A Grim-sley Affair
The government has a new informant on drug use in baseball and his name is Jason Grimsley. In the wake of an interview with the FBI in which he named names the Arizona reliever asked for (and was granted) his release from the Diamondbacks. Most commentators are up in arms over this and Congress will have a field day with it but it’s not MLBs fault. As critical as I’ve been of the leagues response and policies over the use of performance enhancers by it’s players you need to keep in mind what has actually happened here.
The substance that is in the middle of the Grimsley affair is human growth hormone (HGH). Grimsley admitted to using several performance enhancers but switching exclusively to HGH last year since it’s not tested for by MLB even though it’s banned by the rules. Sounds odd at face value. Why would they ban something and not test for it? The answer is that there is no test deemed reliable enough to accurately test for it. This left Grimsley and others the option of using HGH without being detected. I don’t know how Grimsley was found out by the Feds but the only way MLB would have found out on it’s own is if he was spotted using.
This is obviously setting things off in the players union. Chicago White Sox reliever Jeff Nelson, a former teammate of Grimsley when both were with the Yankees, was very critical of Grimsley’s forthrightness in naming names. Nelson was quoted in today’s USA Today as follows:
“(Taking steroids) is something that’s wrong to do, obviously. But to go and start throwing other guys under the bus is definitely wrong as well…”
“Take the blame. You should take the hit and not have to be putting it on anybody else or (saying), ‘Hey I got caught with it. I think I’m going to bring some other guys down with me.’ That’s what’s wrong.”
I thought about this angle extensively. My first reaction was to criticize Grimsley also. We all know from countless mob movies that if you get caught you never give up anyone else. I submit the early part of “Goodfellas” when young Henry Hill gets busted for the first time as a lesson in this. Grimsley violated this code.
But then I reconsidered. There are plenty of reasons Grimsley may have named names. He could have done it because he was scared. He could have done it to protect himself. I don’t know why Grimsley did it but the overall affect will be to clean a few cheaters out of the league and maybe even get some new processes in place. This could make MLB more aggressive in inquiry and investigation in performance enhacer questions. (And maybe Nelson feels so strongly about it because he may take a fall as a result of it.)
Even Henry Hill, who so valiently protected his mob brothers when first arrested, named names in the end and brought down a whole organized crime organization. Maybe Grimsley’s revelations will have a similar affect on baseball.
(To buy Goodfellas on DVD click here
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