Steroids remain hot topic
Usually, the start of spring training is a time of clean slates, sun-splashed fields and endless hope.
Not this year.
Steroids were the No. 1 topic Tuesday, when the new Washington Nationals, the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds opened camp.
“It doesn’t go away, unfortunately,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said in Tampa, Fla.
Pitchers and catchers on seven more teams report today, and workouts begin Thursday, 45 days before the World Series champion Boston Red Sox and Yankees play the major league opener April 3. The Minnesota Twins will be the last team to report, on Sunday.
Ken Griffey Jr. ran for the Reds’ medical staff in Sarasota, Fla., showing how far he has recovered from surgery on his torn right hamstring. Pedro Martinez, an early arrival at the New York Mets’ camp, worked out in Port St. Lucie, Fla. And Trot Nixon kept up the Yankees-Red Sox sniping, saying of Alex Rodriguez: “He can’t stand up to (Derek) Jeter in my book or Bernie Williams or (Jorge) Posada.”
The Nationals had the most complicated journey to spring training. After 36 seasons as the Montreal Expos, the team morphed into Washington’s first major league team since the expansion Senators became the Texas Rangers following the 1971 season.
As camps opened, there was a new steroid report. The New York Daily News said that an FBI agent in Ann Arbor, Mich., told baseball security head Kevin Hallinan 10 years ago that Jose Canseco and other players were using illegal anabolic steroids.
“I alerted Major League Baseball back in the time when we had a case, that Canseco was a heavy user and that they should be aware of it,” Special Agent Greg Stejskal was quoted as saying. “I spoke to the people in their security office, Hallinan was one of the people I spoke to.”
Hallinan was traveling and did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
Bonds’ mistress says he used
A woman who says she was Barry Bonds’ former mistress said the San Francisco Giants outfielder admitted to using steroids in 1999 and 2000.
Kimberly Bell, 35, told Fox News channel that Bonds used steroids after being injured. She did not say whether they were anabolic or muscle-building.
“The way he explained to me was that what he was using was helping him recover quicker from his injuries,” said Bell, who said she was with Bonds from 1994-2003 and is writing a book about their relationship.
Bonds has denied using performance-enhancing drugs.
Clearing the bases
Pitcher Juan Cruz lost to the Oakland Athletics in salary arbitration and will get $600,000 instead of the $860,000 he had requested. … Boston signed right-handed reliever Denney Tomori, a 14-year veteran of baseball in Japan, and acquired infielder Alejandro Machado from Washington for cash considerations. … Anaheim council members voted to appeal a judge’s refusal to grant a preliminary injunction to the city in its attempt to block the Angels from adding Los Angeles to their name. The team, formerly the Anaheim Angels, is now called the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.