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Grimsleygate

Johnny Dickshot Jun 08 2006 06:41 PM

Deserves a thread all its own as the guessing-game as to what names are behind the redacted documents turns up (holy crap!) Albert Pujols' trainer! Affadivit PDF [url]http://www.deadspin.com/sports/baseball/so-weve-got-some-affidavit-names-179400.php[/url] ]So ... We've Got Some Affidavit Names pujolsblue.jpgEveryone’s guessing about who the blacked-out names in the Jason Grimsley report are, and it has been a fun parlor game so far. But we all knew eventually the names would get out. And we’ve been digging around … and some sources have given us some names. How reliable are these names? We feel pretty confident in them, but we can’t go 100 percent, since the information is secondhand. We’ll say this: If Bud Selig issuing a press release naming the names is a 10, and picking a player at random out of the Baseball Encyclopedia is a 1, we’re at an 8. So. Let’s do it then. Remember: Betting lines are for entertainment purposes only. First: The person who told Grimsley about the positive test in 2003. That’s former Royals general manager Allard Baird. As many people have guessed, one of the “former players” who were sold out by Grimsley: Sammy Sosa. Our source(s) couldn’t confirm if the other was Rafael Palmeiro. Nothing new or exciting about that name. Then it starts to get interesting. We’ve heard amphetamine rumors of Miguel Tejada, but we can’t confirm that. What we can confirm? The doozy. Grimsley says that a former employee of [redacted] and personal fitness trainer to several Major League Baseball players once referred him to an amphetamine source.. Later, this source provided him with “amphetamines, anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.” This trainer? His name is Chris Mihlfeld, a Kansas City-based “strength and conditioning guru.” (And former Strength And Conditioning Coordinator for the Royals.) Does Mihlfeld’s name sound familiar? If it doesn’t, he — and we assure you, this gives us no pleasure to write this — has been Albert Pujols’ personal trainer since before Pujols was drafted by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 draft. We have no confirmation that Pujols’ name is in the affidavit … but Mihlfeld’s is. If you read the document, it doesn’t say the trainer/Mihlfeld supplied all the HGH and what-not; it just says the trainer was the referrer. Yeah. Sigh. We just report what we’re told, folks. Ever hope your source is wrong? This is one of those times. (UPDATE: OK, we’ve taken our head out of the microwave long enough to update you a bit. First, here’s a blog entry from Mihlfeld’s sister about his friendship with Pujols. And, on a more amusing (and somewhat damning) note, here’s a “diary” Grimsley wrote about his quick recovery from Tommy John surgery. (At MLB.com!) He thanks Mihlfeld for helping him with his recovery. We repeat: We are not claiming that Pujols has taken HGH. We are simply pointing out that Milhfeld is reportedly mentioned in the affidavit, and that he has connections to be Grimsley and Pujols. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to go back to our silent screams of pain.)

OlerudOwned Jun 08 2006 06:49 PM

That would just really suck. Unless it then means that Wright is the NL's best "natural" hitter... *grabs torch*

Johnny Dickshot Jun 08 2006 06:54 PM

This is big. Bigger than astronauts!

Gwreck Jun 08 2006 07:06 PM

Too bad the names weren't redacted with the same security as Grimsley's address. Whoops.

SteveJRogers Jun 08 2006 07:16 PM

Heh, so much for the media's bum rush to proclaim Pujols as being 100% legit. I know this is conjecture, but the media's wanting of Pujols to be clean, the Anti-Barry/Mark/Sosa/ect, is very reminicst of NYC politicians rushing to proclaim that Bronx little league team and Danny Almonte as fine examples of "good sportsmanship" basically trying to be the first to say "I told you this was a clean situation" rather than being one of the many "Hmmm, where there is smoke..."

MFS62 Jun 08 2006 07:27 PM

Even though the names were hidden, Selig has said that the objective of investigations (including Mitchell's panel) is to identify the sources of all illegal substances. This was as a result of a Federal investigation. Sooner or later, the people who go with the redacted names wil be called to testify as to their sources and connections ( probably under immunity for their posession/ taking the substances). You know there will be journalists monitoring those proceedings. We'll find out the names soon enough. Later

ScarletKnight41 Jun 08 2006 08:19 PM

Special Agent Jeff Novitzky is the same agent who prosecuted the Balco case - he is discussed extensively in Game of Shadows.

