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Anthony Bosch gets four years in prison, despite MLB vouching for him

Mike Oz
(AP)
(AP)

Anthony Bosch, the baddest bad guy in the Biogenesis saga, was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison by a federal judge who wasn't convinced Bosch deserved much leniency for helping Major League Baseball suspend 14 players, including Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun.

After pleading guilty in October to a charge of conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs, Bosch showed up to sentencing Tuesday. He was out on bond, seeking treatment for cocaine addiction.

Bosch and his lawyers were hoping that U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles would take it easy on him. After all, he's the whistleblower that brought down A-Rod, the biggest star in baseball. He's the guy who buddied up with Major League Baseball and admitted his part in the game's biggest PED controversy yet.

MLB went so far as to have its lawyers write a 10-page letter vouching for Bosch and detailing his cooperation in the cleanup of the Biogenesis scandal. Bosch's help didn't excuse his criminal activities, MLB lawyers wrote, but he was described as "critical" in a matter of "important public interest."

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Ultimately, Judge Gayles balked at that, calling Bosch the "mastermind" of the operation, according to the Miami Herald, and ruling Tuesday that a "stiff sentence is appropriate." He also made Bosch turn himself in immediately, not in 60 days as his defense attorney had requested.

Here's more from The Herald's Jay Weaver about the judge's stand against Bosch:

Under federal sentencing guidelines, [Bosch] faced between 41 months and 51 months in prison. At this point, prosecutors agreed to recommend the lower end. Bosch’s defense lawyer sought even less, citing his “extensive” cooperation with Major League Baseball and federal authorities. But Gayles opted for the higher end of the guidelines, calling his crime “abhorrent” because as an unlicensed physician he examined youths and injected them with potentially dangerous steroids.

Please do keep in mind that Bosch's crimes weren't limited to supplying PEDs to A-Rod and the long list of his fellow Biogenesis customers. Bosch also sold PEDs to high-school athletes behind the doors of his South Florida "anti-aging clinic" and passed himself off as a doctor when he wasn't one.

Ask most people — baseball fans, especially — to point out the villain in the Biogenesis saga and they'll finger A-Rod, because he's the one MLB sought so hard to punish. But the harm A-Rod caused was mostly to himself. Bosch, on the other hand, was complicit in illegal behavior that affected many more people.

Still, Bosch and his legal team are hoping that further cooperation will eventually shave down his sentence. The Herald reports federal prosecutors are on board with this too.

Federal prosecutors Pat Sullivan and Sharad Motiani said they plan to recommend a sentence reduction for Bosch after he completes his cooperation, which might include his testimony at the April trial of Rodriguez’s cousin and former personal assistant, Yuri Sucart, and former UM assistant baseball coach, Lazaro “Lazer” Collazo.

You have to hand it to Bosch. He was the central figure in one of sports' biggest PED scandals and ended up with both MLB and federal prosecutors on his side. What happens next depends on whether he runs into a judge who thinks protecting baseball and nabbing A-Rod are more important crusades than Bosch's own misdeeds.

Chew on that for a minute.

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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!