Implicated

A while back, I wrote about the Jason Grimsley situation, where he admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs and implicated six others in their usage.

As I noted at the time, baseball players all over the country are sweating this because Grimsley played for quite a few teams: Phillies, Yankees, Indians, Angels, Royals, and Orioles before heading to the Diamondbacks who released him earlier this year after this news came to light.

Well, the names have been named.

Roger Clemens
Andy Pettitte
Miguel Tejada
Brian Roberts
Jay Gibbons

Clemens and Pettitte deny the allegations and their representatives are busy pushing back at Grimsley's assertions. Tejada has also denied the allegations.

It would also appear that this information was leaked to the reporters:

In a 20-page search warrant affidavit signed by IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky, the Times reported, he said Grimsley identified other players who had used drugs. Those names were blacked out when the document was released.

The Times said an anonymous source with access to the document — minus the crossouts — let the newspaper see it, but kept the copy. The Times said a second source who had identified the other players provided additional details about the document.

According to the affidavit, the Times said, Grimsley told investigators Clemens and Pettitte "used athletic performance-enhancing drugs."

The affidavit also alleged Grimsley told federal agents that Roberts, Gibbons and Tejada "took anabolic steroids."

Novitzky also was the lead investigator in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative probe. Two BALCO officials and Barry Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, served jail time after guilty pleas in that investigation.

Grimsley has complained to friends, the Times said, that federal agents attributed statements to him that he did not make.

"I'm told he has denied saying all of this," Randy Hendricks, who represents Clemens and Pettitte, told The Associated Press on Saturday night. "It's an agent's recollection about a conversation he had about conjecture."

"I've grown weary of having to defend (Clemens) from innuendo and conjecture about every six months for the last several years when he's complied with all of the rules and regulations," Hendricks said. "Andy is just surprised and stunned, and has no knowledge of any such activity."

Clemens and Pettitte pitch for Houston. The Astros won 5-4 at Atlanta on Saturday night.

Tejada, Gibbons and Roberts had left the clubhouse in Boston after Baltimore's 5-4 victory Saturday night when an AP reporter sought comment.

Once again, leaking this information may have violated federal law, and the person releasing those names may have committed a crime.

Nice.