This already feels like a punch in the gut. It doesn't matter if Pujols is on the list or not, with  his personal trainer on it, there's going to be a shadow on him for a very long time.

Oh yes, I do.

this is completely tragic news.  I mean, his trainer wasn't the source.  So it could be worse.  And Im sure every fitness trainer in America could lead people to a source for amphetamines, though not all of them would.  Also, that shows Pujols couldn't get pills from Mihlfeld, he'd have to go elsewhere.  Obviously having his name linked to this isn't good, and of course there's a chance Pujols is juicing, but I dont think this is conclusive evidence at all.  

this could turn out badly.

and it will make me a very unhappy person.

I've always convinced myself that the team was bigger than any one player, but if this is as bad as it could be, I'll have a hard time coming back, especially as long as LaRussa is around. I got over McGwire precisely because of Pujols. Call me crazy, but Skip Schumaker just doesn't fill a void.

Let's see how Albert reacts. That ought to say a lot.

this doesn't mean anything unless he's one of the blacked out names which if he was they'd be all over it all ready the name would have been leaked it was with Bonds,giambi so we would have heard by know.Albert doesn't looked all HGH upped you'd be able to tell his face becomming a square in proportion.I would be shocked if it was true because el Hombre is just a good person I don't see a man like that doing it.The trainer better step up and say Alberts innocent or say i never once sold or shot up albert.Stranger things have happend but has Grimsley had contact with the Pu.

Okay, I freely admit that I am probably looking for a reason to trust Pujols, but I want to point out what the affidavit actually says.  It says that the trainer "once referred him to an amphetamine source."  It does not say that the trainer gave him amphetamines.  My guess is that you could ask 90% of the trainers in baseball and they could "refer" you to an amphetamine source.  It does not mean that they recommend you use amphetamines or that they supply amphetamines to the players they train.  

My guess is that Grimsley, probably had some dealing with Mihlfeld and asked Mihlfeld if he knew where he could score some pills.  Mihlfeld may have gone so far as to recommend the actual source because he didn't give them out himself.  

Finally, and I know this might be splitting hairs, but we are talking about amphetamines.  Nothing has linked Mihlfeld or Pujols to Roids or HGH.  

Personally, I think this is just too flimsy of evidence to convict Pujols -- even if just in the court of public opinion and speculation.

*That Latino players and teams based near the Mexican border had easy access to such drugs. ``He stated that he got amphetamines from Latin players whenever he needed them,'' the affidavit said.

Imagine if a kid came up to you in high school and said, "hey, can you sell me some pot?"  You don't sell pot.  Still, a very natural reaction from you would be "Sorry kid, I don't sell pot.  You might want to talk to [insert random stoner kid from your high school here]."  So now, the kid that asked you for pot goes to the kid you referred him to and scores some pot and some blow and some smack and a speedball.  Doesn't mean that you knew that he was going to get any of it.  It especially doesn't mean that your girlfriend smokes up.

Sorry to hear about this, kids.  First a series loss to the Cubs.  Then a sweep by the Reds and losing your grip on 1st place.  Then your closer craps the bed again. And now another Historic Cardinal HR hitter comes under question for the Juice.  All I gotta say is...Hope you didn't name that stretch on I70 'Albert Pujols Way'.  That would be a damn shame.

everyone saying, "oh he couldnt have taken HGH cause hes a good guy" about types like sweeney and pujols...

well, if your peers are using them, they arent even testing for it(HGH) abd you want to be a great player, you almost have to take it..

how good of a person can you be, that you'd turn down a career that pays lucratively, and gains you the adoration of millions, and all the tail you want no matter how fugly you are..

i dont blame any players. i blame MLB..they turned their heads and let this happen..pretty much everyone is guilty in this mess..

my order of blame..

1)MLB (their policy is ridiculous, they profited greatly from the power numbers)
2)Fans (we the ones who only care about HR's and worship these people like gods among men for being able to hit a ball real far or throw a ball really fast..
3)Coaches (for turning a blind eye)
4)Trainers (for supplying the drugs)

id put the players at 5..ha..

ive never robbed or stole or murdered anyone, dont hit girls, and dont enjoy making others suffer, but id take HGH for 100,000,000 dollars...hell id take HGH for league minimum, which is about 10 times what i could even hope to make a year at the moment..

Usually, I turn to my Cards obsession to take my mind off my job as a criminal defense lawyer.  This is a sad way for these two worlds to collide . . .

The accusation made by Grimsley under these circumstances provides no reliable evidence that Pujols (or Mihlfeld, for that matter) has done anything wrong.  My conservative estimate is that I've seen 200 affidavits like this as part of my work.  Sometimes I've represented the guy accused by the person in the affidavit; sometimes I've represented the guy making the accusation, either as a witness or a defendant. It's important to keep in mind the circumstances under which Grimsley named names. He had just been caught, red-handed, with controlled substances.  Like every other person facing arrest and prosecution, he had an enormous incentive to exaggerate in order to curry favor with the investigating authorities and to minimize the damage to himself -- which is why judges, juries, and even fair-minded prosecutors never rely on this type of "evidence" alone as proof of any point.  If I had a dollar for every demonstrably false statement made under these circumstances in cases in which I've been involved . . . well, let's just say I'd be spending a lot less time reading affidavits about drugs, and a lot more time going to Cards games with my friend sdesserman.  

