posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 10:38 AM by Jim

Mitchell! (updated)



While waiting to see what names the Mitchell Report uncovers today, I figured Joe Don Baker could help us bide the time.

Frank Thomas is the only player who could really disappoint me by being on the list.  I'm pretty much resigned to any other possibility.

Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte are expected to be named.  That's a hell of a start.

UPDATE: Report's out.  Jim Parque is named, but well after his Sox career.

Another interesting segment:

Matt Karchner pitched for two teams in Major League Baseball between 1995 and 2000, the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox. Members of my investigative staff contacted him as part of our effort to interview former major league players.

Karchner said that during spring training in 1999, he observed two of his Chicago Cubs teammates inject themselves with steroids in an apartment that Karchner was sharing with them. Karchner declined to identify the players. He said that one of the players brought the steroids to the apartment but was afraid of needles and therefore asked the second player to administer the shot. The second player injected the first player with steroids in the buttocks and then injected himself.

Later that season, Karchner was offered steroids by certain of his Cubs teammates. Karchner would not disclose the names of players who offered him steroids, but he said that the conversations he had with them involved the general cost of steroids and discussions of “stacking” to build lean muscle necessary for pitchers. Karchner did not report either of these incidents to anyone at the time.

Unless I'm missing something, the Sox seem to come out largely unscathed.

Comments

# Partial List Has Leaked...

Thursday, December 13, 2007 11:40 AM by Roy Dean Bream
Brady Anderson, Manny Alexander, Rick Ankiel, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Aaron Boone, Rafael 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, Lenny 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

# re: Mitchell!

Thursday, December 13, 2007 12:45 PM by Conor
"Frank Thomas is the only player who could really disappoint me by being on the list."

Thats on the short list of things that would make me not want to watch baseball anymore. From age 4 on that guy has been one of my biggest heroes.

On a more cynical note, I'm trying to create a "Baltimore Orioles Steroid All-Star Team". This is who I have so far (some names are only speculation, for a couple more hours at least):

1B- Rafael Palmeiro
2B- Brian Roberts
SS- Miguel Tejada
OF- Brady Anderson
OF- Sammy Sosa
DH- Dave Segui
SP- Jay Gibbons
RP- Jason Grimsley

Am I missing anyone else?

# re: Mitchell!

Thursday, December 13, 2007 1:37 PM by Jim Margalus
MLB is disputing that list, or at least parts of it. The lack of Gary Matthews Jr. makes me suspicious, as do the typos.

# re: Mitchell! (updated)

Thursday, December 13, 2007 3:04 PM by Jim Margalus
http://tinyurl.com/2gfqoq

A commenter on BTF listed the names in comment No. 5.

# re: Mitchell! (updated)

Thursday, December 13, 2007 5:38 PM by Fundman
Actually Big Frank is not only not implicated, he's cited as a source and useful as well. To me his Hall pass is guaranteed at this point especially with Clemens now being heavily implicated. The guy hit 500 against juiced pitchers..........

# re: Mitchell! (updated)

Thursday, December 13, 2007 6:25 PM by Jeff from AH
Scott Schoeneweis was the only reference to an active White Sox roster member (Comiskey Park was actually referenced in the report). Obviously Jose Canseco sipped a cup of coffee. Mitchell stated not one team in MLB did not have some form of abuse.

Overall, I agree the White Sox came out looking like a reputable organization; with Frank Thomas always vocal on the subject and the entire team attempting to force mandatory testing during Spring training in the early 00's.

A couple take interesting away's:

- I find it interesting the Palmeiro positive test may of been the result of an error on Tejada's part. I find it highly suspect Ralphie required an injected B-12 supplement, but talk about bad luck IF truly not known on his part.

- Fall out of Roger Clemens. Most pundits put this guy as the greatest pitcher of his generation, perhaps of all-time. Baseball can't wait to block hall of fame induction for offensive players, there better not be a double standard and the American public should not be forgiving.

- How many more remain? Obvious omissions are I-Rod and Sammy; unfortunately this is the result of a few key suppliers and many more exist. Will future investigations continue or will the report serve and the standard benchmark in measuring guilt or innocence?

# re: Mitchell! (updated)

Friday, December 14, 2007 1:24 AM by Jim Margalus
You can make a whole O's team from the official list:

C - Zaun
1B - Palmeiro
2B - Roberts
SS - Tejada
3B - Clark
OF - Gibbons
OF - Bigbie
OF - Cust
DH - Segui
SP - Mercker
RP - Williams

Zaun and Mercker were only Orioles for a half-season apiece, and I think Clark and Cust only played a game at their respective positions once, but technically, it works.

# re: Mitchell! (updated)

Friday, December 14, 2007 1:39 AM by Jim Margalus
"- Fall out of Roger Clemens. Most pundits put this guy as the greatest pitcher of his generation, perhaps of all-time. Baseball can't wait to block hall of fame induction for offensive players, there better not be a double standard and the American public should not be forgiving."

The thing about Clemens is that he actually did start showing his age around 30-31. Then the Red Sox publicly criticized his conditioning, he went to Toronto and "dedicated" himself, and the rest is history.

If Bonds didn't start taking steroids until after the '98 season, as "Game of Shadows" suggests, he would've been an inner-circle guy even if he really tailed off. Of course, there's the extra criminal baggage with Bonds, but neither guy seems to have that much of a case by the standards the reaction to Bonds has set.

"- How many more remain? Obvious omissions are I-Rod and Sammy; unfortunately this is the result of a few key suppliers and many more exist. Will future investigations continue or will the report serve and the standard benchmark in measuring guilt or innocence?"

The other question is that the report somewhat limited MLB's reaction to the names popping up throughout the season (Matthews, Byrd, Ankiel), and Jose Guillen received a half-suspension for his ties. I wonder how they're going to handle this type of news when a gigantic report isn't around the corner.

# re: Mitchell! (updated)

Friday, December 14, 2007 7:13 AM by ChicagoPete
I find it ironic that Canseco is the one who comes out of this cesspool looking like the only upstanding citizen.

# re: Mitchell! (updated)

Friday, December 14, 2007 9:20 AM by Roy Dean Bream
In the end, Canseco is the only honest one of the group. Maybe Giambi since he admitted and cooperated.

None of this will matter. It will be swept under the rug and people will keep going to games. Baseball took home over $6 BILLION last year in 2007....revenue. Think about that.

# re: Mitchell! (updated)

Friday, December 14, 2007 4:09 PM by Jim Margalus
I just can't believe how easy football gets off. There, they're actually using steroids to launch themselves harder into each other -- physical damage on top of the the damage the game already wreaks on a body.