Various stories from around the MLB kingdom speculate on the Mitchell Report, due out...sometime soon at a theater near you.
In Texas The Star-Telegraph says the Ranger might need an Excedrin:
It will be interesting to see if the Mitchell Report is released this week during baseball's winter meetings in Nashville, and if so, Rangers fans may want to buckle their seat belts.
Based on the revelations in Jose Canseco's tell-all book from three springs ago, it won't be terribly surprising if some former Rangers names come out in the report. Canseco fingered Rangers teammates Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez and Pudge Rodriguez, among others, in the book.
All three denied using steroids, but Palmeiro flunked a drug test after that and was suspended. He hasn't played since.
The Mitchell Report is expected to be released at some point this month, and Angels owner Arte Moreno said names will be named "that people will be mad about."
He denied, however, that the Angels just signed Hunter because he expects Gary Matthews Jr. to be suspended after the report comes out. Matthews Jr. was linked to a shipment of HGH in 2004 and discussed that report with commissioner Bud Selig in November.
The Chicago Sun-Times agrees with the concerns:
Shortly after the winter meetings, the long-awaited Mitchell Report is expected to be released. A Major League Baseball source indicated Friday that the report could be made public days after the winter meetings close Thursday. Teams have been told to brace for the report before MLB's unofficial break toward the end of December.
Don't be surprised if the steroids stain reaches all 30 teams.
''The names of players will come out that people will be mad about,'' Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno told reporters after his team introduced new center fielder Torii Hunter and former White Sox pitcher Jon Garland to Southern California media last week. ''Anyone who tries to cheat the system shouldn't be in baseball.''
Moreno has portrayed himself as a ''squeaky wheel'' who has urged commissioner Bud Selig to clean up the sport. One of Moreno's most prominent stars -- outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. -- allegedly received a shipment of human-growth hormone in 2004 and reportedly met with Mitchell's investigators on Nov. 7.
The code among baseball players has been to name no names. But that hasn't stopped Mitchell's investigators from trying to extract names from trainers, clubhouse attendants and anyone else loosely connected to the baseball world.
If Moreno's prediction comes true, the Mitchell Report should prove to be a bombshell.
If not, it will be a monumental waste of time and money.
So what will the Mitchell Report be: shocking hardball shaking baseball to it's core, or a curve amounting to a monumental waste of time?
I'll be shocked if any Pittsburgh Pirates are named - and if any are, they just must not be doing it the right way.
Frankly with MLBs record on PED's in general (don't ask, don't wanna talk about it) it wouldn't surprise me if the report wasn't released until the weekend before Christmas hoping it can fly under the radar. I've heard that the players aren't specifically told when the testers will be in town, but the testers request parking passes from the team and have space in the locker room cleared ahead of time. Gives new meaning to surprise testing. Apparently it really is just the stupid ones who get caught.
Posted by: Brian | 12/03/2007 at 08:53
Ohh I disagree- It is possible that former Pirate B.G. could appear on the list- I always suspected as his dropoff was very precipitous.
Posted by: Darrell | 12/04/2007 at 09:29
Good point on BG - there have been rumors about his brother also. I was thinking more of the current crop of underpaid underachieving Battlin' Bucs. Of course there is always that former Bucco who's hat size started changing after he went to greener pastures...
Just saw a story on ESPN.com that the report will be out in a couple of weeks, after the winter meetings. My prediction of the weekend before Christmas is looking good!
Posted by: Brian | 12/04/2007 at 21:48