Now Miguel Tejada May Go To Jail Too?!

This is what I've been hearing. He too is one of the unfortunate players who had to testify under oath in front of Congress before that damn Mitchell Report came out. Now, they are looking into the credibility of Tejada's statements made back in 2005 and if the concluded evidence goes against his original testimony, he can very well also end up in jail. Damn, I liked Miguel Tejada too. He's always been one of the top shortstops in baseball.

I can almost guarantee that if any of the other players on the Report were questioned by Congress 2 years ago before the Report was released, they would have denied their steroid usage too and lied to Congress.

If Congress would have waited until the Mitchell report was released, things would be radically different for players such as Barry Bonds, Miguel Tejada, and Roger Clemens. Why? Because I'm willing to bet most of these players lied to Congress for fear of the punishment that would come about if they were honest. Lets pretend the 2005 Congressional hearing never happened and Congress was interviewing Tejada for the first time now. Tejada could be honest about his steroid usage and probably get away with it because he would just be one name on a list of many others. You can't punish that many players. Those players on the list, current and retired (along with those current and retired players who haven't been caught yet) can't be punished. Suspensions of this many players would eliminate a large chunk of the MLB! If anything, make them pay a penalty and take money from their contract. But, Bud Selig better not start suspending players because before he realizes it, a large percentage of the star attractions will be gone.

You just continue to ruin baseball George Mitchell and Bud Selig.

Congress asked the Justice Department to investigate whether former American League MVP Miguel Tejada lied to House committee staff when he was interviewed in 2005 in connection with the Rafael Palmeiro steroids case.

House Oversight and Government Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) opened Tuesday's hearing into the Mitchell report about drug use in baseball by announcing that he and ranking minority member Tom Davis (R-Va.) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Tuesday.

"Tejada told the committee that he never used illegal performance-enhancing drugs and that he had no knowledge of other players using or even talking about steroids," Waxman said. "Well, the Mitchell report, however, directly contradicts key elements of Mr. Tejada's testimony."

Said Davis: "We've concluded further investigation is warranted."

Tejada told ESPNdeportes.com that Tuesday was "a terrible day." He was primarily referring to the fact that his brother Freddy Manuel Tejada was killed in a motorcycle accident. But the Astros shortstop did make a statement regarding the committee's remarks.

"Appropriately, I am waiting for the meeting with the Justice Department to discuss issues brought to light in the letter from the committee," Tejada said.

"Unfortunately, at this time I can't comment further on the matter."

When the same House panel held a hearing in March 2005, Palmeiro pointed at the panel and declared: "I have never used steroids, period." Palmeiro was suspended by baseball later that year after testing positive for a steroid.

Tejada

The committee later looked into whether Palmeiro should face perjury charges, but eventually dropped the matter.

Palmeiro said his positive test must have resulted from a B-12 vitamin injection given to him by Tejada. That prompted Congress to talk to Tejada, who at the time was a Baltimore Orioles teammate of Palmeiro's. Tejada was traded to the Houston Astros on Dec. 12.

Astros spokesman Jimmy Stanton said the team had no comment on the Tejada situation.

The letter to the U.S. attorney general contains excerpts from the Aug. 26, 2005, interview of Tejada at a hotel in Baltimore. At the time, he and Palmeiro played for the Orioles.

"Has there been discussion among other players about steroids?" a committee staffer asked, according to the letter.

"No, I never heard," Tejada replied.

"You never knew of any other player using steroids?" Tejada was asked.

"No," he replied.

"Have you ever taken a steroid before?" he was asked at another point.

"No," he said.

Tejada also answered "No" when asked whether he had ever taken any illegal performance-enhancing drugs, andro or any other steroid precursor.

The letter then quotes a portion of the Mitchell report in which Tejada's former Oakland Athletics teammate Adam Piatt said he discussed steroid use with Tejada, and "recalled that he provided Tejada with testosterone or Deca-Durabolin, as well as human growth hormone."

Mitchell's report also included copies of checks allegedly written by Tejada to Piatt in March 2003 for $3,100 and $3,200.

Could Roger Clemens And Andy Pettitte Go To Jail?

In no way do I want either of these guys ending up in the slammer. They've contributed too much to baseball and unlike Barry Bonds, these guys aren't rude, cocky, or hated by the media and the public. However, they are following the exact trail as Bonds, which may lead them to prison.

Why might they go to jail? Because Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte were asked Friday to testify before a congressional committee on Jan. 16, along with their former trainer, Brian McNamee. Once you're in front of Congress, you have to tell the truth. That's what put Barry Bonds in the position he is now. He lied under oath. Will Clemens and Pettitte lie like Bonds did or will they come clean under extreme pressure? And even if they deny their accusations, are they still citing the truth? What is the truth? Only time will tell.

