Eric Gagne: "I don't want to look back" No admission, takes no questions.-NY Times

• Like Mark McGwire, Gagne makes no admission, doesn't want to look back, bosses say it was "years and years ago" (2004). Gagne has never spoken of the issue, which has not bothered American media. The Times notes the Canadian media, however, have been critical of his silence .
• Gagne's name was found in the Novitsky investigation of Kirk Radomski along with express mail receipts.

Phoenix--(NY Times): "Across the country from the Yankees’ spring-training complex in Tampa, Fla., where reporters gathered in anticipation of hearing from starter Andy Pettitte, two French-Canadian camera crews and a print journalist from Montreal held a lonely vigil at Maryvale Baseball Park for Brewers closer Éric Gagné.

• Gagné, a Montreal native, was accused in the Mitchell report of purchasing human growth hormone as a Los Angeles Dodger in 2004, a year after he became the second Canadian-born pitcher to win the Cy Young award.

Unlike Pettitte, who came forward after the report was released and admitted using H.G.H., which was not banned by baseball until 2005, Gagné had remained mum on the matter. When he finally spoke Monday before his first bullpen session of spring training, he tackled the issue the way a pitcher nibbles at the corners of the plate.

• After starting out by saying he would not field any questions after making his statement,

Gagné said: “I’m here today talking to you guys to let you know that I feel bad for my family, what they had to go through, and all my friends, especially my teammates in Milwaukee. I think that’s just a distraction that shouldn’t be taking place.”

Speaking without notes and with both hands in the pockets of his warm-up jacket, Gagné said: “I’m just here to help the Milwaukee Brewers get to the World Series and get to the playoffs. That’s all I really care about. And since 2004, Major League Baseball has done everything in their power to clean up the game and I think they’ve done a great job.

• Right now I just want to go forward, and I’m thinking Major League Baseball is ready to go forward and hopefully all the fans are ready to do that.”

Gagné followed his statement in English

• in which he never mentioned the Mitchell report,

with a French version that was slightly more revealing.

• “I don’t want to look back,” Gagné said. “The Mitchell report did that and it wasn’t fun.”

Gagné’s silence the past two months had not been well received in Canada, according to Daniel Cloutier, who writes for Le Journal de Montreal. “For a lot of people, it was like an admission of guilt,” he said.

• No admission of guilt by Gagné was forthcoming Monday, much to the seeming consternation of the French-Canadian journalists. They packed up and left after Gagné finished his statements.

Gagné, who was statistically the top closer in baseball"

• (There is no stat or BBWAA award for "Top Closer," therefore it's a tag used by many for a variety of different reasons, some good, some not so good). sm

(NY Times): "...between 2002 and 2004 as a Dodger, was signed by the Brewers to a one-year,

• $10 million contract three days before the Mitchell report was released.

In addition to obtaining the 32-year-old Gagné, Doug Melvin, the Brewers’ general manager, also traded for the former Mets reliever Guillermo Mota, who served a 50-game suspension for steroids last season. And he signed outfielder Mike Cameron, who was suspended for the first 25 games of this season after a second positive test for a banned stimulant....

• The Mitchell report, and the Balco scandal before it, were the vehicles, Melvin said, “to take things seriously and get things put in place.”"
• ("Vehicles?" Vehicles to defame the Yankees in the media 24/7). sm
• (NY Times): "Brewers Manager Ned Yost also spoke as if he believed baseball had put the steroid era behind it. “I think we’re well on the road to getting past that,” he said.

When asked about Gagné’s link with performance-enhancing drugs, Yost said: “This was years and years ago. It wasn’t like it happened yesterday. So as far as I’m concerned, it’s a done deal. It’s over and we move forward.”"....

• (WOW! It "was years and years ago"!!! They didn't say that about Andy Pettitte and he was never immortalized by the BBWAA with a Cy Young Award!!! That's in the bank!) sm

• NY Times article by Karen Crouse, "Gagne Speaks, Too, but Not as Candidly," 2/19/08

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