David Ortiz said a recent column questioning whether he has been using steroids is discriminatory. (Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz said on Thursday that he thought a recent Boston Globe column had racially tinged elements in its questioning of whether he has been helped by steroids in his prolific start to the 2013 season.

In a column published on Wednesday, longtime Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy essentially accused Ortiz of being aided by some kind of performance enhancer in his strong start, writing that it “just doesn’t look possible.” In 17 games this season, Ortiz is batting .363 with four homers, 17 RBI and a 1.045 OPS.

Ortiz shot back in an interview with an ESPN Deportes Radio affiliate in the Dominican Republic, saying that Shaughnessy’s criticism crossed a line.

“Yesterday, the guy came to see me and asked some questions about steroids, and when you see the writing, it basically focuses on the fact that I’m Dominican and that many Dominicans have been caught using steroids. And what about the Americans?” Ortiz said, according to ESPN.

“If you’re from the Middle East, because there are some people there who put bombs and terrorize civilians, I have to see you like that, as well? If you are a white American, I have to call you a racist because white Americans were in the Ku Klux Klan?

“The thing that stung me was his statement about Dominicans. You mean that in Dominican Republic there are no players who try to do things right? We are all in the same boat. And the people here who have been caught, does that put everyone here in the same boat?”

In his column, Shaughnessy wrote that Ortiz “fits all the models” of a steroid user, in part, because he is from the Dominican Republic. Ortiz told Shaughnessy that he has already been tested a dozen times so far this season.

Robinson Cano is not under investigation for being involved with Anthony Bosch’s Biogenesis clinic.(Elsa/Getty Images)

New York Yankees star Robinson Cano does not appear to be linked to Anthony Bosch and his Biogenesis clinic, according to a report Monday evening in the New York Daily News.

According to the report, Cano’s name is not on Major League Baseball’s list of players who allegedly obtained performance-enhancing drugs from Bosch. The Daily News report comes after an earlier ESPN.com story on Monday said that Sonia Cruz, the spokeswoman for Cano’s foundation, was a client of Bosch’s last summer.

According to the Daily News, more documents on the clinic exist, meaning Cano’s name could turn up in the future. But for now, he is not being investigated.

Before the Yankees took on the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday, Cano again denied any involvement with the clinic.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with me,” Cano said, according to the Daily News. “I’m going to play my game. … I didn’t see what the story said but I have no comment. I’m just going to focus on the game and help this team to win games.”

Cruz told ESPN.com that she never received anything from the clinic, and she added that Cano “definitely never did.”

MLB is planning to sue individuals connected to a South Florida clinic tied to performance-enhancing drugs. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Major league baseball is frustrated by an overall lack of progress in its investigation of a South Florida anti-aging clinic connected to performance-enhancing drugs, and is planning to file suit against some of the individuals tied to the clinic.

The New York Times’ Michael Schmidt reported late Thursday MLB is planning the suit, which will allege the individuals connected to the clinic, Biogenesis of America, damaged baseball by providing top players access to performance-enhancing drugs.

From Schmidt’s report:

The suit will seek to recoup money from its targets — including the clinic’s owner and a person who worked for two prominent baseball agents — and baseball officials also hope it will produce cooperation with their investigation into the clinic’s activities. [...]

[B]aseball is trying a new tactic. A lawsuit, if allowed to proceed, would give the sport the ability to subpoena records from the clinic, which is now closed, and compel depositions. Some of the information uncovered could then conceivably be used by baseball to justify disciplinary actions against players.

The Miami New Times reported in January that a number of big names — including Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez, Gio Gonzalez and others — were tied to the clinic. But because these players and others have yet to fail MLB-sponsored drug tests, MLB investigators need “documentary evidence or witness testimony” to make a case against them, Schmidt reported.

The extent of the suit wasn’t immediately clear, but Schmidt reported it will include Anthony Bosch, who ran the clinic.

The NFL and NFLPA are “closing in” on a deal to implement HGH testing, but complications remain. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The NFL and the NFL Players Association are coming close to a deal to implement a human growth hormone testing program for the 2013 season, Yahoo Sports’ Michael Silver reported.

Both the league and players association have put forward proposals to the other side. One of the key points preventing a deal from getting done, Silver reported, is players’ “distrust” of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after his handling of the New Orleans Saints’ “bounty” scandal.

“The long and short of it is, we’re not going to agree to a system that doesn’t give the player full due-process rights on HGH,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith told Silver. “That’s where we started, and that’s where we’ll end up. We believe in collective bargaining. The fact that the league would rather force us to accept something that’s not fair, rather than bargaining for it, is worrisome.”

The NFL has agreed to hand off appeals of all positive drug tests to a third-party arbitrator, but union officials want that extended to “other appeals” on incidents such as alcohol-related arrests, marijuana possession, and performance-enhancing drugs. A source also told Silver that there is “no way” players would agree to HGH testing on game days, something for which the NFL has pushed.

The NFLPA’s hedging on a potential deal comes amid public pressure from U.S. Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who earlier this year scolded the NFLPA for its “remarkable recalcitrance” on the issue.