Also invited to appear before the House Oversight Committee were former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, whose allegations were a central part of last month's Mitchell report on doping in baseball. Former All-Star second baseman Chuck Knoblauch also was asked to speak to the panel.

A day earlier, the committee is to hear testimony from baseball commissioner Bud Selig, union leader Donald Fehr and former Senate majority leader George Mitchell.

McNamee told Mitchell he had injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone during the 1998, 2000 and 2001 seasons. Clemens, in an interview to be broadcast by CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday, said McNamee injected him with vitamins and painkillers but not performance-enhancing drugs.

Pettitte admitted McNamee injected him with HGH twice while the pitcher was recovering from an injury.

The panel also convened a March 2005 hearing, when Mark McGwire refused to say whether he had used performance-enhancing drugs. Sammy Sosa said he had never knowingly used illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Rafael Palmeiro denied using drugs but tested positive later that year for a steroid.

Jose Canseco Is Getting On My Nerves

Someone shut Jose Canseco up. Please. One book was enough, but he's writing another book now. Again, on the same topic, which is steroids. Please, just vote this guy into the Hall Of Fame so he'll stop writing books and exposing others as a way to avenge the MLB and the other players who are or will make it in. Don't you see? Roger Clemens was a sure-fire vote for the Hall Of Fame. Jose Canseco is so bothered by the fact that he's not in the Hall Of Fame that he's exposing others to prevent them from potentially entering the Hall Of Fame. Canseco's mindset is that if he can't get in, then no one else will either.

Jose Canseco has finalized a book deal for his sequel to "Juiced" and it is expected to hit bookstores by Opening Day of the 2008 season, two New York newspapers reported Sunday.

Canseco

Robert Saunooke, Canseco's lawyer, told The New York Daily News and The New York Post that the book, which has a working title of "Vindicated" will be co-authored by former Sports Illustrated writer Don Yaeger.

"Jose already has a lot of stuff put together," Yaeger told The Daily News.

Disappointed by the Mitchell report, Canseco hopes to publish "an unjaundiced view, without the rose-colored glasses" of steroid use in baseball, Saunooke told The Post.

"The book is basically going to be -- I don't want to say an attack -- but it will be a clarification of why certain names should have been mentioned [in the Mitchell report] that were not mentioned," Saunooke said of the new book. "We had hoped that the Mitchell report would have been more revealing. It basically ended up being nothing more than [Mitchell saying], 'I talked to a lot of people, some people wouldn't talk to me and it's up to the commissioner,'" Saunooke told The Daily News.

Saunooke told The Post that he and Canseco talked to Sen. Mitchell and provided him with "tons of information and background" on steroid use in baseball. But when the Mitchell report was released, he and Canseco were disappointed that names like Rafael Palmeiro and Ivan Rodriguez were not named.

Canseco's name appears 105 times in the Mitchell report, more than that of Barry Bonds (103) or Roger Clemens (82). In all, the 409-page report identified 86 names to differing degrees, but Clemens clearly was the symbol.

"I saw the list of players, and there are definitely a lot of players missing," Canseco told Fox Business Network this month. "I don't know what they accomplished or what they are trying to prove."

Prodded further about players not included, Canseco said this of Alex Rodriguez: "All I can say is the Mitchell report is incomplete. I could not believe that his name was not in the report."

One of the topics of Canseco's new book, Saunooke told The Post, will be how Mark McGwire asked for immunity before his appearance before Congress in 2005.

Another topic of Canseco's new book might be A-Rod.

In July, Canseco told WEEI Radio in Boston that he had "other stuff" on Rodriguez, who he called a "hypocrite" who "was not all he appeared to be."

"Jose has information about A-Rod and the Yankees that will be in the book. But, I am not sure if Jose is willing to disclose it at this point," Saunooke, told The New York Times in July.

In Baltimore for a Yankees' game against the Orioles that month, Rodriguez told reporters that he hadn't heard Canseco's comments about him. "And I have no comment."

In "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big," Canseco called himself the "godfather of steroids in baseball," saying, "I single-handedly changed the game of baseball by introducing them into the game."

He wrote in that book that he personally injected McGwire with steroids and that he saw McGwire and Jason Giambi inject each other.

Canseco also claimed he introduced the performance enhancers to Palmeiro, Rodriguez, and Juan Gonzalez when he joined the Rangers in 1992.

Canseco hit 462 home runs in a major league career between 1985 and 2001. He played seven full seasons for the A's before being traded to Texas in '92. He also played for Boston, the Yankees, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Oakland again, and the White Sox.

Wow, now Canseco is going to raise debate about Ivan and Alex Rodriguez. I knew there were more names on the list, but I don't want to hear anymore from Canseco. The Mitchell Report was just the first of many lists to come.