Sports Mitchell Report: Who From Seattle?
posted by December 13 at 11:30 AM
onA straight list of the players in today’s steroids- and HDH-loaded Mitchell Report tied to the Seattle Mariners:
Ryan Franklin
Ismael Valdez
Jose Guillen
Jim Parque (AAA league)
Fernando Vina
Todd Williams
Ron Villone
Glenallen Hill
Josias Manzanillo
David Segui
Not much in the way of huge revelations here, as more than a few of these names have already been publicly outed, while the others didn’t deliver any, uh, Roger Clemens-level contributions to the Mariners. The full PDF, along with a quick-and-dirty summary (Barry Bonds—SHOCKER) is up at The Smoking Gun.
Comments
That's not too surprising a list, since it's always been the marginal players struggling to stay in the game who are most tempted.
But not Edgar! Can we now build that giant statue of him outside of Safeco field? Standing, bat cocked, his legs like tree trunks, ready to blast an honest ball out of the park?
Another Washington connection: Mike Bell, current (well, probably until this revelation) manager of the minor-league Yakima Bears.
@3: Nice catch.
@2: Mitchell's probable answer to your question, as per the PDF:
"The illegal use of these substances was not limited to the players who are identified in this report. There have been many estimates of use. In 2002, former National League Most Valuable Player Ken Caminiti estimated that “at least half” of major league players were using anabolic steroids...
However, it is a fact that between 5 and 7 percent of the major league players who
participated in anonymous survey testing in 2003 tested positive for performance enhancing substances. Those figures almost certainly understated the actual level of use since players knew they would be tested at some time during the year, the use of human growth hormone was not detectable in the tests that were conducted, and, as many have observed, a negative test does not necessarily mean that a player has not been using performance enhancing substances."
Where is Brett Boone? That guy blimped up too much, too fast. I tend to think that asshat was on something.
No Bret Boone? He inflated his body and numbers between 2000 and 2001, had a couple more decent seasons, and then fell apart.
Why the hell is this a scandal? Doesn't this report simply confirm what everyone has known for years? And the results are equally predictable: a few days of breathless news coverage followed by... business as usual.
OBVIOUSLY sports stars, entertainers, political leaders, right wing talk show hosts and pretty much anyone ever held up as a "role model for the kids" is taking some drug or other. The only responsible way forward would be to recognize the omnipresence of drugs in our world, and to build drug awareness into our education programs. Just as all high schools health classes should teach responsible sexuality, all high school sports programs should teach responsible drug use. Parents should take drugs with their kids and teach them how to do it well. I won't hold my breath.
As far as I'm concerned, this is just one more case study proving the insanity of criminalizing drugs.
Why doesnt senator Mitchell go after Scooter or W?
This report gives me a bad feeling. I need to see old you tube videos of Ken Griffey Jr's swing. That swing was as majestic as anything Coltrane put out...
The Yakima Bears are still around? Oh man, my Great-Grandfather played for them back in the day...
Message #2: MLB and owners turn blind eye to players using steroids, go on to benefit economically from its use, eventually act surprised there's a "problem", then scapegoat players exclusively.
Bullshit.
I hope Barry Bonds' team will call owners and commissioners to the stand to ask them under oath if they knew of steroid use and what they did about it at that time.
Trainers keeping the whole thing a secret? Ha ha.
Jim Parque (AAA league)
So the steroids aren't really helping him....
God I love Hockey
The Mariners are lucky that none of their star players were named. But the total list is full of big names: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Miguel Tejada, Eric Gagne, Andy Pettitte and Paul Lo Duca are among the current players. Mo Vaughn, Kevin Brown and David Justice are some of the retirees. None were marginal players struggling to stay in the game, but I bet most were trying to get a few more all-star years out of their careers and the attendant big money that comes with achievement. (Or in the case of Bonds and Clemons, the big records and eternal fame of being among the very best who ever played the game.)
Ron Villone was the one ex-Mariner that shocked me. Really? RV?
Comments Closed
In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).