The thirteen players on former Senator Mitchell's report who played in the
Diamondbacks organization are Matt Williams, Troy Glaus, Jack Cust, Jason
Grimsley, Jose Guillen, Chris Donnels, Stephen Randolph, Matt Herges, Jim Parque, Alex Cabrera, Darren Holmes, Bobby Estalella and Ron Villone. Mike Bell, a former player who managed the short-season affiliate Yakima Bears last
season, also found his name in Mitchell's report.
This may not affect Bells status within the organization, as Matt Williams
performs several roles with the Diamondbacks, and had the full support of the
front office
when Williams' use of human growth hormone in 2002 had been
revealed last month. Williams had also been the team's starting third
baseman when the Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001.
Like Williams, Grimsley, Guillem and Glaus had previously been linked to
baseball's drug scandal. Among the new names, only Jack Cust's stands out
as a prominent player. Cust was drafted in the 30th round of Diamondbacks'
first ever draft back in 1997. He played only three games with the
Diamondbacks in that Championship 2001 season before being traded to the
Colorado Rockies for sidearming southpaw Mike Myers. His only significant
major league action came last year with the Oakland Athletics, when Cust clubbed
26 homers and drove in 82, but led the league in strikeouts despite logging
fewer than 400 at bats.
The most interesting aspect of the report from a Diamondbacks fan's
perspective is the absence of Luis Gonzalez in the report. Ken Kedrick,
one of the part-owners of the Diamondbacks, mentioned "whispers" of Gonzo having
used steroids in the past in an effort to sour the fans adoration of him.
This tactic came just before the club would announce that Gonzalez would not be
back for the 2007 season.
Jay Bell, Reggie Sanders, and Steve Finley's breakout power numbers with the
Diamondbacks also created some suspicion, but none of their names were ever
uttered by a front office member in a defamatory manner. Also, Steve
Finley's conditioning regimen was well-documented in Charles Euchner's book,
The Last Nine Innings.
The absence of these players' names from the report in no way exonerates them
from suspicion. But an examination of the names in Mitchell's report
reveals that there's no solid reason to suspect a Luis Gonzalez of using
performance enhancers any more than a Tony Womack. While it appears that
many Major League Baseball players have reaped benefits from the use of banned
performance enhancers, there are at least as many who idled in mediocrity
despite their usage.
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