Report: Investigations find Curt Schilling's Red Sox PED claim 'baseless'

Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling accused medical staffer Mike Reinold of suggesting PEDs as an option to recover from a shoulder injury in 2008. (Elsa/Getty Images)

Investigations by both the Boston Red Sox and Major League Baseball concluded that Red Sox medical staff member Mike Reinold did not urge former pitcher Curt Schilling to use performance-enhancing drugs to treat a shoulder injury in 2008, as Schilling claimed earlier this week, according to ESPN.com's Gordon Edes.

The investigations began within a week after Schilling contacted Theo Epstein and Terry Francona -- Boston's general manager and manager at the time -- about the accusation, and found it "completely baseless," a source told Edes.

Schilling told ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd on Thursday that a Red Sox staff member suggested using PEDs as "a potential path I might want to pursue" before the pitcher ultimately retired after 20 seasons. Through further interviews, Schilling exonerated numerous members of the organization, but did not identify the accused staffer publicly.

Sources told Edes that Reinold, who the team hired as a rehabilitation coordinator in 2008 before cutting ties with him last year, was the accused staffer. The investigation concluded that the alleged incident "did not happen" and that Reinold "had no PED history whatsoever."

"Schilling didn't stand up enough [to investigators] for what he said happened," one MLB source said. "Our investigation also discovered there was some [bad] history between Schilling and [Reinold].

"Investigators interviewed one witness to the conversation, who said he did not think in any way that [Reinold] said, 'Hey, this is something you should consider.'

In an email reaction to the investigation's conclusions, Schilling reiterated that the event in question happened.

"It happened. I informed the club, and there were other players that heard the conversation, who I spoke with after," Schilling told ESPNBoston.com in an email. "The club immediately informed MLB, and they launched an investigation in which all parties were interviewed. If someone's saying it didn't happen, I am not sure why, since the two people in the discussion are gone -- I'm retired and the other person was fired last year, I think. But it doesn't shock me that people would deny it was 'an event,' though I am unsure why."