Quote:
Originally Posted by TheIncredibleRox
You know who else is on there is Denny Neagle. Other than being a 'cheater' in other ways (his wife), no one would have ever suspected him.
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I did. Maybe that's because I ran into Neagle around January 2002 in Morrison at a benefit event. He was a bartender at the bar where the event was, and served me a beer. He looked thicker than I remember, and I asked him how he was doing. He said, "Look at me. I'm pretty buff right now!", and sort of laughed and winked at me.
Ever since that encounter, I suspected.
BTW, I just finished reading the "juicier" parts of the report (no pun intended), and have the following reactions:
1. No doubt Clemens used. His trainer spilled his guts, and has absolutely nothing to gain from it, and everything to lose. McNamee had been training Clemens as recently as this year, and was being paid by the Rocket as his personal trainer. He was repeatedly warned that it's a felony to make any false statements during the interviews. They were close since their Toronto days. Obviously, he won't have Clemens (or any other players) as clients anymore.
2. Paul Lo Duca was a real key guy in this. He introduced numerous Dodgers to his source, including Herges. Also, Herges and a handful of other Dodger prospects juiced together in Albuquerque, according to a Dukes source, months before getting called up, quoting Herges as saying that he wanted to be "in peak condition" when called up in 1999.
3. Brian Roberts shouldn't have been named in this since he was only referred to in heresay, and no one confirmed selling or administering PEDs to him. Not quite sure why he wasn't removed from the final draft, as reportedly lots of other players were.
Most importantly, these 78 players are the tip of the iceberg. They were the only ones included in the report since Mitchell could not get much cooperation from any players or MLBPA. So, he only had a handful of sources such as McNamee and that Mets clubhouse guy. I think these 78 players are probably a small minority of the total number of users during the same timeframe. My guess is you could multiply that number by 5x or 10x and be close.
One last note - The clubs knew about many of the abuses. It was clear, for example, from Dodgers notes obtained and shown in the report that Kevin Brown was traded to the Yankees shortly after the club concluded he was breaking down and using "medication" for his muscles (i.e. steroids).
The report makes for a fascinating read, at least in the portions that name the players.