...And the First Shoe Drops
The first of the infamous "Grimsley names" has been unredacted--who ever used the word "redacted" until Grimsley's affidavit was revealed?--and it's...(drumroll)...a 139 career home-run hitter! A DH/utility player! A guy who played for 8 teams in 15 years! It's David Segui! Not what you were expecting? Us, neither. But Segui's admission that he was the one who introduced HGH to Jason Grimsley, and that he is in fact one of the names Grimsley reported to the feds, at least breaks up the monotony of a weekend dedicated to some thing called WIngfoot and the World Cup.
Of course, Segui's admission was not entirely selfless--he's deflected blame like almost every other player to be caught by MLB by claiming that HGH was prescribed to him by a doctor, and when he talked to Grimsley about it he cautioned him to see a doctor before doing anything first. Segui provided ESPN with a prescription from 2003 for the HGH, but it's hard to know whether this is from a reputable source or if Segui got his prescription from Dr. Nick. To me, however, this smells as remarkably foul and unconvincing as Rafael Palmiero's claim that he was taking so much for his body he didn't know what was legal and what wasn't.
What this is proof of, however, is that the face of baseball's performance-enhancing dilemma is far uglier than the general public would have liked to reveal. Until recently, the names associated with steroids and HGH have been big names with powerful bats--Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Palmiero--guys with unusual spurts of monster seasons or supernatural stats. But Grimsley and Segui, two journeymen who were typically average, are proof that a lot of guys throughout the ranks--famous veterans, aspiring rookies, .200 hitters, mid-relief guys with high ERAs--have at least tried the stuff. Of course, with evil and good scientists constantly fighting to outsmart the other, it's tough to believe steroids and HGH are no longer present in the league. And seeing the wide array of players who've already been caught or fessed up, it's hard not to wonder who's still juiced. As honest and forthright as he was about the situation, every time I see a "rejuvenated" Jason Giambi launch one out of Yankee Stadium I wonder if he's sporting an evil smirk on the inside, knowing he's still pulling the wool over our eyes.
