Armando Rios testimony doesn't harm Bonds

SAN FRANCISCO – Journeyman outfielder Armando Rios didn't say anything to a federal grand jury in 2003 that would suggest Barry Bonds lied when he denied knowingly taking steroids, adding another player to the growing list of potential witnesses whose testimony won't appear to help the government convict the all-time home run king on perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

Yahoo! Sports reviewed the 58-page sealed grand jury transcript of Rios, Bonds' teammate from 1998 to 2001. Rios claimed not to know what was in the Clear and the Cream – the substances he testified were given to him by Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson. He also testified that he never spoke to Anderson about steroids.

Rios' testimony is similar to that of Benito Santiago, Jason Giambi and Jeremy Giambi – also reviewed by Yahoo! Sports – in its absence of anything that would implicate Bonds in steroid use.

The most intriguing portion of Rios' testimony might have come when he revealed that he was informed he'd failed a drug test earlier in 2003 by a doctor who said he'd learned of the positive test from the MLB commissioner's office. Rios, who began and ended the season with the Chicago White Sox and spent seven weeks in the minors at midseason, testified that the person who contacted him issued a warning that he ought to clean up because he would be tested again.

Despite recent government filings suggesting Rios would be a witness for the prosecution, he told Yahoo! Sports last week he hasn't been summoned. Jury selection begins March 3, but the trial might be postponed if prosecutors appeal last week's ruling that key evidence is inadmissible.

"I haven't received any calls from anyone," Rios said from North Carolina, where he is a youth baseball instructor. "I don't know why they'd want me to say anything."

Rios was called to testify before the grand jury Nov. 20, 2003, because of his ties to Anderson, who was affiliated with the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. After his stint with the San Francisco Giants from 1998 to 2001, Rios played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2001 and 2002 before joining the White Sox. In 2003, he was on the major league roster from opening day until the end of June, then spent seven weeks at midseason at triple-A Charlotte before being recalled by the White Sox on Sept. 1.

Rios would not comment last week on whether he was tested as a major leaguer or minor leaguer. He testified in 2003 that he had been tested in the minor leagues and that the call from the doctor came while he was in Charlotte. When he was with the White Sox, Rios also could have been tested under the 2003 major league survey program that conducted supposedly anonymous tests to determine whether the drug problem was serious enough for continued testing.

The doctor likely was providing the counseling prescribed at the time for a first-time offender under the minor league testing program – albeit in an abbreviated fashion. Rios testified that he asked the doctor the specific drug he'd tested positive for and that the doctor didn't know. Rios asked the doctor to get back to him with the information, but that never happened, according to Rios.

"I received a call from some doctor saying my name had come up in the testing in the minor leagues," Rios testified. "And he said he was going to find out what it is. He never told me what it was or whatever. And, if I remember correct, they tested me again and nothing came out of it."

Near the end of the 74-minute interrogation, after the Puerto Rican-born Rios established that his first language was Spanish, prosecutor Jeff Nedrow returned to the subject of the drug testing.

Nedrow: "While you were in the minors you actually did test positive for some sort of banned substance. Isn't that true?"

Rios: "I believe so. That's what I want to make sure I'm clear. I'm not denying that I told you. They called me that my name came out in the commissioner's office and they called me for that. I don't know what I tested positive for exactly."

Nedrow: "But you tested positive for something that got you in some trouble?"

Rios: "I didn't get in trouble."

Nedrow: "Did they fine you or suspend you or what happened?"

Rios: "I don't think so."

Nedrow: "They just called you and said …"

Rios: "They told me that my name came up. And if I was doing any kind of anything, stop. They [were] going to test me again."

Nedrow did not ask Rios the identity of the person who called to warn him to stop taking drugs. Rios did not play in the majors after September 2003 and he retired after playing in 24 minor-league games the following season.

Rios would not elaborate on his grand jury testimony during his short interview last week, saying, "It's there. I've got nothing else to say."

As to possibly being one of the 104 players who tested positive in MLB's 2003 survey testing, "I seriously doubt it," he said. "You should ask whoever has that list of 104 people."

MLB began drug testing in 2003 with the supposedly anonymous survey tests. Most players were tested once, but several players were tested twice. Under an agreement between MLB and the players union, a full testing program would be launched only if the total positive tests exceeded five percent in the survey tests. More than five percent – a total of 104 – came back positive, including the test belonging to Alex Rodriguez. The urine and the testing records were seized by federal authorities in BALCO – and except for the records and urine of 10 BALCO witnesses listed on an original warrant – ordered returned by three federal judges. Baseball is attempting to have the records destroyed, and the case is currently being reviewed by an appeals court in California.

Drug testing in the minor leagues began in 2001. According to the Mitchell Report, 439 out of 4,850 tests (9.1 percent) of minor leaguers came up positive for steroids that year. Players who tested positive were not suspended, but were required to participate in treatment and counseling. Punishment stiffened in 2002 and 2003, and players who failed two tests were suspended. Positive tests dropped to 4.8 percent in 2002 and to 4 percent in 2003. First-time minor league offenders became subject to immediate suspensions in 2004, and positive tests plummeted to 1.78 percent.

The lack of transparency in MLB testing in 2003 makes it a challenge to determine who tested Rios that year. Minor league baseball has no record of a positive drug test for Rios' brief stint in Charlotte that year. MLB's 2003 survey test seems unlikely – at least for Rios' positive test that prompted the call from the doctor. Officials with knowledge of MLB's testing say the results were not even fully compiled until late November. Nor was there any procedure to inform athletes of a positive test, as happened with Rios. Officials were not even supposed to link names with results.

The White Sox appear to have been the most likely organization to have tested Rios. Teams then were allowed to administer tests on minor leaguers in addition to the MLB mandated testing. A White Sox official told Yahoo! Sports the team did not retain records from their 2003 tests.

Despite the ambiguity surrounding Rios' test, Nedrow did not probe further in the grand jury. The only other question about the testing irregularities came from a grand juror, who asked whether the positive test prompted Rios to call Greg Anderson. He said it didn't.

"I talked to the guy that called me and all I said was, 'Will you please call me and tell me what I tested positive for,' " Rios replied. "I never heard anything again. I did not talk to anybody about those things."

In a book scheduled to be published this spring, BALCO founder Victor Conte wrote: "As I have repeatedly said since the BALCO saga began, there are loopholes in baseball's testing procedures that a Mack truck could drive through. … The accountability for such ineffective anti-doping policies lies with Commissioner Bud Selig and players' union chief Donald Fehr."

Victor Conte says in his book, scheduled for release this spring, that major league baseball drug testing isn’t all it could be.

Although Nedrow didn't ask much about the MLB testing program, he tried unsuccessfully to establish that Anderson approached Rios, and that Conte may have had a role in supplying the player with banned substances. The testimony establishes Rios introduced himself to Anderson in the Giants clubhouse in 2001.

"If I remember correctly, I went up to [Anderson] – like I said before, I went up to him and [asked] him if he wanted a snack or a drink," Rios testified.

Nedrow asked whether Anderson talked to him about steroids.

"No, not really," Rios replied. "I don't remember specifically about steroids. No."

Rios said he did take testosterone, but testified that he needed no help from Anderson in learning to inject himself.

"I did figure that out myself," Rios testified. "I mean, I've done shots before."

Nedrow apparently could not understand how Rios knew so little about the drugs he was putting in his body, asking, "Why did you trust [Anderson] so much given that you just kind of met him?"

"I don't know why I wouldn't trust someone," Rios replied. "I don't know why you trust anything. Faith."

Yahoo! Sports national baseball writer Jeff Passan contributed to this story.