Why was Braun redacted from original report?
The Miami New Times has published a story answering one of the myriad of questions raised by last night’s Ryan Braun news:
If Braun’s name was listed alongside players like Alex Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera in the logbook of Tony Bosch, the figure at the center of baseball’s widening probe into performance-enhancing drugs, why was Braun’s name redacted from images of clinic records included in the New Times‘ original reporting?
The answer, from this morning’s report written by the New Times‘ Chuck Strouse:
Simple: An abundance of caution.
As Yahoo! notes, the records do not clearly associate either Braun, [Francisco] Cervelli or a third player who this morning denied all ties with Bosch (Orioles third baseman Danny Valencia) with use of supplements. Yahoo! apparently obtained copies of just these page of Bosch’s notebooks independently of New Times.
The players listed in New Times investigation either clearly appear multiple times in Bosch’s records (like Alex Rodriguez), or had evidence in the recent past of PED use, like Bartolo Colon, who was suspended 50 games last year.
So, there’s one question answered. There are more, like will Braun’s legal team release evidence supporting Braun’s alibi, that his team only went to Tony Bosch as a consultant during last winter’s appeal? Why would they pick Bosch of all people, a man previously connected to banned substances through slugger Manny Ramirez? Where will MLB’s investigation go from here?
Oh, and “thanks” to everyone who pointed out that this MLB.com story from Saturday was ill-timed.
*
Follow me on Twitter @AdamMcCalvy

In that same story, its noted that Manfred himself along with the VP of PUBLIC RELATIONS went to Miami to try and get the notebooks. Tell me I’m wrong Adam, but I think Braun is just a scalp. PR is what is important.