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McNamee's Lawyers: Evidence Points To Drug Use By Clemens

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The Associated Press

Published: February 7, 2008

NEW YORK - Brian McNamee gave federal prosecutors syringes and other physical evidence his lawyers say back the personal trainer's allegations of drug use by Roger Clemens, who returns to Capitol Hill today in hopes of rebutting the accusations.

Clemens, who gave a deposition Tuesday, is scheduled to hold one-on-one meetings with members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, two people familiar with the plans said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made.

Among the members Clemens is to meet with is Rep. Tom Davis, the committee's ranking Republican, one of the people said. Committee chairman Henry Waxman is not scheduled to meet with Clemens.

McNamee is due to meet with committee staff this morning to give his own deposition, and his legal team said it will bolster his story with details of the evidence.

His side turned over gauze pads and syringes they said had Clemens' blood to IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky in early January, a person familiar with the evidence said, speaking on condition of anonymity because McNamee's lawyers did not want to publicly discuss details. The syringes were used to inject Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone, the person said. A second person, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the evidence was from 2000 and 2001.

"I think this is a significant point in the case. We believe that this is significant corroboration," said McNamee's lead lawyer, Earl Ward.

Lanny Breuer, one of Clemens' lawyers, called McNamee's allegations "desperate smears" and said the trainer "apparently has manufactured evidence."

"It is just not credible," Breuer said in a statement. "Who in their right mind does such a thing?"

In December's Mitchell Report on doping in baseball, McNamee said he injected Clemens 16 times with performance-enhancing drugs in 1998, 2000 and 2001.

Richard Emery, another of McNamee's lawyers, said the committee will be given a description of the evidence that was turned over to prosecutors.

"It does change the nature of the case from a he-said, she-said to something about physical evidence," Emery said.

Doping expert Don Catlin said steroids still could be detected in a sample that old.

"But if you don't find it, it doesn't mean it wasn't there before," said Catlin, who added there are sure to be chain of custody issues.

He said HGH would be much less stable.

After his five-hour sworn deposition Tuesday, Clemens said that he again denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

Cone Takes Some Blame For Steroids Era

NEW YORK - David Cone is taking part of the responsibility for baseball's steroids era.

The former pitcher was on the union's negotiating team during the 1994-95 strike, when management proposed drug testing and the players' association successfully fought it off.

"Certainly in retrospect, I think there's plenty of blame to go around. Certainly I share some of that blame as being involved with the players' association at that time," Cone said. "It's something I'm not proud of. It's humbling. It's embarrassing."

Cone spoke during a news conference to announce that he's rejoining the YES Network as an analyst on Yankees broadcasts.

DIAMONDBACKS: Brandon Lyon was picked to replace Jose Valverde as the closer. Valverde was traded to Houston after saving a major league-high 47 games last year for the NL West champs.

GIANTS: Reliever Vinnie Chulk and San Francisco agreed to a $837,500 contract for this season, avoiding salary arbitration.

INDIANS: Reliever Brendan Donnelly, alleged in the Mitchell Report to have purchased steroids, agreed to a minor-league contract and was invited to spring training. Donnelly spent last season with Boston.

RANGERS: Nolan Ryan, 61, was hired as president, reuniting the Hall of Famer with the team he pitched for at the end of his career.

RED SOX: Reserve outfielder Bobby Kielty, who homered for Boston in the clinching game of last year's World Series, agreed to a minor-league contract with an invitation to Red Sox spring training camp.

YANKEES: Former first baseman Tino Martinez, who played on four World Series championship teams with New York, is back as a special instructor. Martinez will be involved with the team throughout the season, and is also starting his second year as a volunteer assistant coach at South Florida.

Also, the Yankees got back the results of Robinson Cano's physical and were likely to finalize the second baseman's $30 million, four-year contract today.

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