MLB 2007-2008 Offseason Thread

[Dragon]

I don't know how Clemens is still denying everything. He is looking incredibly stupid with this. He really isn't answering any questions. He just dances around the question and talks about something else.

And honestly, having Canseco vouch for you in anything is quite a joke. He's the same guy that said he had evidence against Magglio Ordonez like a month ago, but said he would keep quiet if Ordonez invested in a movie for him lol.

[FakeLaser]

lol Canseco. What a douche. The best thing ever was when they wouldn't let him into the Mitchell Report press conference.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

rofllllll still can't get over that lady who said "Well Mr. Clemens I hope you go to heaven" or something like that at the end of her questions. Her entire 5 minutes or however long it was was ridiculous. She could barely speak

[Dragon]

LOL was she the one talking about the Bruce Springsteen tickets and how that signifies love or something?

[ClockShot]

Woohoo! Rock on, Waxman. Shut him up.

Really not looking for for Clemens. His lawyers interupting the proceedings probably threw a nail or two in his coffin.

[Dragon]

There seemed to be a lot of people on the committee that were just tearing into McNamee and really not going into anything too bad with Clemens. Kinda crazy when the head guy even apologizes to McNamee for some of his committee members.

[RP]

I turned it off when Roger said " Andy misremembered ".


.......

Thats basically either calling Petitte a liar, or calling him a retard. The most credible person is Petitte so i think i'd believe him before anyone else.



BTW. Barry Bonds is sipping Green Tea on a yacht somewhere smiling.

[OssMan]

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo we have our Nationals 20 game plan thing got some pretty decent seats Natsssssssssssssssssssssssss

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

I thought Clemens said misheard? Either way pretty funny

I can't believe they were talking about Bruce Springsteen tickets, then after that trying to figure out why Clemens contacted a nanny before the court was able to, which he wasn't suppose to do. "I was tryin' to help y'all!" I was waiting for him to say YEEHAW for that

[McLegend]

The Rocket isn't very smart.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

Nope just saw the highlights, "misremembers"

[Loose Cannon]

lol new word.


hip hop opotamus

[RP]

contact a nanny? I didnt catch that. The fuck?

[The Gold Standard]

I have had enough with both of these guys. Lets just concentrate on the next season.

[Dragon]

Apparently they wanted to contact Clemens' nanny from like 10 years ago. They wanted to find out if she knew if Roger was over Jose's BBQ lol.

I guess they said that Rogers kid actually slept over Canseco's house that night or something.

Really is ridiculous how much they tore into McNamee and took it so easy on Clemens expect for a certain few guys on that committee. It seemed to me that a lot of people were kind of taken aback by Roger's star power or whatever.

[Dragon]

One guy said it best though when he said it was just really hard to believe Clemens. McNamee said Pettitte did it and he did, he said Knoblauch did it and he did. And now he's lying about Clemens?

[RP]

Originally Posted by Dragon Apparently they wanted to contact Clemens' nanny from like 10 years ago. They wanted to find out if she knew if Roger was over Jose's BBQ lol. I guess they said that Rogers kid actually slept over Canseco's house that night or something. Really is ridiculous how much they tore into McNamee and took it so easy on Clemens expect for a certain few guys on that committee. It seemed to me that a lot of people were kind of taken aback by Roger's star power or whatever.

it dont matter. about 85% of America know that McNamee is telling the truth.

[McLegend]

Mr. Clemens, all I can say is, I'm sure you're going to heaven.

[ClockShot]

I was watching this cause I wanted to see my man Chris Shays go hellfire and brimstone on both of them. But man oh man. How about that guy from Illinois or whatever.

Also, anybody see that the word "bullshit" made it onto national television?

[ClockShot]

News and rumors.

The Phillies signed Kris Benson to minor league deal.

Kevin Mench signs a minor league deal with the Rangers.

[YOUR Hero]

I should have taken the day of work to watch that.

[VonErichLives]

yeah, I loved the nanny...

"I don't need an attorny, I'm telling the truth, bring it on"

that and that they asked Clemens for her name and number and for over a week he said he didn't have it, yet during that same time he or his atty contacted her and invited her to Clemens house...

"So, you invited a witness we wanted to speak to over your house before we could speak with her"

"I thought I was helping...."

lmfao...

