Statement from Valencia

By Roch Kubatko

Orioles

February 05, 2013, 6:10pm

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Orioles infielder Danny Valencia has issued a statement regarding the Yahoo! Sports report linking him to the Biogenesis clinic. ESPN's Jerry Crasnick passed it along a few minutes ago: "As any innocent person would be, I am shocked and troubled that my name is in any way connected to this story. I have never met or spoken to anyone connected with Biogenesis, in fact I had never even heard of this company prior to the New Times' story. I take tremendous pride in the hard work and dedication I put into being a professional baseball player and have never taken PEDs or failed a drug test of any kind during my career. I look forward to fully cooperating in MLB's investigation in any way that I can, and will explore taking legal action if this issue is not resolved in a timely fashion." Valencia, 28, batted .188/.199/.299 last year in 44 games with the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox. The Orioles purchased his contract from the Red Sox on Nov. 28. Valencia will attempt to make the club in spring training as a right-handed designated hitter and backup third baseman. Failing to do so, he could be the starting third baseman at Triple-A Norfolk.