It's not a move on the scale of CC Sabathia or even Ray Durham, and who knows if it's going to bear any fruit. But the Brewers obviously think Jay Gibbons can provide a key at-bat or two in September because they've signed the exiled former outfielder away from the Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks to a minor league deal.
"He's a little rusty, self-admittedly rusty," Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash said. "The idea is to get him some Minor League at-bats and then evaluate as we go along." (...)
"He was very straightforward about his situation off the field," said Ash, who was the Blue Jays' GM when that team drafted Gibbons in the 14th round in 1998. The Orioles snatched him away in the 2000 Rule 5 Draft.
"They sat down and basically interviewed him," Brewers GM Doug Melvin said. "Gord is familiar with him from Toronto, and [Gibbons] wants to get back and playing. I don't know exactly what his [off-the-field] issues were, but they were not enough to not give a guy a second chance. He's always been a good guy with a good work ethic."
Doug obviously never read that pesky Mitchell Report if he didn't know exactly what his off-the-field issues were. I mean, it was all there for you in print. But it's nice to see that Eric Gagne hasn't scared the Brewers away from players from that pesky report. Heck if I was the GM of the Brewers, Gagne might scare me away from signing pitchers altogether, Mitchell Report or no Mitchell Report.
"In my opinion, I think that really, the Mitchell Report in general is silly," Berkman said. "Instead of trying to figure out what happened in the past, if they really wanted to address the substance abuse problem in baseball, they should spend that money to implement blood testing. That's the only way you're going to catch guys using HGH.
"Who cares what a guy did seven or eight years ago? Let's work on getting that out of the game now. The only way to do that is to blood test. I'm a huge advocate of that. I think they should do that. I'd be willing to submit to that at any time, and I think that other players should, too."
Berkman, speaking from an Astros caravan stop Tuesday night, said he would be agreeable to giving a blood sample now, even if a reliable test wasn't available for several years.
"Absolutely, there's no question," he said. "I think anybody that wouldn't submit to that has something to hide."
Berkman has been chatty lately about the issue, and good for him ... not only for keeping the focus in the future where it should be, but for willing to be first in line for blood testing. In stark contrast to, for example, Sammy Sosa bristling at SI's Rick Reilly when he suggested Sosa be tested independently, Berkman is more than willing to go to any lengths to prove that he's clean. I'd be willing to bet there are more players out there willing to take Berkman's route, and break the code of silence that the users are hiding behind to save their own reputations. Who knows ... if enough players do it, then perhaps all of baseball isn't going to be painted with the broad brush of steroids.
The Roger Clemens/Brian McNamee lawsuit saga is going to take many twists and turns ... not all of which we particularly want to hear about. Not because they're not important, but because they creep us out. What you are about to hear could turn out to be an important component regarding whether Roger or "Mac" is telling the truth. Most likely though, it'll just creep you out.
Brian McNamee told federal authorities last summer that Roger Clemens developed an abscess on his buttocks about the same time that McNamee said he was giving him steroid injections during the 1998 season, according to a lawyer with knowledge of details of the case. (...)
But did Clemens have an abscess in 1998? Three members of the Blue Jays' organization that season, including one of the team's two trainers, said in recent interviews that they did not recall any abscess associated with Clemens that year. In addition, Clemens's lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said Friday that McNamee had made the same assertion about an abscess to Hardin's investigators Dec. 12. He said they followed up by contacting both Blue Jays trainers from that season, neither of whom backed McNamee's account.
If McNamee and his lawyers are unable to obtain confirmation that the abscess existed, McNamee's credibility, rather than Clemens's, could come into question in what has become a continuing public battle between Clemens, McNamee and their lawyers.
Once again, McNamee comes up with something that may or may not be true, yet what we do know right now is that there's no hard evidence. If McNamee could come up with even one tangible bit of evidence as there has been with other players in the Mitchell Report, he could blow this wide open. But as of yet, nothing. Until then, get ready for some uncomfortable discussion regarding Roger Clemens' buttocks.Sorry, No Photos
With reports swirling that baseball GM's aren't too concerned about signing a free agent who may or may not be in George Mitchell's report on performance enhancers, they now have a reason to be slightly concerned. It is now a sure thing that some of those free agents are indeed on the Mitchell Report ... we just don't know who yet. From the Boston Globe:
Agents who attended yesterday's union meeting in New York were told that 11 current free-agents are named in the George Mitchell report which could come out sometime around the first of the year, and that all 11 players have been notified by the commissioner's office. Two agents who were there confirmed this today.
Gary Matthews Jr. who is not a free-agent, met with MLB yesterday in New York to discuss his alleged purchase of HGH while the office is also trying to meet with Paul Byrd., the Indians' starter who also purchased HGH from 2002-2005. Jose Guillen, a free-agent, is one of the 11, who allegedly bought steroids.
Most of the GMs at the meetings said they weren't concerned by this revelation, but these revelations could cost these players big money.
It could, but how? There's still plenty of time before the first of the year, including the winter meetings in December ... designed to be a meeting place to make moves and sign free agents. So teams are supposed to either sign guys and take their chances, or wait until January? If the report is pretty much set, why the two month wait to announce it? The players know ... but if the clubs don't know (and who knows if they do or not), they're put in a bad position if they sign a guy without knowing if he could be in this report. And then what happens when it comes out and the team looks like idiots for taking a chance, especially if we're talking about a big name? Things seem very disjointed ... but should we really be surprised?
If you're worried about a lack of free agent movement because of the pending findings and names named in the "Mitchell Report", Mets GM Omar Minaya would advise you not to be concerned, at least as far as Minaya goes, as he gets ready for this week's GM's meetings in Orlando.
As major league general managers arrived Monday for their annual meetings, the New York Mets' Omar Minaya said he won't hesitate to pursue players because they could be listed in George Mitchell's report as drug users.
"If there was a player that we like and we wanted to get, we've just got to go get the player," Minaya said. "It would be terrible if I was to kind of pass on the player because of - quote, unquote - the potential of the Mitchell Report, and then have that player not be on the list."
Mitchell's report, the culmination of an investigation the former Senate Majority Leader began in March 2006, is expected to be issued before the end of the year. A lawyer for baseball owners told teams last month they should proceed on the assumption that it will name players implicated in the use of performance-enhancing substances.
Come on now, you're not surprised that a man who signed Guillermo Mota to a two-year deal after being busted for steroids in the winter of '06-'07 would be scared of the Mitchell Report, are you?
It's not a move on the scale of CC Sabathia or even Ray Durham, and who knows if it's going to bear any fruit. But the Brewers obviously think Jay Gibbons can provide a key at-bat or two in September because they've signed the exiled former outfielder away from the Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks to a minor league deal.
The Roger Clemens/Brian McNamee lawsuit saga is going to take many twists and turns ... not all of which we particularly want to hear about. Not because they're not important, but because they creep us out. What you are about to hear could turn out to be an important component regarding whether Roger or "Mac" is telling the truth. Most likely though, it'll just 
With reports swirling that baseball GM's 
If you're worried about a lack of free agent movement because of the pending findings and names named in the "Mitchell Report", Mets GM 
