Jason Grim[sley]

by ploni on Dec 20, 2007 10:53 PM EST

Stealing Joey's punked bat. Doping up. Ratting on fellow players.

Jason Grimsley* had some kind of major-league career, didn't he?

* On-Field Antics: W42-L58, 4.77 ERA, 1.55 WHIP

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Re: Jason Grim[sley]

I wouldn't mind that major league line.

I swear, next year is it.

by Brad D on Dec 20, 2007 11:07 PM EST reply actions

Re: Jason Grim[sley]

Your basis for criticising Grimsley confuses me.

On the one hand, you seem to say he should be ridiculed for breaking into the umpires' locker room to steal Jose Mesa's illegal bat, breaking a MLB rule to protect a player who (while cheating) was clearly more valuable to the team.

On the other hand, you criticize him for "ratting out" other players who cheated by using PED's.

I'm with you that using PED's himself was a bad thing, but, on the other two points, is he bad for protecting players who cheated, or is he bad for NOT protecting players who cheated, or both?

We should also keep in mind that the affidavit that's now been unsealed was not made by Grimsely himself. It was made by IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky who busted Grimsley when he got his annual shipment of HGH.

Grimsley originally cooperated with the Feds for about a week, but when he stopped, Novitzky swore out the affidavit to get a search warrant on Grimsley's home. You can read the affidavit in its redacted version here and fill in the blanks now.

It's what Novitzky says Grimsley said.

It's also nice that a previous story by the L.A. Times on who was named in the affidavit - that included Clemmens - has now been shown to be erroneous. Proving that the best defense is a good offense, Clemmens' agent has jumped all over this, making the argument that reports on the Grimsely affidavit were wrong, so the Mitchell report must be wrong too. (Not sure how one impacts the other, but the Rocket must be looking for any (space)port in a storm.)

"It's hard to win when you don't score." Cliff Lee, 9/28/05.

by Harry Doyle on Dec 21, 2007 2:26 AM EST reply actions

Re: Jason Grim[sley]

If you're an MLB player, you DO NOT:

Conspire to aid an offender (an egregious one, at that) by breaking into and entering a league facility, lying, and being duplicitous;
Destroy the league's, fans', and teammates' trust (not to mention the that of the game itself, no small thing) by taking PED's illegally; and
Stooling on others for personal gain.

I'm sure getting tired of telling my sons how things aren't supposed to be.

by ploni on Dec 21, 2007 10:19 AM EST up reply actions

Re: Jason Grim[sley]

I'm with you 100% on points 1 & 2, and I am having similar, unpleasant conversations with my three sons on those issues.

At this point, don't consider what Grimsley may have done to be "stooling on others for personal gain."

Like it or not, much of our criminal justice system is based on getting someone in an incriminating situation and leaning on them to get others involved in the same or a similar enterprise. (See Micheal Vick.) Grimsley seems to be facing real, serious jail time for what he was doing. If he cooperates, he may avoid some of that punishment. That's hardly "personal gain" in my opinion.

I don't know how far I'd take an 'honor among thieves' attitude. Conseco wrote a book. That's stooling for presonal gain. I don't put Grimsley in that category.

With PED's or any other illegal activity in baseball (gambling, amphetamines, etc) any players who look the other way - whether they are fellow offenders or innocent observers, do not do the game or this country any service through their silence.

In my view, that silence "Destroy[s] the league's, fans', and [non-offending] teammates' trust (not to mention the that of the game itself...)"

"It's hard to win when you don't score." Cliff Lee, 9/28/05.

by Harry Doyle on Dec 21, 2007 11:06 AM EST up reply actions