Gordon Edes, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Ortiz: 'Things not good anymore' with A-Rod

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Once the best of friends, David Ortiz has not spoken with Alex Rodriguez since Rodriguez’s lawyer appeared to indirectly implicate Ortiz as a PED user in a radio interview.

Ortiz said their friendship has not survived that controversy.

“No, dude,’’ he said Wednesday afternoon. “I don’t like to talk about that. Things are not good anymore. It’s been awhile.’’

Asked his thoughts on Rodriguez’s return to baseball after serving a year-long suspension, Ortiz said: “Wish him good luck. What else can you do? It doesn’t matter how people are, how many times they f--- up, I don’t wish anyone anything bad, you know what I’m saying? I wish him the best, hopefully he’ll do well, and that’s about it.’’

Rodriguez’s lawyer at the time, Joe Tacopina, was interviewed by Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio last January and said of past PED use in the game: “I’m not going to start naming all the other players, but some of them are godlike in Boston right now, and people seem to forget that.”

In a subsequent interview, Tacopina said he was not referring to Ortiz.

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