Mitchell Report - Open Thread

Hell, let's have one for each player named!

I'm dreading this. I might need to be placed on suicide watch.

"It's going to be a rough day in the Bronx," the paper quoted the source as saying.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig told the Chicago Tribune that he hadn't seen the report, but he was proud it is coming out.

"People can say Bud was just trying to cover his butt or take care of his legacy or whatever," Selig said, according to the Tribune. "I say [bleep] it. This needed to be done, and now we've done it. I'm just happy it will be out there and we can move on. I'm proud of it."

If you intended this as an open thread, would you mind editing the diary title so it's not Clemens-specific?  I really think the "Clemens named" part of the title is going to invite a lot of people to post separate diaries for each notable player they hear about...  and that's going to get ridiculous pretty fast...  :\

I want NAMES, people! Big ones. I want McGwire and Sosa and Pudge and Palmeiro, Giambi and Gonzalez... I want Clemens and all the evil empire to be hit with a stench. Then, I want there to be consequences.

(And I want no current A's to be affected)

Mitchell: Now, over the years, a senator learns a number of things that for one reason or another, he just cannot report.  It doesn't seem to matter now, so...the following people are gay did steroids.
Jennifer: Turn it off!
HollywoodOz: Just a second...

link

Link to where conferences will be -- George Mitchell at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time, and Bud Selig at 1:30 p.m. Pacific.

Link

Brady Anderson, Manny Alexander, Rick Ankiel, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Aaron Boone, Rafaeil Bettancourt, Bret Boone, Milton Bradley, David Bell, Dante Bichette, Albert Belle, Paul Byrd, Wil Cordero, Ken Caminiti, Mike Cameron, Ramon Castro, Jose and Ozzie Canseco, Roger Clemens, Paxton Crawford, Wilson Delgado, Lenn y Dykstra, Johnny Damon, Carl Everett, Kyle Farnsoworth, Ryan Franklin, Troy Glaus, Rich Garces, Jason Grimsley, Troy Glaus, Juan Gonzalez, Eric Gagne, Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi, Jose Guillen, Jay Gibbons, Juan Gonzalez, Clay Hensley, Jerry Hairston, Felix Heredia, Jr., Darren Holmes, Wally Joyner, Darryl Kile, Matt Lawton, Raul Mondesi, Mark McGwire, Guillermo Mota, Robert Machado, Damian Moss, Abraham Nunez, Trot Nixon, Jose Offerman, Andy Pettitte, Mark Prior, Neifi Perez, Rafael Palmiero, Albert Pujols, Brian Roberts, Juan Rincon, John Rocker, Pudge Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Scott Sc hoenweiis, David Segui, Alex Sanchez, Gary Sheffield, Miguel Tejada, Julian Tavarez, Fernando Tatis, Maurice Vaughn, Jason Varitek, Ismael Valdez, Matt Williams and Kerry Wood.

So we already had Billy's meeting in Arizona and Tejada's trade happening before the report goes public.

Now A-Rod finalized his deal this AM.

Intersting timing.

Could it be he's named?

My money is on attention whoring, but it makes for a great theory.

I can't believe I'm so eager for this!

Brett Boone!?!?

NOOOOOOOOO!!!

they're talking to john kerry (about the cable thing from the spring) and he just called MLB "the national baseball league".  is that the league manny ortez plays in?

sfgate headline:  Batboy key to report

Batboy?!

I am eating a mushroom and cambozola sandwich and some kind of Italian bread.

What about you?

Considering Jose Canseco appears to have been quite accurate in his book, I'm not surprised Tejada's listed on that supposed list.  I'd say when the real list comes out I'd be shocked if he WASN'T on the list.

As for Pujols, he has the same trainer as Jason Grimsley and was mentioned in the discussions after Grimsley confessed everything he knew to the feds when he was with the Diamondbacks.

I think either everyone who is proven to have used PEDs  should be banned, or nobody should.

now he's just one out of of 50-60 names.

and can they keep bonds out of the hall of fame if they let clemens in?  i say keep them both out, the best hitter and pitcher of our time, they are the perfect representatives for this disgraceful era.

