Phoenix – Pitcher Jason Grimsley was released by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, a day after his home was searched by federal agents following his admission he used human growth hormone, steroids and amphetamines.
The raid – and Grimsley’s implication of other major- league players – was the latest sign that widespread investigations into drug use by athletes are still active, even in the era of tougher testing.
“Clearly,” U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said, “we’re not done.”
Grimsley’s agent said he thought this would mark the end of the 38-year-old reliever’s career.
“My guess is Jason’s done playing,” Joe Bick said. “I couldn’t anticipate that he would play again, but that’s his call.
“He didn’t want to be a distraction to the team.”
Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes said Grimsley asked for his unconditional release in meetings with team officials Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We accepted his request,” Byrnes said.
According to court documents, Grimsley failed a baseball drug test in 2003.
Thirteen federal agents searched his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., for six hours Tuesday, but they would not reveal what they found.
Investigators who cracked the BALCO steroid scandal in San Francisco said Grimsley initially cooperated in the probe but withdrew his assistance in April, prompting Tuesday’s search.
Authorities tracked a package containing two “kits” of human growth hormone – about a season’s supply – that was delivered to Grimsley’s house April 19, court documents released Tuesday showed.
Moments later, agents armed with a warrant offered him an option: Cooperate with their investigation into athletes using performance-enhancing drugs, or submit to an immediate search.
Grimsley agreed to be interviewed and proceeded to detail his “receipt and use of anabolic steroids, amphetamines and human growth hormone over the past several years,” but said he went exclusively with hgH when baseball’s testing program began.
Grimsley also identified several other players who he said had used or supplied the drugs, though their names were blacked out from court documents.
They included a handful of former teammates and one player he identified as one of his “better friends in baseball,” adding it was common knowledge “Latin players” were a major source for amphetamines.
He also identified a personal fitness trainer to several major- league players who referred him to someone who supplied him with an array of drugs.
The investigation is being run by prosecutors and authorities in San Francisco, where five Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative defendants pleaded guilty to distributing or developing steroids.
Ryan said the government’s probe will “diligently follow the evidence.”
Major League Baseball executive vice president Rob Manfred said hgH “is a problem for all sports because there is no universally accepted and validated test.”
Grimsley’s locker was empty before Arizona’s 7-3 loss to Philadelphia at Chase Field.
Bick said “there was no negotiation” over the remainder of Grimsley’s $825,000 salary.
“Released players get paid,” he said.
