Baseball May Penalize Grimsley Over Claims

Major League Baseball is strongly considering suspending former Arizona pitcher Jason Grimsley for admitting to federal authorities he used performance-enhancing drugs, which would set a precedent for future cases.

Grimsley’s agent said Thursday the pitcher will retire. MLB would pursue the penalty, however, if only to ensure Grimsley is penalized if he reconsiders retirement. If successful, baseball would establish its authority to administer discipline in certain situations when players do not test positive under the joint drug agreement or are not convicted for the use or sale of banned substances.

Under the current policy, first-time offenders draw a 50-game suspension.

Baseball would become the first U.S. pro league to have used such sanctioning power. Last December, the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled against U.S. sprinters Tim Montgomery and Chryste Gaines even though neither had failed a doping test. Both were suspended for two years. That case has emboldened authorities to pursue sanctions even in cases where there is no positive test.

Baseball players’ union chief Don Fehr could not be reached for comment.

Grimsley apparently did not test positive under the disciplinary phase of baseball’s drug policy, initiated before the 2004 season. According to an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court of Arizona, Grimsley told federal agents he had bought and used illegal performance-enhancing drugs since at least 2000. He switched to human growth hormone, banned by baseball but undetectable in urine tests, after testing positive during survey testing in 2003.

Agent Joe Bick said Grimsley told him Thursday of his intention to retire, a day after he was released by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“Obviously, he regrets the attention this has brought and the issue it brought,” Bick said. “But he’s OK with things. He’s ready to hang ‘em up.”

Grimsley has told friends that not everything in the affidavit is accurate, a claim Grimsley’s lawyer, Phoenix criminal attorney Edward Novak, made in the Arizona Republic. Bick said he did not know why federal authorities targeted Grimsley, or if other players are under investigation.

Novak said Grimsley did not offer names of fellow players he knew or believed took steroids or human growth hormone, but that investigators asked Grimsley about many players, including Barry Bonds and Lenny Dykstra. Grimsley and Dykstra are believed to have been roommates during spring training with the Phillies in 1991. Grimsley played last season in Baltimore with Rafael Palmeiro, who was suspended for 10 games in August after testing positive for an anabolic steroid.

Novak said investigators asked Grimsley to wear a wire to record conversations with other players in an attempt to gather information on Bonds and others. When Grimsley refused, according to Novak, the agents released the affidavit that exposed his client. Novak did not return a message left at his office by The Times.

Congress continued to assail baseball for what Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) called “the gaping loophole” in its drug policy.

“Baseball could either begin random blood testing or it could store current urine samples so that they could be available when testing methods are improved,” Waxman said in a statement. “Storing samples would be an effective deterrent and would make players think twice about using HGH.

“I urged the commissioner’s office and the players’ union to adopt these positions before they reached their agreement and hope they will now agree to do so.”

Leading experts in the field disagree on whether blood tests conducted in the past Olympics are reliable enough to accurately detect raised levels of human growth hormone. Major league officials are convinced the hormone is a problem for all sports because the tests for it are not reliable, and that players believe it is beneficial and undetectable.

But, said MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred, “We can only do what’s within the realm of the possible.”