I'm in the process of moving -- I'm going to be housesitting for friends of mine who are A's fans of many years' standing.  So I'm here this morning getting the cable hooked up so I can watch ESPN and participate in this thread, I go into the kitchen to look for a glass that I can use to water the house plants while I'm waiting, and what's the first thing I find in the cupboard?  A plastic A's cup with pictures of McGwire and Canseco and the slogan BE THERE WHEN IT HAPPENS AGAIN.  

but I always had some reservations about Mark Mulder. After going buco innings for several consecutive years and dpminating, he suddenly fell apart. Surgeries aside, I just have a sneaking suspicion that he stopped using and his body began to respond negatively. Sorry, I love Mark Mulder and I'm not trying to smear his name, I just wanted to get that off my chest. I hope all the current A's are clean.

"Sir Milton Bradley is no longer family."

"I [commissioned the report] when everybody was telling me not to," Selig said Wednesday from his office in Milwaukee. "The union absolutely hated it. My own staff didn't like it. Nobody wanted to do it" .. .. "I haven't seen the report yet, but I'm proud I did it," Selig said. "People can say Bud was just trying to cover his butt or take care of his legacy or whatever. I say [bleep] it. This needed to be done, and now we've done it. I'm just happy it will be out there and we can move on. I'm proud of it."

is at the mitchell report press conference......

and try to center myself.

clemens, the yankees trainer, and JOSE CANSECO??

just said that Jason Priestley was among the players under investigation.  The anchor immediately said "Jason Grimsley?" but Kossack kept on talking.  

lo duca, tejada, segui, rondell white...

I think someone gave a link... but I have ADD and can't find it now.

here

p. 201

jennifer and others, someone just told me it's at "cbs sports" (cbssportsline.com?), so try that.

Adam Piatt played as an outfielder with two teams in Major League Baseball for
portions of four seasons between 2000 and 2003, the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Devil
Rays. In 1999, he was the Oakland Athletics’ Minor League Player of the Year.
After Radomski’s guilty plea was publicly announced, Piatt’s lawyer contacted
us. We later interviewed Piatt, who voluntarily admitted his use of performance enhancing
substances. He accepted full responsibility for his actions and said that he had learned an
important life lesson as a result. Piatt should be commended for his candor, for his willingness
to admit that he made a mistake, and for accepting responsibility for his actions.
Piatt was called up to Oakland from the minor leagues in 2000. He said that he
knew nothing at that time about steroids or amphetamines. In 2001, Piatt contracted a viral
infection and lost 24 pounds in ten days. This illness affected his strength and caused extreme
200
stress. He tried to come back to play baseball in August, but he was unsuccessful. Piatt said that
he worked hard during the off-season to be physically prepared for 2002. During 2002, he
started considering using human growth hormone. He researched the subject extensively that
year.
Piatt recalled that he learned of Kirk Radomski through F.P. Santangelo.
Santangelo and Piatt were teammates on the Oakland Athletics and on Oakland’s minor league
affiliate in Sacramento. Santangelo described Radomski to him as a personal trainer who was
knowledgeable about dietary issues and as a steroids supplier.
Before obtaining any substances, Piatt had several conversations with Radomski.
They discussed Piatt’s diet and what Piatt should do and take to get in optimal shape for the
upcoming year. Radomski recommended that Piatt modify his diet and work on getting in shape
before he started using human growth hormone. The conversations were all by telephone. Piatt
never met Radomski in person.
Piatt believed he initially obtained human growth hormone and either testosterone
or Deca-Durabolin from Radomski. The substances sat unused for a long time, however, before
he tried them. He was more concerned with the possible long-term health risks than with the
ethical issues.
He also thought about the problems he was having in baseball. A friend on the
team told Piatt that he lacked the bat speed he had enjoyed before his illness. Ultimately, Piatt
began using performance enhancing substances during the 2002-03 off-season. Piatt’s typical
regimen was to take one shot of testosterone per week for three to five weeks. He also injected
himself with human growth hormone every day until he contracted carpal tunnel syndrome. He
talked to Radomski about this side effect and then decreased the frequency of his use.
201
Survey drug testing was conducted in Major League Baseball in 2003. Piatt did
not change his regimen because of that testing. He was tested sometime during the summer.
Piatt retired from baseball in 2004 at the age of 28 because he had lost his love for
the game. He believes that he could have played longer. According to Piatt, the time he used
illegal substances was the only time he did not enjoy baseball. He thought he had "compromised
something."
Piatt made some payments to Radomski in 2004, but he said that those were to
satisfy old debts for 2003 shipments. He said he had no need for, and did not use, human growth
hormone after he retired. Piatt noted that Radomski never encouraged Piatt to use more
substances after Piatt said he wanted to stop. Radomski provided eight checks from Piatt, with
dates ranging from 2002 to 2004, and totaling $11,550. All are included in the Appendix. One
is shown below.

