mitchell report let fall out begin

The Mitchell Report: Let the Fall-out begin

The Mitchell Report on steroids and baseball will be released to a

large level of fanfare in about two hours. ESPN's Howard Bryant has an

extensive investigative piece (linked in title) regarding the

conflicts inherent in the report and the fractures between players and

owners.

This CNBC report lists players expected to be named in the Mitchell

findings. Included are the following players who are current or former

(since 2000) Yankees: Roger Clemens, Aaron Boone,

Jose Canseco, Johnny Damon, Kyle Farnsworth, Jason Grimsley, Jason

Giambi, Felix Heredia, Raul Mondesi, Andy Pettitte and Gary Sheffield.

That's 11 of the 75 listed in the CNBC report. Nine current or ex-Red

Sux are also listed, including Varitek, Garciaparra and Trot Nixon. I

counted Damon as both current Yankee and ex-Sawx.

I do not believe the report on Pettitte. I also do not believe the

report on Damon. I doubt the investigation's methods and accuracy.

It's notable how many players on the CNBC list were Orioles (Segui,

Sosa, Gibbons, Palmeiro, Anderson, Tejada, Roberts, Hairston, Belle),

Yanks, RedSux, Indians, Cards and Astros. The Sawx are Mitchell's own

team (he's on leave from the team's board of directors). The Astros

have two dead former players on this list: they were the last team of

admitted steroid abuser Ken Caminiti and the first team for Darryl

Kile. The Cards were Kile's last team. Rafael Bettancourt (aka Raffy

Righty in Cleveland) is a convicted steroid user. In other words,

Mitchell primarily obtained sources (whose reliability is unknown)

within specific organizations with known users and then leaned on

someone to talk.

The commissioner's reaction could devastate these teams if Bud Selig

imposes long suspensions on named players solely based on the

Investigation results. Other than the known violators (Giambi,