A local reporter said it best "Roger, you wanted to testify so we could make up our own minds if you're telling the truth or not. Well, you did and we have, you're a lieing"

[ClockShot]

Breaking news out of ESPN.com

U.S. says Bonds failed steroid test in November 2001

Updated: February 14, 2008, 8:30 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds tested positive for steroids in November 2001, just a month after hitting his record 73rd home run of the season, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday.

The allegation came in a legal filing in his steroid perjury case that referred to Bonds' long-time trainer, Greg Anderson.

"At trial, the government's evidence will show that Bonds received steroids from Anderson in the period before the November 2001 positive drug test, and that evidence raises the inference that Anderson gave Bonds the steroids that caused him to test positive in November 2001," U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello wrote.

The U.S. government made the assertion in a document that asked a federal court to reject Bonds' motion last month to dismiss the charges that he lied about past steroid use.

In December, the record seven-time National League Most Valuable Player pleaded not guilty to lying to a federal grand jury in 2003 when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

He testified in the BALCO sports steroid case, which ended up jailing his personal trainer, Anderson, and the head of the BALCO lab near San Francisco.

The latest government motion also referred to a question by a prosecutor during the BALCO case to "determine why Bonds apparently tested positive for anabolic steroids in November 2000."

To date, prosecutors have revealed little about the details they have in the case against Bonds, the greatest hitter of his era long dogged by suspicions about doping.

[Splaya]

FUCKING OWNED

[FakeLaser]

Why don't players today just drop acid like Dock Ellis? They gotta fuck around with steroids and HGH.

[Heros Welcome]

[OssMan]

My brother covered the Clemens hearings for the Boston Globe, so thats tight.

[ddpBANG]

Originally Posted by ClockShot Breaking news out of ESPN.com U.S. says Bonds failed steroid test in November 2001 Updated: February 14, 2008, 8:30 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds tested positive for steroids in November 2001, just a month after hitting his record 73rd home run of the season, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday. ...

U.S. filing typo spurs erroneous Bonds drug report



SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal prosecutors mistakenly filed court papers Thursday that incorrectly stated that Barry Bonds failed a steroids test in November of 2001 -- one month after breaking the single-season home run mark.

U.S. attorney spokesman Josh Eaton now says that the reference in Thursday's government court filing regarding Bonds testing positive was actually referring to a November 2000 test that was previously disclosed in the indictment of Bonds and had already been reported.

That drug test was included in the indictment unsealed last year, when prosecutors said the test was for a player they called "Barry B."



Also from ESPN.com

[Evil Vito]

LOL the 30 MLB GMs were polled on who would win the World Series (not allowed to pick your own team) and the Yanks didn't get a single vote.

Breakdown: 17 Red Sox, 7 Tigers, 3 Indians, 2 Mets, 1 Braves

A WS Matchup between the Red Sox and Mets was voted 10 times. 1 vote guessed there would be another Subway World Series (and by that token, that exec was one of the two to pick the Mets winning)

[MVP]

Surprised no one picked the Cubs or any team in the NL West not named the San Francisco Giants.

[McLegend]

According to Rep. Wexman chairman of the comitte Congress didn't even want a hearing. They only did it because Clemens and his attornys insisted on one.

So where does that rank as one of the dumbest things ever done by a person?

[SammyG]

lol what

[The Gold Standard]

See what proves that Clemens is guilty is the fact that Andy Pettitte asked not to be there. If Clemens was truly innocent, Pettitte would've been there to defend him.

[YOUR Hero]

Depositions paint complex McNamee portrait

By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports
February 14, 2008


WASHINGTON – Billy Belk eased his rental car onto the driveway of the oceanfront Long Island home. His secret tape recorder, already rolling, captured a GPS voice telling him: "You have arrived."

At what, exactly, no one could have imagined. Inside the house waited Brian McNamee, the man who in the previous months told federal authorities, and then former Sen. George Mitchell's investigators, that he had injected Roger Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone. What has ensued since is a fascinating study of two men, the famous pitcher and the trainer he once trusted, one of whom is lying, only no one can decipher for certain which one.

Belk approached the door. He was working for Clemens. So was his colleague Jim Yarbrough. Both were sent to New York by Rusty Hardin, the powerhouse Houston lawyer Clemens hired as much for forceful demeanor as his reputation as a problem-solver for professional athletes. McNamee agreed to meet with Belk and Yarbrough on Dec. 12, the eve of the Mitchell Report's release. McNamee said he wanted to help Clemens and Andy Pettitte, the other star pitcher who he had fingered in the report.

