has worked with Galea at Affinity Health, a sports-medicine facility in Toronto.
One question at the top of that list is whether Galea is licensed to prescribe and administer medication in the U.S. Galea is known for a blood-spinning process — platelet-rich plasma therapy — that is designed to hasten the healing process from injuries.
If he did treat Rodriguez, where did those treatments take place and how often?
Since the Yankees’ medical staff wasn’t contacted by Galea, the doctor didn’t know what, if any, medication Rodriguez already was taking. And, who authorized Galea to give Rodriguez the anti-inflammatories?
According to a report, Philippon denied giving Galea permission to treat Rodriguez. Since Philippon and the Yankees didn’t give Rodriguez permission to be treated by Galea, Rodriguez and Galea were freelancing.
“There are a lot of questions,” a source said. “And not a lot of people know who this doctor is.”
Galea told the Associated Press yesterday he treated the Yankees star for his hip, which was “inflamed.” But Galea said he never has given HGH to any athlete, and insisted Rodriguez was given anti-inflammatories.
Since saying he was going to cooperate with the feds last week, Rodriguez hasn’t offered updates on the issue. Yesterday in Bradenton, where a Yankees split squad beat the Pirates, 6-0, and Rodriguez drove in two runs, he stayed in character.
“There is nothing new,” Rodriguez said prior to the game. After the game he was asked about the subject and cut the question off before it was finished by saying, “We have already talked about that.”
GM Brian Cashman is waiting until the feds are done investigating before addressing the issue.
“As of right now there is an ongoing investigation and we have issued our statement,” Cashman said. “At this point we won’t comment until Alex has his meeting and we get caught up to speed.”
MLB isn’t likely to get too wired over Rodriguez taking anti-inflammatory medication if that’s all Galea did. However, the Yanks won’t be happy knowing that baseball’s highest-paid player, somebody with a colossal obligation and an integral part of the team, went off campus for medical help.
Of course, the Yankees’ hands are tied in regards of what they can do to punish Rodriguez. They aren’t going to try to void his contract and the players union will balk at a hefty fine.
More than likely the Yankees will rap his knuckles and move on.
— Additional reporting by
Kevin Kernan