Newspaper links M's Guillen to steroid purchases

Outfielder Jose Guillen, who had a strong season for the Mariners in 2007, ordered more than $19,000 worth of steroids and human growth hormone between May 2002 and June 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday.

According to the Chronicle, Guillen made the purchases from the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center, the Florida anti-aging clinic that has been targeted by the Albany, N.Y., district attorney for illegal sale of drugs, including steroids and growth hormone.

The Chronicle said that Guillen's orders were detailed in records provided the newspaper by a confidential source.

"Jose Guillen was an outstanding member of our team this year,'' Mariners president Chuck Armstrong said. "Testing is in place. We had no suspicions he was doing anything this year. He was a great citizen and a great teammate. Obviously, we have no idea what might have occurred before he came here."

The Chronicle also reported that pitcher Ismael Valdez, now retired, bought $11,300 worth of performance-enhancing drugs in 2002 after he was traded to the Mariners from the Texas Rangers. The story also said that former San Francisco and Arizona third baseman Matt Williams purchased $11,600 worth of growth hormone, steroids and other drugs in 2002, when he played for the Diamondbacks.

"With respect to Valdez, if he was on performance-enhanicing substances when he was with us, it certainly didn't help him any," Armstrong said. Valdez was 2-3 with a 4.93 earned-run average in eight starts for the Mariners in 2002.

Guillen is eligible for free agency, and last week the Mariners declined a one-year, $9-million option on him for next season. Guillen has until later this week to invoke a player option that would return him to the Mariners next season with a one-year, $5-million contract, but he has said he is not going to exercise the option.

"No doubt, I'm going to decline everything," Guillen said last week.

Signed as a free agent last December, Guillen, a 31-year-old, 11-year veteran, hit .290 with 23 home runs and 99 runs batted in for the Mariners.

According to the Chronicle, records from the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center show that Guillen ordered three different types of human growth hormone, two forms of testosterone, and the steroids stanozolol and nandronlone over the three-year period.

The purchases occurred in May 2002, when he was playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks; in September 2003, when he was playing for the Oakland Athletics; and July 2004, when he was playing for the Anaheim Angels.

The Chronicle also said that it was unclear from the records they receieved whether orders for human growth hormone and syringes that Guillen placed in September 2003, when he was with the A's, and June of 2005, when he played for the Washington Nationals, were actually delivered.