Belk and Yarbrough engaged McNamee in a few minutes of small talk, about McNamee's years as a policeman, about Hardin's background. McNamee brought the chatter to an abrupt end.

"Tell me what your goal is," McNamee said.

"I'll try to be just as straight with you and upfront with you as I can, Brian," Belk said. "Our goal is simply on behalf of Roger and Andy to try to talk with you about the knowledge you have concerning what may or may not come out in the Mitchell Report."
Belk wasn't lying. He wasn't telling the whole truth, either. Hardin was ramping up for the case of his life, and he wanted all the ammunition he could gather. Because the next two months leading up to the recently completed hearing in front of Congress would twist and turn like a country road.

And the future? Well, that is anyone's guess.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At 2:41 p.m. Wednesday, when Rep. Henry Waxman adjourned the Committee on Government and Oversight Reform's hearing that featured Clemens and McNamee sticking to their divergent versions of the truth, the real story – the details of how the greatest pitcher of his generation ended up before Congress possibly perjuring himself – began to emerge.

McNamee, gaunt and dressed in Long Island chic – olive double-breasted suit with wide lapels – slinked out of the hearing while his lawyers mobilized on the room's right side. About 100 feet away, Clemens, filling out his bespoke suit, traded niceties with Rep. Virginia Foxx as his attorneys prepared their post-hearing plan. And Waxman and Rep. Tom Davis, the chairman and ranking minority member, stood in front of a frothing crowd of reporters, bystanders and local high school students on a trip to Rayburn House Office Building.

One mop-haired kid pulled out his cell phone camera and started recording video. He captured Waxman and Davis sloughing off intimations that the hearing had split along party lines – it was rather obvious, and curious, that Democrats favored McNamee's explanation while Republicans sided with Clemens – and encouraging an inquisitive public to view all the documents entered into the record.


In all, they total 1,189 pages. They include depositions from Clemens, McNamee and Pettitte, affidavits from Pettitte and his wife, interviews with trainers and doctors, documents detailing the treatment of a "palpable mass" on Clemens' right buttock, the testimony of Clemens' former nanny, the transcript of the covertly taped interview and one more surreptitiously recorded conversation, the one that began this whole circus.


On Dec. 5, sometime between 8 and 9 a.m., McNamee placed a frantic call to Jim Murray. Call me from a landline, McNamee told Murray.

Murray works for brothers Randy and Alan Hendricks, Clemens and Pettitte's agents, and was the person to whom McNamee reached out when he could not contact either player. Murray returned McNamee's call, clicked the speakerphone button and placed a digital tape recorder next to the amplifier.

"I'm just trying to alert Roger and Andy that they're going to be in the Mitchell Report," McNamee said.

Murray fumbled over his words. McNamee didn't stop dispensing his. The government had him dead to rights, he said. Somehow, he said, "they had tapes from clubhouses." Jeff Novitzky, the IRS special agent who broke open the BALCO case, allegedly threatened to throw him in jail. So he talked.

"It incriminates Roger and Andy," McNamee said.

"It incriminates Roger and Andy?" Murray replied.

McNamee said he spent two days in the hospital, the stress too overwhelming.

"They wanted to bury … Roger," he said.

A few minutes later, Murray hung up the phone. He scurried to Randy Hendricks' office and played him the tape.

With the avalanche of scrutiny about to fall, Hendricks advised Clemens to obtain outside counsel. In came Hardin, and a week later, his associates sat in McNamee's house and heard him tell his version of the truth.

Details, previously unknown publicly, emerged from Congress' entering the interview into the record. Kirk Radomski, the steroid dealer and source of most of the names in the Mitchell Report, would meet McNamee off a highway exit ramp and deliver him drugs wrapped in FedEx packages. McNamee told Belk and Yarbrough that he had spoken with his lawyer, Earl Ward, about illegally backdating a confidentiality agreement with Clemens and Pettitte to avoid having to testify against them. Ward said no.

And McNamee alluded to a meeting with Clemens in 1998 to which Clemens allegedly brought 30 vials of testosterone in a Ziploc bag and a bottle of 200 pills, which McNamee believed were the steroid Anadrol-50.

"I (have) told you more truth than I told the federal government," McNamee said to Belk and Yarbrough.

