Marlins' Cosart surprised by gambling allegations, admits to deleting Twitter account
Jarred Cosart told reporters Thursday he was "caught off guard" when allegations surfaced earlier this week tying the Miami Marlins pitcher to gambling.
Cosart, now the subject of a league investigation, admitted to deleting his Twitter account following the unsubstantiated claims, but declined to elaborate further due to MLB protocol.
The allegations first appeared Tuesday night when a user named @GhostFadeKillah tweeted out this screenshot of a direct message apparently sent from Cosart's account:
Lol @JarredCosart pic.twitter.com/GfMd4s7i7j
— Ghostfade Killah (@ghostfadekillah) March 25, 2015
Within hours of the tweet, Cosart deleted his account.
The Miami News Times reported Wednesday that a new account purporting to belong to Cosart sent a series of tweets claiming the pitcher's Twitter was hacked and that he's never bet on baseball. The account in question was no longer active minutes after posting the tweets.
''Anything else that happened (on Twitter) after that is not me,'' he said. ''My other one is completely deleted and being looked at by Major League Baseball, and all of the new ones, that's not me.''
Meanwhile, the unidentified user who made the allegations told the New Times in a subsequent interview that his conversation with Cosart occurred in December and did not involve betting on baseball.
Pat Courtney, MLB's chief communications officer, confirmed to ESPN.com on Wednesday that the league is investigating the allegations, but that rules do not prohibit players from gambling on sports other than baseball.
Cosart also said he won't start Friday's game as scheduled, though he insisted it's not related to the league's investigation. He said he's currently suffering from a blister on his throwing hand.
The Marlins have yet to comment on the matter other than to say it is aware MLB is looking into the allegations.