Edgy DC Jun 08 2006 08:54 PM

Identifying the sources is fine. But facts that come out in public, in the process, will be... public. And public image is part of what the game sells, whether Pujols fails any test or no. 76 ♦ Dwight Gooden (1984-2000, 194-112, 3.51 ERA) When a young player comes to the major leagues and has success right away, writers will almost always write about what a fine young man he is as well as a supreme talent. Never pay any attention to those articles or those descriptions. Albert Pujols is going through this now... people who didn't kow Albert Pujols from Jack the Ripper six months ago and have never talked to him more than six feet from his locker are writing very sincerely about what an exceptional young man he is. Doc Gooden, his first three years in baseball, was supposed to be mature beyond his years, polite to everybody, and kind to stray kittens. Rickey Henderson was routinely described, from 1980 through 1982, as "a Jack Armstrong type kid." Sportswriters, despite thier cynicism or because of it, desperately want to believe in athletes as heroes, and will project their hopes onto anyone who offers a blank slate. The problem with this is that, when the players turns out to be human and fallible, people feel betrayed. It is a disservice to athletes to try to make them more than they really are. Bill "Get That Red Pen Away from Me" James The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract 2001 p. 900 Here's a crazy and sad and highly speculative thought --- maybe Pujols isn't hurt at all. Maybe he and the Cardinals got wind of this a couple of days ago and he's ducking on the DL. (He came out mid-game, so my theory suggests some serious conspiratorial. duplicity. I don't believe it myself, but....)

Johnny Dickshot Jun 08 2006 08:58 PM

Yup and yup. Pearlman's column from a few days ago was right on.

Elster88 Jun 08 2006 09:09 PM

Basically this sucks.

KC Jun 08 2006 09:39 PM

What sucks about it? I want this stuff to come to a head and exposed and dealt with and removed from the game like the boil on it's ass it's been. Funny, if he bats again: Does this mean we'll get live cut-ins to Pujols' at bats now? by Big Daddy Drew on 06/08/06 04:50 PM

SteveJRogers Jun 08 2006 10:03 PM

Edgy DC wrote: Sportswriters, despite thier cynicism or because of it, desperately want to believe in athletes as heroes, and will project their hopes onto anyone who offers a blank slate. The problem with this is that, when the players turns out to be human and fallible, people feel betrayed. It is a disservice to athletes to try to make them more than they really are. Hell look no further than McGwire and Sosa. Or even Maris when you think about it. Why was Maris treated so shably back in 1961? Part of it was because he didn't go out of his way to be a media "friendly guy" like Mickey Mantle did. Maris just wanted to be, thats all. Didn't want to deal with all the trappings of the media by saying what "the media WANTED to hear" or be the best friend of every tabloid columnist in this town. You know, kind of reminds me alittle of a certain shortstop in this town, and not the one wearing 7 at Shea! As well as a beloved by both fans and media backstop in the 70's, Thurman Munson! Back to the point, people in Oakland knew McGwire was a closed off grumpy guy, and people knew Sosa was a prima dona type back in his early Cub days, yet in 1998 the national media tried to make both guys something that they weren't. Hell even comics like Jim Breuer were joking about Sosa's "new found happy go lucky smiling all the time" attitude "I don't know how I do it, I just hit ball!" (caught that on a late night apperance, probably Conan) You know, the media seems to want it both ways. They want the truth, they want every single FUCKING detail to be all out there, and don't get me wrong, it should be. But at the same time they bitch and moan about loss of innocence, the way things were back then, all this "Poor You" (quote Livia Soprano) crap about how this country was all Mom & Apple Pie back in 1954. Pure and utter BULL CRAP! And these are the same creeps who complain that the players don't give them the time of day, or like a certain shortstop who I allude to earlier as a Roger Maris if he had Mickey's appetite for the night life (and just the night life, not the alcohol and pills and other stuff Mantle abused), just give "just want HE wants the media to KNOW and nothing more." These are the same creeps who are making Lastings Milledge out to be some exubrant Mookie Wilson type of player and prasing his attitude while ripping those who are telling him to tone it down a bit, but in 5 years those same media types will be tearing him down saying "He's too much like Rickey Henderson" Quite frankly, I'd take a Rickey Henderson over Mookie Wilson, not personality wise but as a ballplayer sure, and thats no slight intended on William Hayward Willson! And when they do start comparing Lastings to Rickey, they will start making all the usual BS about how "money changes people" Bull Shit! If you are an asshole when you have fame and fortune, chances are you were an asshole BEFORE fame and fortune. Hell, how the FUCK do these media WONKS think they GOT to that place? Money changes yeah, no, money CAUSES more of the REAL personae to come out MOST if not ALL of the time. THATS a fact. You can't have it both ways here. You can't try to create heroes and then bemoan the lack of heroes after the truth comes out. No, the stark reality is, there are NO HEROES! There never were any, there never WILL BE any. Its ENTER FUCKING TAINMENT, it allways has been. Its a job to these players, its like being an actor. Its the media that created all this pedastal horse manure. Why? Because someone can hit a 400 foot homer? Throw a 99 yard TD pass? Hit a jumper from half court? ENTERTAINMENT! Not saving lifes, not educating lives, not putting your fucking life on the line to serve and protect at any level (police, fire, military) THOSE are the real heroes, not athletic competitors No matter how much the propagandic sports writers from the 20s through the 50's, the Rices, Lardners, Fricks, Spinxs, Cannons, ect of the world tried to make them, and that is EXACTLY how the cycle of hero worship got started. You can thank Grantland Rice, Ford Frick, Jimmy Cannon, JT Spinx (or how ever you spell the Sporting News founder) for all the nonsensical hero worship nonsense that we see today and why media wonks wonder "What ever happened?" Sometimes I wonder why the fuck I ever wanted to go into the sports writing profession

Elster88 Jun 08 2006 10:10 PM

KC wrote: What sucks about it? I want this stuff to come to a head and exposed and dealt with and removed from the game like the boil on it's ass it's been. The part that sucks is that the boil exists at all.

