Paul Byrd met with Selig's office re criminal drug use "DURING THE (2007) SEASON"--Howard Bryant,12/11/07; MITCHELL: HAD NO "KNOWLEDGE ABOUT BYRD"

(ESPN.com): "During the season, St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel, Los Angeles Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr.

• and Indians pitcher Paul Byrd spoke to league officials after they were implicated in a criminal steroid and growth hormone investigation.

It is not known if those players were interviewed by Mitchell's staff."***

• From ESPN.com article by Howard Bryant, 12/11/07, "Friction and Fractures Erode Faith in Mitchell's Investigation."

Page 242 (pdf) of the Mitchell Report said the following about the "alleged internet" group which included Paul Byrd (posted on this blog 2/27/08):

• "The Commissioner’s Office conducted its own disciplinary interviews of the players who were still active at the time of the reports about their alleged possession or use.

***Players agreed to the interviews on the condition that the information they provided would not be shared with me by the Commissioner’s Office....

• Neither I (George Mitchell) nor any member of my investigative staff had any prior knowledge of any allegation about Byrd."

Reference: Words in quotes from Mitchell Report, pages 242, 243 , 245, and 246. (pdf)

• (Question: If Mitchell didn't know anything about Byrd until October 21, how did Howard Bryant know?)

From Howard Bryant's 12/11/07 article:

• " Some of the interviewees expressed a concern that a league representative sat in on the interviews,..."

...To some, the presence of an MLB official in the interviews also called into question Mitchell's independence,"

• (Uh-Oh.. oh, fudge, just deny it....) sm

(Howard Bryant): "...although Selig's spokesman, Richard Levin, told ESPN.com that no representative from the commissioner's office was present for any interviews. "

• (But...) sm

(Howard Bryant): "However, Levin acknowledged that Thomas Carlucci, an early member of the Mitchell team and consultant to Major League Baseball, sat in on random interviews."

• ("Random" interviews are different from "interviews?") sm

(Howard Bryant): "As Mitchell does, Carlucci also has preexisting ties to baseball.

• He is an attorney with Foley and Lardner, formerly the law firm of current baseball president DuPuy.

Selig has long been a client of the Milwaukee-based firm.

• "We conducted hundreds of interviews, and at many of them no MLB representative was present," said Clarke, the DLA Piper spokesperson. "MLB lawyers were present for interviews of the commissioner and his staff and for interviews of club employees."" (from ESPN article by Howard Bryant, 12/11/07)

********************************* And in these interviews with George Mitchell,

• Bud Selig never mentioned Paul Byrd according to Mitchell.

He said in his report (quote above) he knew nothing about any Paul Byrd "allegation" until the ALCS San Francisco Chronicle article.

• Accepting that Byrd's testimony with the commissioner's office would not be shared with Mitchell, this would mean (taken on its face) that Selig never even mentioned Byrd's name to him. Is this behavior legal?

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BOSS WITH BIGGEST CHEATER in MLB WINS 'EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR' IN BOSTON--Mark Shapiro

The Boston Herald story amazingly opens as follows:

• "For the American League runners-up, too, it has been an unusually quiet winter."

Mr. Massarotti, and why is that?

• The team with the biggest cheater in baseball, Paul Byrd, hasn't been swamped with 24/7 vitriol on radio, tv, print, and internet? Why is that, do you think?

After all, he pitched in the 2007 post season in a deciding game.

• His years-long drug use was not revealed, however until the day of a deciding game against a different team--fascinating how that timing worked out.

• When questioned, Byrd would not deny using up to and including that moment, saying it was a "private matter." The next news we hear is:

Paul Byrd's boss, Mark Shapiro, HAS BEEN DEEMED A GENIUS AND IS NAMED 'EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR' BY THE BOSTON BASEBALL WRITERS (BBWAA chapter).

• Massarotti makes no mention in his Shapiro story of Paul Byrd or any drug problems of any kind. Just that Shapiro has a lower payroll.

From this recognition of Shapiro and its reporting, one is left with no choice but to see MLB and its writers still do not care about drug abuse. If it concerns the Cleveland Indians.

• They still care very much about talking about payroll disparity. How lucky for the Cleveland Indians.

Reference, Boston Herald article by Tony Massarotti, "INDIANS BUCK TREND," 1/20/08

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