Report: Mitchell to disclose big-name steroids cheats

BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT (TICKER) —Former Senator George Mitchell will release a list of well-known names who are linked to Major League Baseball’s ongoing steroids investigation, according to a report on ESPN.com on Friday.

The web site reported that there was a 30-team conference call held Friday in which it was revealed that the list of names involved in the use of performance-enhancing drugs would be “salacious.”

“This is going to be enormous,” an anonymous source familiar with the conference call told ESPN. “It’s going to be a huge story when these names come out.”

MLB’s lawyer Tom Carlucci indicated in the report that the public disclosure would come down sometime between the conclusion of the World Series and the beginning of 2008.

But MLB vice president Rob Manfred tried to soften the blow, telling ESPN that Carlucci is not even in a position to know specifically what has been generated by the Mitchell investigation.

He also said that Carlucci told the clubs on the conference call that they should assume that the number of players who will be named will be “more than a handful,” according to Manfred in the report.

“No one except Senator Mitchell’s people know for sure whether there’s going to be names named and how many names are involved and who those names are,” Manfred told ESPN.

The web site also reported that some teams inquired about being able to screen Mitchell’s list for accuracy before it was made public. However, ESPN cited sources close to the investigation as saying that teams would not have that privilege.

Executive director of the Players Association Don Fehr admitted that he was not privy to what was said on the conference call but believes that no decision has been made about the presentation of Mitchell’s findings.

“It is my understanding that no such decisions have been made, of written conclusions, or anything like that. There’s only one person who knows the answers to that,” Fehr said of Mitchell.

ESPN also cited a New York Times’ report from last month that said the names of 10 more baseball players were on a client list for a Florida pharmacy which has been implicated for illegal steroid sales.

Whether Mitchell’s findings include explicit evidence or implied guilt - such as names on a mailing list - the report said that Mitchell’s findings are sure to re-open an unwanted discussion about steroid use in baseball.

“If Senator Mitchell has a list of players who were on the mailing list of a pharmaceutical company, I don’t know what can stop him from putting that in his report,” an anonymous agent said to ESPN.