Randy Velarde
Jason Giambi
Miguel Tejada
Jose Canseco
FP Santangelo
Adam Piatt
Jose Guillen
Jack Cust
David Justice
Cody McKay

Randy Velarde admitted to us, through his lawyer, that he had used performance
enhancing substances he obtained from Greg Anderson. According to his lawyer, if interviewed,
Velarde would have told us he received the "cream" and the "clear" from Anderson in a
transaction that occurred in a parking lot during spring training in 2003. Velarde was playing for
the Oakland Athletics at the time, was near the end of his career and was attempting to play for
another year to support his family.

p. 203

In Juicing the Game, the author Howard Bryant wrote that during the 2002 season, an airport security screener found a syringe in Tejada’s briefcase.  Tejada reportedly explained that he received a supply of vitamin B12 from the Dominican Republic that he administered to himself.Mickey Morabito, the
director of team travel for the Oakland Athletics, confirmed the incident in an interview with my investigative staff.  He acknowledged that he did not report the incident to anyone with the club or the Commissioner’s Office.

Radomski said he made one sale to Justice, which occurred after the 2000 World
Series. Justice played for the Yankees that year. Justice paid Radomski by check for two or
three kits of human growth hormone. Radomski said that he cashed this check.

Justice said that the Commissioner’s Office and the major league clubs did
nothing during his career to discourage players from using steroids. He said that during his
career he was never in a meeting where the players were told "you can’t take steroids" and that
"in my fourteen years there was never a mention of steroids" in any presentation given by any
club, the Commissioner’s Office, or the Players Association. Justice said that he had never been
warned of the side effects or consequences of steroid use and had never been told that steroids
were a banned substance.

Radomski stuff, the "names" in the report are just a re-hash of previously made allegations with no additional evidence.

Back to his time with Baltimore.

i dont have sound on my work computer..damn bosses

Miggy has rather curly handwriting.  Glenallen Hill has a big script H on his checks.  No one yet seems to have kitties or bunnies or flags.

In December 2006!

In considering whether to trade for (Brendan) Donnelly in 2007, Red Sox baseball operations personnel internally discussed concerns that Donnelly was using performance enhancing substances.  In an email to vice president of player personnel Ben Charington dated December 13, 2006, Zack Scott of the Red Sox baseball operations staff wrote of Donnelly:  “He was a juice guy but his velocity hasn’t changed a lot over the years . . .  If he was a juice guy, he could be a breakdown candidate.”427  Kyle Evans of the baseball operations staff agreed with these concerns, responding in an email that “I haven’t heard many good things about him, w[ith] significant steroid rumors.”

So now we won't feel guilty rooting for Barry next season, will we?

I learned the importance of learning from the past!

Traffice overload, I'm sure.

Update: Mitchell is concerned about the children. Screw them. Teenagers are going to use drugs no matter how good an example adults set.

http://www.baseballmusings.com/archi...

and the rest of it is names we already knew.  Not as interesting as it was made out to be.

Clemens, Pettitte, Tejada....very interesting, the rest is whatever.

it sounds like they are saying that we NEED an HGH testing program and blood testing...

while simultaniously telling players its ok to keep cheating, cause we can't catch you.

how is deliberatly taking them a "mistake" and thus excusable just like that?

is anyone getting cross audio on espn from espn deportes?

... (and, yes, that's an intentional double entendre) of the issue than in the, as others have noted above, hearsay/rehash/nonsurprise list of names.

Mitchell is fairly even-handed -- while he implicitly lays most of the blame for the current mess at the feet of the MLBPA, he concedes that there is a lot of validity to the union's allegation that MLB itself apparently didn't give two shits about the issue until 2002.

will not be punished.

regardless of the context, still makes me sad. Not gonna help him tryin' to get his career solidified.

I think I have some reading material for this weekend's snow storm.

the only player besides jason giambi (who had no choice because they threatened him) to cooperate with the mitchell report.  

"bigbie was also concerned that taking HGH would hinder his ability to have children"