At no point did Clemens' investigators dispute that. They listened and asked questions. They heard McNamee talk about Clemens bleeding through the bottom of his pants after a shot gone bad and how after that Clemens carried around Band-Aids. They watched McNamee seethe at Clemens allegedly telling Jose Canseco that steroids contributed to his success.

"I won two Cy Young Awards on that (expletive)," McNamee remembered Clemens saying.

As McNamee talked, Clemens sat in Texas awaiting the most harrowing day of his life. His accomplishments, his good name, his reputation – all would crumble under the allegations of steroid use, whether true or false. He met with Hardin and agreed on the tack that has drawn so much criticism.

"We've got to fight," Hardin said. "The whole world thinks he's crazy. You saw the skepticism. Roger always knew that. But I ask everyone to decide: If you lived in the public all your life, and somebody comes out and says the things that were in the Mitchell Report, what is that person supposed to do to try to protect their public reputation?"

Clemens sued McNamee for defamation of character. He went on "60 Minutes" to deny McNamee's allegations. He taped a phone call with McNamee and played it at a news conference, causing McNamee to turn over to federal authorities needles and bloody gauze he said he saved … just in case. Clemens denied and denied and denied, all the way to Capitol Hill, where he appeared Wednesday in another effort to clear his name.

Just as he did in his sworn deposition, Clemens refuted McNamee's claims that he had used performance-enhancing drugs. In the face of searing questions from Waxman, Rep. Elijah Cummings and Rep. Stephen Lynch, Clemens fumbled through his words, made logic leaps the size of the Grand Canyon and bobbed and weaved around the toughest of questions. He cast blame everywhere – on his mother for advising him to take vitamin B-12 shots, on commissioner Bud Selig for not tracking him down to tell him about the contents of the Mitchell Report, on Pettitte for "misremembering" a conversation about his alleged HGH use, on his wife for being the real HGH user in the family – except on himself.

"I never had any detailed discussions with Brian McNamee about HGH," Clemens said.

Less than a minute later, asked about a conversation regarding Debbie Clemens' use of HGH, Clemens responded to the same question from Rep. John Tierney with a different answer.

"That very much is detailed conversation," Clemens said.

Contradictions and misrepresentations abounded. Clemens claimed he did not respond to Mitchell Report investigators because he assumed the inquiry regarded the Los Angeles Times story that mistakenly said he was in the affidavit given by Jason Grimsley. Pettitte, however, said in his deposition that he "didn't think" the Times story, in which he was named as well, was the reason Mitchell investigators contacted him.

In Pettitte's deposition, he admitted to using HGH he received from his ill father in 2004 in addition to the two times McNamee injected him in 2002. Despite contradicting what he said following the Mitchell Report's release, Pettitte was hailed an impermeable witness by Cummings and Waxman, who called him a role model.

More than anything, Pettitte served as the fulcrum of questions aimed at Clemens. Cummings, in particular, battered Clemens about why Pettitte, a man with whom he claimed such unassailable character, would lie about Clemens telling him in 1999 or 2000 that he had taken human growth hormone usage.

"I don't think I misunderstood him," Pettitte said in his deposition.

By the people Congressional investigators chose to interview, it was clear they craved an assault on Clemens' credibility. Trainers or doctors from all four teams for which Clemens played – the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees and Astros – were interviewed, and each was asked about the veracity of Clemens receiving shots of vitamin B-12 and the painkiller lidocaine, as Clemens claimed he did from McNamee.

Yankees trainer Gene Monahan, who brought more lawyers to his interview (six) than Clemens to his (five), said McNamee, once an assistant strength coach with the team, never would have given him B-12 shots. Tommy Craig, a longtime Blue Jays trainer, said, "I don't know why anybody would get lidocaine to go perform a pitch."

And Dr. Ron Taylor, the Blue Jays' team doctor, said he has given around 1,000 B-12 shots a year over his 30-year career and never seen one cause the "palpable mass" – an abscess-like wound – that appeared on Clemens' buttock in 2000.

Clemens claimed it came from the B-12 shot Taylor administered. McNamee said in his deposition that it came from an injection of Winstrol – a steroid – delivered too quickly.

Amid all the talk of Clemens' behind, McNamee did not exactly acquit himself. A mini-controversy erupted about McNamee's claim in the Mitchell Report that Clemens had talked about steroids with Jose Canseco at a 1998 party. Clemens claimed he did not attend the party and produced a golf receipt from that morning. Others at the party backed his story.

