implicated

Implicated

A while back, I wrote about the Jason Grimsley situation, where he

admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs and implicated six

others in their usage.

As I noted at the time, baseball players all over the country are

sweating this because Grimsley played for quite a few teams: Phillies,

Yankees, Indians, Angels, Royals, and Orioles before heading to the

Diamondbacks who released him earlier this year after this news came

to light.

Well, the names have been named.

Roger Clemens

Andy Pettitte

Miguel Tejada

Brian Roberts

Jay Gibbons

Clemens and Pettitte deny the allegations and their representatives

are busy pushing back at Grimsley's assertions. Tejada has also denied

the allegations.

It would also appear that this information was leaked to the

reporters:

In a 20-page search warrant affidavit signed by IRS Special Agent

Jeff Novitzky, the Times reported, he said Grimsley identified

other players who had used drugs. Those names were blacked out when

the document was released.

The Times said an anonymous source with access to the document --

minus the crossouts -- let the newspaper see it, but kept the copy.

The Times said a second source who had identified the other players

provided additional details about the document.

According to the affidavit, the Times said, Grimsley told

investigators Clemens and Pettitte "used athletic

performance-enhancing drugs."

The affidavit also alleged Grimsley told federal agents that

Roberts, Gibbons and Tejada "took anabolic steroids."

Novitzky also was the lead investigator in the Bay Area Laboratory

Co-Operative probe. Two BALCO officials and Barry Bonds' personal

trainer, Greg Anderson, served jail time after guilty pleas in that

investigation.

Grimsley has complained to friends, the Times said, that federal

agents attributed statements to him that he did not make.

"I'm told he has denied saying all of this," Randy Hendricks, who

represents Clemens and Pettitte, told The Associated Press on

Saturday night. "It's an agent's recollection about a conversation

he had about conjecture."

"I've grown weary of having to defend (Clemens) from innuendo and

conjecture about every six months for the last several years when

he's complied with all of the rules and regulations," Hendricks

said. "Andy is just surprised and stunned, and has no knowledge of

any such activity."

Clemens and Pettitte pitch for Houston. The Astros won 5-4 at

Atlanta on Saturday night.

Tejada, Gibbons and Roberts had left the clubhouse in Boston after

Baltimore's 5-4 victory Saturday night when an AP reporter sought

comment.

Once again, leaking this information may have violated federal law,

and the person releasing those names may have committed a crime.

Nice.

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