Alex Rodriguez is seen here showing off his 2009 World Series ring. His cousin, Yuri Sucart, is selling a replica Rodriguez had made for him. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Yuri Sucart, the cousin of New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, is selling a 2009 World Series ring Rodriguez obtained for him through an online auctioneer, the New York Daily News’ Michael O’Keefe reported Sunday.

Rodriguez said in 2009 that Sucart was the one who pushed him to use steroids earlier in his career, repeatedly injecting him with a substance from the Dominican Republic. After the Yankees won the World Series that season, Rodriguez gave him a diamond-studded ring as a gift.

O’Keefe reported that Sucart was “apparently tired of the notoriety that comes with being associated with Rodriguez,” and he recently sold the ring to a South Florida collector who consigned it to auctioneer Ken Goldin and his company, Goldin Auctions. Goldin told the Daily News that the ring will have an opening bid of $5,000 and could go for as much as $40,000.

Rodriguez is currently rehabbing from offseason hip surgery that will sideline him until at least the All-Star break. His spokesman, Terry Fahn, told ESPN.com’s Wallace Matthews that Sucart’s ring was one of many replicas he had made for friends and family:

“Alex Rodriguez made numerous replica World Series rings for friends and family. He didn’t know that Yuri Sucart was selling one of them.”

Baseball officials have turned over information about Alex Rodriguez to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to a report. (Jonathan Daniel, Getty Images)

Major League Baseball is zeroing in on South Florida as a performance-enhancing drug “pipeline,” The Sun-Sentinel’s Amy Shipley reported Sunday. Shipley reported that baseball officials have handed off information to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that shows their fear of the South Florida “pipeline” after a recent series of failed drug tests.

From Shipley’s report:

A host of players have recently tested positive for the steroid testosterone or other drugs associated with steroid use, suggesting to baseball officials that an organized distribution ring could be contributing to the positives. As league officials reviewed the recent cases, one source told the Sun Sentinel, many lines pointed to South Florida, where many players reside in the off-season, train in the spring or travel for treatment when they are injured.

The region is known for its so-called wellness or anti-aging clinics, which are largely unregulated by the state of Florida and commonly offer prescriptions for testosterone and human growth hormone — two popular performance-enhancing drugs — as components of anti-aging treatment.

Shipley also reported that MLB turned over information about New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, but it was not immediately known if he is involved in the South Florida probe.

Jose Canseco downplays the benefits of steroids. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

If any athlete knows steroids, it’s Jose Canseco. In his VICE column, the former major league slugger and steroid confession author manages to tie-in his perspective on the Lance Armstrong illegal doping controversy using his twin brother, Ozzie, and the benefits of being a vampire.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it a million times if I have to: Steroids and other supplements don’t make you a super athlete. I have proof: my identical twin brother, Ozzie. Genetically… He used the same type of steroids I used and in equal amounts, and we followed the same workout routine and diet. So why was he just an average player?.. I think it’s so hypocritical when athletes are found to be using steroids, the media frames it like they’d be nothing without the juice.

Canseco, who now regrets writing his steroids tell-all book, “Juiced,”  makes the segue from inorganic steroids to inorganic lives including his envy of vampires and their ability to live forever.

Nothing organic lives forever. It’s an impossibility. But, given the opportunity, I’d definitely want to live for hundreds of years. Who the hell wants to die? I’m a huge sci-fan fan, and I love vampire movies. One thing I never understood is why anyone wouldn’t want to be bitten by a vampire. It’s like, what the —-? Are you kidding me? I’d become a vampire in a heartbeat. They’re immortal, they can fly, and they can time-travel… what’s so bad about wanting to become one? What’s the worst thing that can happen? You have to eat a few people now and then? That’s not so bad. The only downfall I can think of is that you’d outlive your children, but, of course, you’d do your best to make sure they became immortal vampires too.

The jury reached a verdict Monday in the perjury trial of Roger Clemens. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Former pitcher Roger Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, was found not guilty Monday on all six counts stemming from his testimony in a probe into steroid use in baseball, according to reports.

Clemens, 49, faced six total charges: one count of obstruction of Congress, three counts of making a false statement and two counts of perjury. He plead not guilty.

The trial focused on Clemens’ testimony before Congress in 2008, when he denied using steroids or human growth hormone. The prosecution contended that he lied in this testimony.

Clemens faced a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine if convicted on all six counts. Under sentencing guidelines, however, he would likely have only received between 15 and 21 months in prison.

The trial featured 46 witnesses over 26 days of proceedings, including New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte.

Clemens’ former trainer Brian McNamee was the key witness for the prosecution and spent more than a week on the stand. McNamee alleged that he had injected Clemens with steroids during 1998, 2000 and 2001. He also claimed to have injected the pitcher with HGH in 2000.

McNamee produced evidence that he said was the needle he used in a steroid injection in 2001. The waste was shown to have both Clemens’ DNA and steroids on it.

Clemens’ lawyers attacked McNamee’s credibility and showed ways in which his story had changed over time. Clemens’ wife, Debbie Clemens, also testified that she had McNamee inject her with HGH.

This was the government’s second attempt at convicting Clemens. A mistrial was declared last spring in Clemens’ first trial when the prosecution showed inadmissible evidence to the jury.