McNamee said he remembered the nanny for Clemens' children bopping around in a bikini. The nanny said she did not attend a party at Canseco's house, though she, Debbie and the children did spend a night there. And her interview came after Clemens and his lawyers visited with her.

Richard Emery, McNamee's other lawyer, said it could be witness tampering. Hardin called it good lawyering.

"There is no money involved," the nanny said in her interview. "I'm doing this because I know it is the right thing to do. He's a good man."

Nanny-gate continued to drag on with the release of Belk and Yarbrough's interview. McNamee said the Mitchell investigators broached the topic of the Canseco party and that his memories were foggy.

"I wanted them to take that out (of the report)," he said, "because I had no idea."

In his deposition, McNamee remembered it in far greater detail, describing a scene in which Debbie Clemens and Canseco's wife, Jessica, complimented each other on their breast augmentation. Such flip-flops torpedoed McNamee's credibility in the eyes of a handful of Republican Congressmen. During an attack from Rep. Dan Burton, McNamee crossed his arms and slumped forward, trying to slough off Burton's allegation that he had committed "lie after lie after lie after lie" – to the media and to the government and, it was implied, to the committee in front of which he sat.

"He admitted those lies to the federal government," Ward said. "And they walked away thinking Brian McNamee was telling the truth. Everybody should walk away from this knowing Brian McNamee told the truth."

Everybody didn't. Rep. Christopher Shays called him a "drug dealer," Rep. Darrell Issa "a street pusher." Interviews with Congressional investigators, however, show that while McNamee explained the potential benefits of performance-enhancing drugs – Pettitte said McNamee told him that it helped heal injuries – he did not necessarily push it on his clients.

"Definitely at no time did he encourage me to do it," said C.J. Nitkowski, a former major-league pitcher and McNamee advocate.

By the hearing's end, neither man escaped unscathed nor was proven innocent. It was quite obvious that the performance-enhancing drug of choice should have been gingko biloba, because neither Clemens' nor McNamee's memory was something of which to be proud.

The hearing had turned out like everything else in this sordid mess: convoluted.

Clemens gave a brief statement and left the building surrounded by five policemen and a lightning storm of flashbulbs. McNamee walked the halls without incident, anonymous, a schnook. Over the 4 hours and 41 minutes of the hearings, and in the time after, they didn't say a word to each other.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(con't)

[YOUR Hero]

From the start, McNamee understood what he was doing. He got pinched in July, threatened in the weeks and months to come and flipped to Mitchell. Nearly half a year passed until Dec. 12, and the consequences of his past actions – of Clemens' past actions – were clear.

"Tomorrow," McNamee told Belk and Yarbrough, "it's going to be a disaster."

And it was. Clemens' name leaked early in the morning, and he has been on the attack ever since, targeting McNamee like a one-man most-wanted list. Whether destroying McNamee's character will absolve Clemens in the public eye is dubious. He cares not. That is the strategy, and Clemens is sticking to it.

Which, in hindsight, makes Belk and Yarbrough's approach look all the more disingenuous. McNamee comes off as genuine in their interview – naïve, sure, in that he believes he can help Clemens and Pettitte after ruining them, yet sincere nonetheless.

"You sound to me like a very credible person," Yarbrough said.

And that seemed to sit well with McNamee. Before Belk and Yarbrough left – before he recommended a few restaurants in the area and thanked them for their help – McNamee thought about his friends and clients, the men whom he says trusted him enough to let him puncture their skin with needles and inject illegal drugs, and what the interview with the investigators might have accomplished.

"I hope," McNamee said, "it salvages whatever relationship I had with Andy and Roger."


http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns

[ClockShot]

Well. Nothing much has came up in baseball news as of late. Just a few players losing their arbitration hearings. Other than that, a report has surfaced about how Andy Pettitte got his HGH.

From ESPN.com

Report: Pettitte's father obtained HGH from son's ex-classmate
Associated Press

Updated: February 17, 2008, 8:18 PM ET

NEW YORK -- Andy Pettitte's father obtained the human growth hormone he supplied his son from a trainer who attended high school with the New York Yankees pitcher.

Kelly Blair, who owns a gym in Pasadena, Texas, was the source of the substance, the New York Daily News reported Sunday.

