A brief comment on the report

Here is the list of players named. (Thanks Jess)

Mitchell has released his report and although I haven't yet had a chance to read it (it is 400 pages) it confirms what we have already known for year, steroid abuse has been rampant in baseball for the last decade. The players named in some cases are no surprise to anyone (Bonds, Giambi) but some were (Pettitte). Many of the players mentioned are lesser known utility players that even Gammons probably wouldn't know. But regardless of their profile, the question is now what? In his press conference Mitchell said that there should be no retroactive disciplinary action for those players named (except in the most extreme cases) and that baseball as a whole needs to move forward. I agree that baseball needs to move forward, but to let everyone from the trainers to the players to the owners get away with this without a single head rolling is an insult to the history of the game.

From a strictly legal standpoint there is no way that you can retroactively discipline players since there was no steroid policy in place until very recently. However that should not serve to wipe out accountability. What do you tell a young athlete who has permanently damaged his or her body because he or she took performance enhancers in order to emulate their heros who themselves were using? Like it or not professional athletes have a responsibility to set an example.

I'll write more once I have a chance to read the whole thing. I also want to see what Selig has to say at his 4:30 press conference today....stay tuned.