Clemens follows Pettitte to testify
Not one of Roger Clemens’ flat-out denials about using steroids or human growth hormone was delivered while he spoke under oath. Now he gets that chance.
The seven-time Cy Young Award winner is scheduled to give a deposition to lawyers from a congressional committee behind closed doors today, one day after his former New York Yankees teammate and workout partner Andy Pettitte delivered sworn testimony for about 2 1/2 hours.
Both pitchers’ private interviews with staff members from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are part of preparation for a Feb. 13 hearing. That public session is expected to focus on allegations made in the Mitchell Report by trainer Brian McNamee that he injected Clemens more than a dozen times with performance enhancers.
The 45-year-old Clemens ranks eighth in major league history with 354 career wins. He put off retirement yet again in 2007, returning to the Yankees in June and going 6-6 with a 4.18 ERA.
“Roger is not going to take the Fifth Amendment,” one of Clemens’ lawyers, Rusty Hardin, said in a statement e-mailed by spokesman Joe Householder. “He is going to answer the committee’s questions truthfully under oath.”
McNamee is to appear Thursday. One of his lawyers, Earl Ward, said no decision had been made on whether he would submit to a deposition or transcribed interview. It is a crime to lie to Congress, whether sworn to tell the truth or not, so the distinction between the two has more to do with the format of the questioning and the confidentiality of the transcript.
Pettitte, who chose to be deposed, did not take questions from reporters afterward as he walked from committee offices to an elevator in the Rayburn House Office Building. Wearing a pinstriped gray suit and bright striped tie, Pettitte was accompanied by his wife and three lawyers.
Tigers agree to 5-year deal with Granderson
The Detroit Tigers could have kept Curtis Granderson around for a while, retaining his talents with one-year deals until he became eligible for free agency after the 2011 season. The Tigers, though, don’t just wait around to make moves these days.
Granderson and baseball’s busiest team agreed to a $30.25 million, five-year contract that includes a club option for 2013 that could make the deal worth up to $43.25 million.
“The Tigers held all the chips and didn’t have to do anything,” Granderson said. “I’m very happy with the way everything happened.”
Tigers president Dave Dombrowski is not known to give long-term deals to players before they are even eligible for arbitration, but Granderson merited an exception.
“What makes it different is the quality of player we’re talking about and his makeup as a person,” Dombrowski said.
Granderson had a breakout season last year, hitting .302 with 23 homers and 74 RBIs along with 38 doubles, 23 triples and 26 stolen bases. He led the majors in triples with the highest total since Ty Cobb had 24 in 1917.
Clearing the bases
Juan Gonzalez is trying a comeback with the St. Louis Cardinals. After sitting out the past two seasons, the two-time A.L. MVP will be one of 26 non-roster players invited to St. Louis’ spring training camp this month. The 38-year-old Gonzalez last played regularly in 2003 when he had 24 home runs and 70 RBIs in 324 at-bats for the Texas Rangers. … Ed Vargo, a longtime National League umpire who worked in four World Series and was behind the plate when Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth‘s career home run mark, has died in Butler, Pa. He was 79. … A Palm Beach County jury in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., sided with Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, finding an ophthalmologist liable for damage to Palmer’s vision and awarding him $890,000.