Pettitte, who has admitted using HGH in 2004, told congressional attorneys that he received it from his father, Tom Pettitte, who has had serious health problems. In his deposition, Pettitte said his father got the drugs from a trainer at a gym where he worked out but did not identify the trainer.

The Daily News reported that Blair sold HGH and steroids to customers at 1-on-1 Elite Personal Fitness. Blair did not respond to the newspaper's requests for comment.

Pettitte, who is scheduled to report to spring training Monday, and Blair attended nearby Deer Park High School, east of Houston, at the same time.

Pettitte planned to make his first public comments since telling a congressional committee that Roger Clemens had spoken with him about using performance-enhancing drugs.

"The sooner he gets here, the better it will be, to get it over, and just do what he has to do," Mariano Rivera said Sunday.

Pettitte was excused from testifying publicly in Washington last week after he gave a deposition and an affidavit. In addition to his December admission that he used human growth hormone for two days in 2002 while with the Yankees, he said he injected himself with HGH for one day in 2004 while with the Houston Astros after obtaining two syringes from his father.

Pettitte also said Roger Clemens, his friend and former teammate, had discussed nearly a decade ago using HGH. In addition, Pettitte testified Brian McNamee, the former personal trainer for Clemens and Pettitte, had spoken in 2003 or 2004 about steroids use by Clemens.

"There's just necessary steps on this ladder as he climbs back, obviously, up on that mound starting every fifth day for us," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "So tomorrow is step one in that process."

Cashman has spoken on the phone with Pettitte, who planned to travel Monday morning from his home in suburban Houston, but Cashman wouldn't detail those talks. Pettitte was given permission to report to spring training four days after other Yankees pitchers because of what new manager Joe Girardi said were "loose ends that he had to tie up."

"I think he wants to get his life back to normal. I don't think Andy is a guy who goes into hiding," said Girardi, who planned to attend the news conference. "I think he wants to get back to doing what he wants to do, and that's pitch for the New York Yankees."

Pettitte, who will be accompanied by lawyer Jay Reisinger, does not appear to be at risk of a suspension for his admissions. HGH was not banned by players and owners until January 2005.

But he could remain ensnared between McNamee and Clemens, who denies allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. Dealing with his first controversy since he was hired to replace Joe Torre, Girardi said it was too soon to tell whether the matter will end soon for Pettitte.

"I think a lot of that depends on what happens with Roger and what he continues to do. If that was to all die down, I think it would pretty much go away," Girardi said. "But, obviously, there's some litigation there that Andy might be a part of, so from that standpoint, it could linger."

Clemens has filed a civil suit against McNamee claiming defamation, and there could be a criminal investigation of the conflicting accounts given Congress by Clemens and McNamee.

Girardi understands any additional admissions of drug use by Pettitte "would become a huge story."

"But my thought is Andy has probably told everything that there is," Girardi said.

During the season, spectators on the road are likely to remind Pettitte of HGH use.

"You know how the fans are. They're going to say anything to distract the pitcher," Rivera said. "Hopefully, it's not too bad, because it always happens."

A 35-year-old left-hander with 201 regular-season wins, Pettitte debated retiring after going 15-9 with a 4.05 ERA in his first season back with New York following three years on the Astros. He announced Dec. 3 that he would accept the Yankees' $16 million standing offer to return for another year. That was two days before McNamee called Jim Murray, an employee of the agency that represents Clemens and Pettitte, and said the two players would be in the Mitchell Report.

While disapproving of Pettitte's HGH use, Cashman said it didn't diminish Pettitte in his view.

"Whatever took place, Andy is a good person. Obviously he's admitted to some mistakes, but he's a good man. He really is," Cashman said. "I say Roger is a good guy, too. One is admitting to things -- there's denials on Roger's case. But the Roger Clemens I also know is an extremely good person who's done a lot for a lot of people and was a good teammate."

[SammyG]

lol this is getting so ridiculous

[YOUR Hero]

I gotta wonder how the Yankees in this case feel about Pettitte. He took their 16 million dollar deal when he knew he was about to be implicated in this whole ordeal. I wonder if the Yankees feel had they known that they would have approached him differently. They're not going to say anything about because it would work against them in terms of team chemistry and Pettitte's performance. Still though, I have to bet they're grinding their teeth in order to stay quiet.

[Evil Vito]

[ClockShot]

Anyone watch the Pettitte news conference just now?