The statement Grimsley made to the agents would not be admissible in a trial.  Why?  Not considered reliable enough, according to the Supreme Court.

If Grimsley offered to come to court and testify under oath as to the statements made in the affidavit, most prosecutors' offices (and I believe every United States Attorneys' Office) would decline to base a prosecution on this testimony in the absence of other corroborating evidence.  Why?  Not considered reliable enough.

If a prosecution was brought and Grimsley did tesify, judges in most jurisdictions would instruct the jury to treat his testimony with extreme caution, given his obvious incentive to lie. Why?  Same concerns about reliability.

Of course, all these concerns about Grimsley's motives and credibility are layered on top of the fact that, even if believed, what he says relates to Pujols only to the extent you are willing to make some impressive logical leaps.  Grimsley says that a trainer who works with Pujols once referred him to someone else in order to buy illegal drugs . . . and this shows that Pujols uses illegal drugs?  You couldn't make that kind of argument in a criminal trial, in a civil trial, in a small claims case about your plants leaking onto your neighbor's deck, in a hearing in which you are challenging a parking ticket, etc.

I know, I know, this isn't court. He doesn't have to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt when it comes to public opinion. Hell, most people apparently still believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 (sorry, wrong blog). But these rules have been used in courts for hundreds of years because they reflect a logical way of evaluating accusers and their accusations.

I'm not much of a true believer when it comes to pro athletes, but I am when it comes to how to look at innuendo like this.  It's going to take a lot more than what some loser middle reliever says when he's about to get busted to make me more worried about this than I am about Izzy's control.

Mets fan here, not that other guy. Not here to troll. And all us Mets fans and NYers aren't loudmouths either, just like all Midwesterners aren't the salt of the earth. Just to say calm down, just because this trainer has links to Pujols doesn't mean anything, let the story play out as it will. As a fan of the game I would hate to see him caught up in this, as he one of the few guys who can rescue the game from the juicers with his talent. Innuendo should not diminish AP accomplishments. Also I believe that by the time this investigation is done, we may find out all of professional sports and the big college sports, has a serious performance drug problem. Keep the faith, the game we love will survive this crap.

I may be just trying to be overly optimistic here, but I think this is an important point. As has been mentioned, Grimsley only got refered to a source for amphetamines. This is important for many reasons listed above but it is also important for another reason, amphetamines are now tested for and illegal under the MLB's new drug policy.

Why is this important. Well, as espn.com noted, Grimsley only switched to HGH when MLB made his drug of choice, steroids, illegal and started testing for them. If he stopped using steroids because they were being tested for, it makes sense that he stoppd using amphetamines for the same reason, i.e. don't get caught. THEREFORE, it doesn't make any sense for his request for amphetamines (illegal and tested for) and his use of HGH(illiegal but not tested for) to be related. Why would he, while trying to avoid the testing, try and get a drug that is untested for and and one that is tested for at the same time.

Also important, he most likely would have been requesting amphetamines several years ago, when they were still untested for. The HGH seems to be a more recent trend. The conclusion for baseball fans, take a deep breath, Grimsley's statement doesn't seem to implicate Pujols, there are too many degrees of separation. We just have to hope new info doesn't go against this.

And just remember, Grimsley is the guy who crawled through the ceiling to steal back Albert Bell's corked bat, he is perfectly capable of shady stuff on his own, without the help of Pujols' trainer.

and admit the truth.  That he's been working with MLB on an undercover sting to get Mihlfeld busted for years now. I figure MLB approached him after his first year to keep tabs on La Russa and, well, you know how these things just snowball sometimes.
 'Course then frickin Grimsley comes along and screws everything up.  Pujols is prolly pretty mad right now. sheesh
 Anyway......    "El Hombre!"    
               RELAX!   :)

Mihfield's name just doesn't fit where it should in the affidavit document.  Page 14, Times New Roman, 16.5 font - not perfect, but I think close enough to make such a conclusion.  Interesting thing is, 'Kansas City Royals' is a nice (perfect, I don't know) fit where it would go.  Here's the re-redacted document.

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/9374/0607061grimsley1429ec.gif

This Evans guy in A ball at Palm Beach? Great numbers.....

Missed this whole story tonite. I've now read the articles I could find and every post here and definately think there's some serious overreaction going on. Until I see some real evidence that Albert had ANY role in ANY of this, I'm with tdawg--Izzy's troubles worry me a helluva lot more. Even if Mihfield is guilty of this referral thing (which is NOT a given), how does that automatically incriminate Albert of anything? And as for the 'court of public opinion', I don't care what fans of other teams decide to believe--there are a whole lotta sheep like the Mets troll above who will believe anything he wants to be true--many people's lives are so empty they must revel in the perceived misfortunes of others. It's their only opportunity to feel something. What can be done to change this? Nothing. So why give a damn about what they think? Relax. All this crap might say is that Pujols' trainer may have done something unethical. That's it. Until there's more--a lot more--I'm not even close to questioning Albert's credibility or caring about how he's perceived by those who already hate him and wish him ill.