[jkumpire]

I have not read the Mitchell Report, but I have some real reservations about it, and the process.

First, Everybody says the problem is so bad, but he comes up with 80 names.
Second, for a lot of these folks the proof is pretty flimsy, somebody said something, or I saw this guy take it once, etc. Nuts, you have tarred some of these guys for life, and they are not all Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds on the ladder of MLB players. Take that "proof" into a court and see if you can get a conviction.

And I'm sorry, but an offer to testify from a Star Chamber like this thing was is no real offer at all. Any player worth their salt would not testify. some guys testified with Federal Agents in the room? Please, don't make the case that this all fair and above board.

Third, convicted felons dropping names needs to have more evidence about a person's involvement than what was shown. I have not read all of the report, and the evidence might be more robust than I think it is, but I am not convinced about it.

Fourth, George Mitchell was a hyper-partisan, ruthless Senate majority leader. I really think he was a terrible leader for the country, and so I have real questions about him running anything like this, and any kind of fairness he might have. He was not independent in this case, he is serving the Commissioner's Office, and for many years after people forget about the blame
he heaped on MLB, the players named will be reviled like Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose. That is wrong.

Fifth, since I am an Indians fan, I know about the Paul Byrd case. Paul Byrd took HGH when it was not illegal to do so, under a doctor's prescription, to recover from an injury. If you want to say that he is using illegal stuff, then what you need to do first is charge the attending physician with a crime. Becuase if it was wrong of him to take it, why did his physician prescribe it? If it is a bad substance, where are the medical ethics people and why are they not hounding the physican to get a state board to remove his liscence? To tie Paul Byrd with Barry Bonds, maybe Gary Sheffield, and maybe Roger Clemens is wrong.

I guess whenever I see someone accused of cheating, I really look hard to see how the charges are made and what the evidence is. As umpires we ought to have that same level of care, since no matter our reputation on the field, all we have to do is be accused of cheating by someone, and our reputation can go up in flames like so many other people's have, unfairly.

I hope people like Clemens, David Justice, Paul Byrd and others sue MLB and Sen. Mitchell to clear their names. Then we will have a pretty good idea about where the truth lies here.