Report: Detroit Tigers' Jhonny Peralta Is Linked to PED Scandal

This evening, a report by Tom Verducci at SI.com surfaced linking Detroit Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta to the ever-expanding Tony Bosch scandal involving performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

The Bosch scandal, which first came to light in the Miami New Times, has most baseball fans buzzing about whether several major league players took PEDs. This report has yet to be confirmed, but if it is correct, the fallout could be huge, with players like Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera and Gio Gonzalez mentioned.

While Peralta has not been accused of taking any PEDs, his name does appear in Bosch's notes. According to Verducci, Peralta commented through his attorney, Barry Boss, who released the following statement: "I have never used performance enhancing drugs. Period. Anybody who says otherwise is lying."

This has been a rough offseason for Peralta, since there was speculation that the Tigers wanted to replace him for a shortstop who has greater range.

However, more recently, it appears that the Tigers are embracing Peralta at shortstop for the 2013 season and have been expressing confidence in him publicly.

Tony Paul from the Detroit News wrote that on Feb. 5, Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski spoke very highly of Peralta by saying:

"

People forget that this "perfect player" doesn't really exist very often, and they all have their pluses and their minuses, Dombrowski said while addressing the annual Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association luncheon. Jhonny does a real solid job for us. We like him.

Two outs in the ninth inning, 3-2 lead, man on third base, there's not anybody in the league you'd prefer the ball hit to at shortstop than Jhonny Peralta.

"

Tonight, Dombrowski was talking about Peralta again, but unfortunately about the rumors linking him to Bosch. According to Verducci, Dombrowski told Miami New Times, "I won't get into that."

With this story, Peralta will be getting a lot of questions about his off-the-field activities instead of his on-the-field play—at least until all the details get released.

While Peralta was only listed in Bosch's notes so far, it's something that could linger over him and the Tigers until all the information is verified.

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