12 former M's named in Mitchell report

A dozen players with ties to the Mariners, including two from the 116-win team of 2001, were named in the steroids investigation by former Senator George Mitchell, released Thursday.

Perhaps as notable were the names that weren't mentioned. None of the Mariners' prominent or iconic players, either current or former, were cited in the Mitchell Report. That admittedly caused some relief in the team's offices.

"I think you'd have to say that," Mariners president Chuck Armstrong said with a laugh.

Many of the 12 names in the report with Seattle ties were fringe players or had brief careers in Seattle. However, the Mitchell Report offers new information on the steroids suspension of Mariners pitcher Ryan Franklin in August 2005.

"We're disappointed that any names of former Mariners players appear in the Mitchell Report," Armstrong said in a conference call with Seattle reporters.

Franklin, who pitched for Seattle from 1999 through 2005, was suspended for 10 games for a positive steroids test conducted in May 2005. According to Mitchell's report, Franklin was referred to Kirk Radomski, the former New York Mets clubhouse attendant-turned-steroids salesman who was a major source of information for Mitchell, by his then-Mariners teammate Ron Villone, a left-handed pitcher.

According to Mitchell's report, "Villone called Radomski and told him to send Anavar and Deca-Durabolin to Franklin, and Radomski did so."

Anavar and Deca-Durabolin are anabolic steroids. At the time of his suspension, Franklin vehemently denied he had used performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong said in the conference call, "To this day, at least to me, he continues to deny it."

At the time, Franklin told reporters:

"There has to be a flaw in the system. I have no clue. There is a flaw in the testing or my urine got mixed up with somebody else's. They said that couldn't happen, but I don't believe it. I just know deep in my heart that I'd never do anything like that."

Mitchell said Franklin declined to meet with him to discuss the allegations.

Regarding Villone, Mitchell's report said Radomski made three sales to Villone from 2004 to 2005, each for two kinds of human growth hormone. Villone pitched for the Mariners in both seasons. According to the report, Villone's first purchase of HGH was made during the 2004 season, and "Radomski sent this order to Villone at the Seattle Mariners' clubhouse."

Villone's second purchase was allegedly made during the 2004-05 offseason, and the third purchase was sent to Villone's residence in Seattle during the 2005 season.

Wrote Mitchell: "Radomski charged Villone $3,200 for each of these three transactions. Villone paid Radomski in cash each time. On two occasions, Villone mailed Radomski a Mariners yearbook in which he had placed cash inside the pages of the book."

Radomski told Mitchell that when he was working for the Mets in 1994, "Josias Manzanillo asked Radomski to inject him with the steroid Deca-Durabolin that Manzanillo provided. Radomski did so in the Mets' clubhouse. Radomski said that this was the only instance in which he actually observed a major-league player using steroids."

Manzanillo pitched 16 games for the Mariners in 1997. The report cites Manzanillo denying, through his attorney, that he ever used performance-enhancing substances.

Glenallen Hill, who played 74 games with Seattle in 1998, was also linked to Radomski. The first meeting between the two came in 2000, Radomski said.

Todd Williams pitched 13 games for the Mariners in 1999 and was with their Class AAA farm team in Tacoma in 2000. The Mitchell Report says Radomski sold Winstrol, an anabolic steroid, to Williams in 2001, when he was with the New York Yankees.

Radomski told Mitchell he sold anabolic steroids or HGH to Fernando Vina six to eight times from 2000 to 2005. Vina was with the Mariners for 24 games in 1993 and was with them in training camp in 2006, but didn't make the team.

Jim Parque went to spring training with the Mariners last season and pitched in Tacoma before being released May 31. Radomski made two sales of HGH to Parque, according to Mitchell's report, but the time frame is not clear.

David Segui, who played for the Mariners from 1998 to 1999, is also linked to Radomski in an extensive entry in the Mitchell Report. It is not clear if the two were involved while Segui played in Seattle.

Manny Alexander, who played for Class AAA Tacoma in 2001, was identified in the report. In 2000, when Alexander played for the Boston Red Sox, police discovered steroids in his car, which had been loaned to a Red Sox clubhouse attendant.

The names of three other players with Mariners ties had already come to light in media reports. Jose Guillen, David Bell and Ismael Valdez were linked to the investigation by the Albany, N.Y., district attorney into Internet steroids sales.

Armstrong reserved comment on the 409-page report until he had time to read it. But he affirmed his support for commissioner Bud Selig's stated intention to immediately implement all of Mitchell's recommendations not subject to collective bargaining.

"The Mariners as an organization believe in the fundamental goal of this investigation, which is to eliminate performance-enhancing substances from baseball," he said. "We fully support that goal. ... Hopefully, MLB will be successful in getting the recommendations implemented as quickly as possible."

Armstrong offered some insight into his own interview with Mitchell's investigators, which occurred during the 2007 season and lasted "several hours."

Said Armstrong, "It was a free-ranging, comprehensive interview. They specifically asked me about the guys on the Mariners that had tested positive and been suspended — Franklin, Jamal Strong and Mike Morse. They asked about the eight minor-leaguers [who tested positive in 2005]. We talked about each and every one of those."

He added, "I was asked if I had any knowledge of any Mariners players using performance-enhancing substances. My answer then was no, and my answer today is similarly no."

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com