Edgy DC Jun 08 2006 10:33 PM

I'm going to depart from Steve Rogers. Just because the media has no obligation to portray these guys as anything but what they are doesn't mean that the players have no obligation to be as heroic as they can muster.

SteveJRogers Jun 08 2006 10:58 PM

="Edgy DC"]I'm going to depart from Steve Rogers. Just because the media has no obligation to portray these guys as anything but what they are doesn't mean that the players have no obligation to be as heroic as they can muster. I'm not suggesting that players shouldn't be "heroic" and the media shouldn't go out of their way to hightlight those who geuinely are that way, I'm just just saying that part of the problem is the media's need to create myths and legends when they really ought to let the facts play out. Milledge actually is a great case to this point. The media got all over the Mets for drafting him when the whole satutory rape case was going down, basically saying how the Wilpons were talking out of both sides of their mouths, on the one hand they want "good character guys" but on the other hand they draft a kid with a RAPE on his record (emphasis based on what the Mushniks and other holier than thou pundits used at the time) with no way of knowing who this kid is, what the facts in the case actually were, ect. Add to the fact that reports in ST and throughout his ride to the majors suggested a Rickey-esque air of CAHN-Fidence and braggadocio that the media tends to dislike Flash forward to right now and the media is doing a 180, the styling is reported as "exbruance" and "genuine fun" the way Bill James said about Doc Gooden and Albert Pujols. Not to mention the media is shooting down anyone that says "tone it down" and referring to them as people who "don't want fun in the game" or that the players "don't want the kid to be forcing them to do the same things (the handshakes)" So in 5 years time, it is pretty much expected for the Rickey Henderson comparisons to come out if Milledge is the same type of personailtiy and the media will wonder "What happened to that fun loving kid that turned into this hot dog prima dona?" The Mushniks of the world will be blaming it on SportsCenter, the Michael Wilbons/Jason Witlocks of the world will retort "Thats the culture, stop hating on it" and so on in a vicious cycle. Never mind that styling has always existed, hell there was a Minor League legend (in the Texas Leagues, never made much in the Bigs) in the 20's who referred to himself as "The Great" (Art Shires) Never mind that Ruth, while never doing histrionics, was all about showmanship and being a zestfull fella, Never mind that...and so on and so on. Players should be themselves, and yes players should go above and beyond even if its against their nature (and what they've been told by ahole vets) not to when it comes to how they act in public and act in a professional manner (they are entertainers, but they are very much PROFESSIONAL entertainers and shouldn't act like they are still college kids) My rancor is more with the media that deifies athletes when in reality they ought to be treated as dime a dozen CEOs!

silverdsl Jun 09 2006 10:31 AM

Grimsley said that Pujols' trainer referred him to a source to get performance enhancers from. Unless there's more to the story, Grimsley did not say that Pujols' trainer gave him performance enhancers and most importantly, he did not, that we know of at the moment, say that Pujols himself is a user of performance enhancers. So I think that it's a big stretch for deadspin to use this affidavit as proof that Pujols might have or does use performance enhancers. That said, if it happens that more evidence surfaces to implicate Pujols and his trainer in the use or distribution of performance enhancers, then I hope the feds, the media and MLB go after them with everything they have. Fans would like to believe that some players are above ever using performance enhancers. But taking into account that greenies are performance enhancers, I believe that more players might have used something at one point or another than haven't. So I don't think I'd be surprised to hear any player named as a performance enhancer user.

Farmer Ted Jun 09 2006 11:02 AM

I googled Grimsley's address and locked into a satellite image of the house. Cool.

Edgy DC Jun 09 2006 11:30 AM

SteveJRogers wrote: I'm not suggesting that players shouldn't be "heroic" and the media shouldn't go out of their way to hightlight those who geuinely are that way, I'm just just saying that part of the problem is the media's need to create myths and legends when they really ought to let the facts play out. I'm just disagreeing with SteveJRogers wrote: No, the stark reality is, there are NO HEROES! I think there are... somewhere. I agree that nobody should be selling us a fake one. Building a guy (or a woman) up or tearing one down shold be in service of no ends but the true story.

Elster88 Jun 09 2006 11:46 AM

Even though I don't agree with everything you said Steve, that's a great post!! (SC = zero)

Edgy DC Jun 16 2006 11:54 AM

Sweetheart, rat, or sweetheart of a rat.