Interesting article from the New York Daily News this morning. As Roger Clemens is puckering up those injected buttocks preparing for whatever Kirk Radomski might spill this week in front of a grand jury, so, maybe, should our beloved rapidly aging shortstop, Miguel Tejada.
Prosecutor Daniel Butler could also toss in some questions about Miggy to Radomski. Remember Miggy has been the target of a perjury investigation since last January (give somebody a year and they'll find something you said that wasn't true. Richard Justice said this in a February 2008 article in the Chronicle: "The Astros are signing Shawn Chacon with their eyes wide open. He's just 29 years old and has a sound arm and a good attitude." Ring him up.)
Anyhow, the NYDN says that, despite this indictment's treatment like global warming ("it'll happen, just later"), Clemens and Tejada should be worried. Because if the Feds decide they want an indictment, "It's unheard of that they don't indict," says William Callahan, former federal prosecutor.
Here's the problem. Tejada said he didn't use drugs, know about drugs, know anybody who said they did drugs or knew about drugs. Then Adam Piatt comes along and says when they were in Oakland, he bought steroids from Radomski for Tejada. And since this was in the Mitchell Report, it's a problem. And don't think a grand jury isn't going to remember that fateful interview with ESPN when Miggy aged two years.
How can Tejada and Clemens come out of this okay? Says Callahan, a witness or piece of evidence needs to be unreliable. "Otherwise, it's like a train going full speed ahead - and you're tied to the tracks."
The Astros are preparing for Tejada to attend Spring Training.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
