Reports say 11 potential free agents will be named in the Mitchell Steroid Probe

Incredible how these leaks drip out.  Reports (here from Fox) say that 11 potential free agents could be on the list of 2007-8 free agents which is now crystallizing.  We count around 110 names on the list.  Thus 10-11% of all free agents may be implicated in George Mitchell's final report.  From MSNBC:

BOSTON - Eleven current free agents will be named when former Senator George Mitchell releases his report on steroids use in Major League Baseball, according to a report on the Boston Globe’s web site Thursday.

Player agents who attended a union meeting in New York on Wednesday learned that the 11 players have been notified by the commissioner’s office of their involvement.

Two agents confirmed that news to the Globe on Thursday.

Here is a report on the free agents.  The best link to see who is implicated with steroids/PEDs in baseball is Baseball's Steroid Era.   Nothing comes close to that site's organization.  Match them up.

Some of the names of free agents on the Mitchell shoot-list may be easy: Jose Guillen, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Jerry Hairston Jr., Neifi Perez, and Mike Cameron.  Guillen and Hairston from Signature Pharmacy; Perez and Cameron nailed with a stimulant.  Bonds will be forever linked to BALCO; and Sosa remembered for his congressional multilingual testimony.  That's not saying those two players used PEDs (there is likewise no evidence of any PEDs in Guillen's system) but we are banking that Mitchell will name players historically implicated in the juice.

Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte are 'journalistically' linked to the Grimsley bust.  That is certainly not saying they were users, but simply stating fact that those names came up in stories related to Jason Grimsley.

What follows does not link any player to PEDs.  It may be unfair to players, so if anyone objects to a name, let us know.  Players who may be linked to PEDs:

• Marcus Giles: linked often
• Luis Gonzalez: one huge production year in 2002
• Manny Alexander: mentioned a couple times by various sources
• Aaron Boone: obvious
• Fernando Tatis: records were requested by Mitchell; one huge year for the Cardinals

Those are our 11 men out...13 free agents if you count Clemens and Pettitte and we are fudging on those names.

How long before all 11 are leaked, especially if their agents were notified already.  Here is more speculation.

Comments

[Brian]

Don't you mean Bret Boone instead of Aaron Boone? Bret Boone got huge for a couple of years, and then once "the steroid crackdown" happened, his production fell off so bad he retired.

[Caleb]

Have there been any real links to Marcus Giles besides his career decline? I am most suspicious of the guys like Mark Sweeney who almost dropped out of the league due to injury and poor performance, then started producing in their mid-30s.

[drew]

i think it's impossible to pin down only 11... i agree with all your picks but i don't know how milton bradley, michael barrett, cliff floyd and livan hernandez wouldn't be on the list either. Mitchell's data hasn't been combined with the "hundreds of thousands of names" DEA list, right?

[Steroid Nation]

We thought Aaron Boone, because he will be a free agent. Frankly, we can't keep all the Boones straight. We were going to name Daniel Boone, until someone told us he retired too.

How about Marcus Giles? Not being big players of roto baseball, we are not experts on rosters and stats. We kinda know who George Brett was.

A close relative (son counts right?) mentioned Giles when we were attending a San Diego game. We Googled Giles...and there is alot out there on him.

Mike Sweeney? Fine hit us where it hurts, OK? Don't take this personally but Sweeney doesn't have a juiced body.

You all have given us some thoughts...

[Brian]

Similarly, Marcus Giles' brother Brian got huge in the late 90s/early 00s (averaging around 35HR 100RBI .300 AVG), and once he left Pittsburgh for San Diego, his production has drastically declined, and he seems to have lost some weight.