http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070215/SPORTS12/70215062/0/SPORTS12
Glad he's back. I don't give a fuck what anybody says about the roids or anything else. Fuck you. I can't wait until Bonds breaks the record. Hopefully it'll be at Pac Bell Park, and hopefully I'll be there.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Barry Bonds finally signed his $15.8 million, one-year contract Thursday, and the slugger is scheduled to report to spring training Monday.
That means he will likely participate in the Giants’ first full-squad workout Tuesday.
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Bonds will fill the final spot on the team’s 40-man roster, which had stood at 39 after catcher Mike Matheny went on the voluntary retirement list with a concussion.
Bonds’ deal had been unresolved because of contract language. After much back and forth between the sides, the deal got done.
The 42-year-old Bonds has been working out all offseason at UCLA and appears as healthy as ever, according to the Giants, Bonds’ trainer and his agent. He had arthroscopic surgery on his troublesome left elbow after the 2006 season.
After missing all but 14 games in 2005 following three operations on his right knee, Bonds batted .270 with 26 homers and 77 RBIs and drew 115 walks in 130 games last year.
The seven-time NL MVP begins his 22nd major league season 22 homers shy of breaking Hank Aaron’s career record of 755.
The Giants and Bonds’ representative, Jeff Borris, had differing views of certain language in his contract and Bonds had yet to sign a revised version.
They originally agreed to terms Dec. 7 on the final day of baseball’s winter meetings, then the team announced the deal Jan. 29 and Bonds did an interview via conference call.
At issue were specifics about what would happen if the slugger were to be indicted or face further legal trouble, as well as details about a personal-appearance provision that was rejected by the commissioner’s office.
The Giants sent revised documents to Borris, which Bonds signed Thursday.
A federal grand jury is investigating whether Bonds perjured himself when he testified in 2003 in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid distribution case that he hadn’t knowingly taken any performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds long has denied knowingly using steroids.
Attorney pleads guilty to leaking BALCO testimony
A Colorado lawyer who admitted in court papers that he leaked secret grand jury documents in a federal steroids probe to reporters made an initial court appearance Thursday on obstruction of justice charges.
Troy Ellerman pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court, but prosecutors said it was a formality and they expected he would plead guilty later in the day.
“That’s what we anticipate,” prosecutor Douglas Miller said.
Ellerman can be sentenced to up to two years in prison and fined $250,000. Ellerman could also lose his license to practice law.
Ellerman’s appearance came the day after federal prosecutors announced he agreed to plead guilty to obstructing justice in a deal that would prevent two San Francisco Chronicle reporters from going to jail for refusing to divulge their source.
In court papers filed Wednesday, Ellerman said he allowed the Chronicle’s Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada to view transcripts of the grand jury testimony of baseball stars Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and sprinter Tim Montgomery.
Eve Burton, general counsel for Hearst Corp., which owns the Chronicle, would not confirm or deny that Ellerman was the source of the leaked documents. The reporters also declined to discuss their source.
Ellerman, 44, of Woodland Park, Colo., briefly represented Victor Conte, the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, the Burlingame-based supplements lab that allegedly provided performance-enhancing drugs to the elite athletes. He later represented BALCO vice president James Valente and that’s when he obtained transcripts of the athletes’ testimony from federal prosecutors.
“I find the fact that Troy Ellerman has admitted to leaking the BALCO grand jury transcripts to be outrageous,” Conte said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Ellerman signed agreements with prosecutors and was under court orders to keep the grand jury testimony confidential. Ellerman even made a motion in October 2004 to dismiss the case against Valente because of “repeated government leaks of confidential information to the media.”
Valente, Conte and three other men have pleaded guilty to steroids-related charges in an earlier phase of the investigation.
The Chronicle published stories in 2004 that reported Giambi and Montgomery admitted to grand jurors that they took steroids, while Bonds and Sheffield testified they didn’t knowingly take the drugs.
Shortly after the first leak in June 2004, Judge Susan Illston ordered an investigation. Ellerman and all lawyers in the case filed statements under penalty of perjury swearing that they weren’t the source.
Prosecutors said a “previously unknown witness” approached the FBI and offered to help prove that Ellerman was the source. Larry McCormack, former executive director of the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and a private investigator who briefly worked for Conte, told the AP Thursday that he tipped off FBI agents.
McCormack said he shared a Sacramento office with Ellerman and that Fainaru-Wada visited there several times in 2004. McCormack said Ellerman told him about the leaks.
In February 2005, McCormack moved to Colorado Springs, Colo. to work for Ellerman, who then served as commissioner of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
The association’s board of directors fired McCormack in August, but he said Ellerman tried to save his job and his decision to call federal investigators and expose the lawyer had nothing to do with his firing.
“My concerns were whether I could be in any kind of criminal jeopardy,” said McCormack, a former Yuba County sheriff’s deputy. “Another thing that was bothering me was that the government was spending all of this money on the investigations and these reporters are looking at going to prison — it ate me alive.”
Shortly after McCormack was fired, he said he wore an FBI wire and had a “heated conversation” with Ellerman in which the lawyer made incriminating statements. McCormack declined to discuss the details of that conversation.
San Francisco U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said the plea deal should end speculation that his office was a source of the leaks.
“I’ve maintained from the beginning that neither the agents nor the federal prosecutors involved in the BALCO case were the source of any grand jury leaks,” he said.
Besides Conte and Valente, chemist Patrick Arnold, Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson, and track coach Remi Korchemny have all pleaded guilty in the BALCO probe. Korchemny and Valente were sentenced to probation and the others were each sentenced to jail terms no longer than four months.
Bonds has never been charged but suspicion continues to dog the San Francisco Giants slugger as he chases baseball’s career home run record.
He told the grand jury he thought Anderson had given him flaxseed oil and arthritic balm, rather than the BALCO steroids known as “The Clear” and “The Cream.” A federal grand jury is investigating him for possible perjury and obstruction of justice charges.
That means he will likely participate in the Giants’ first full-squad workout Tuesday.
Advertisement
Bonds will fill the final spot on the team’s 40-man roster, which had stood at 39 after catcher Mike Matheny went on the voluntary retirement list with a concussion.
Bonds’ deal had been unresolved because of contract language. After much back and forth between the sides, the deal got done.
The 42-year-old Bonds has been working out all offseason at UCLA and appears as healthy as ever, according to the Giants, Bonds’ trainer and his agent. He had arthroscopic surgery on his troublesome left elbow after the 2006 season.
After missing all but 14 games in 2005 following three operations on his right knee, Bonds batted .270 with 26 homers and 77 RBIs and drew 115 walks in 130 games last year.
The seven-time NL MVP begins his 22nd major league season 22 homers shy of breaking Hank Aaron’s career record of 755.
The Giants and Bonds’ representative, Jeff Borris, had differing views of certain language in his contract and Bonds had yet to sign a revised version.
They originally agreed to terms Dec. 7 on the final day of baseball’s winter meetings, then the team announced the deal Jan. 29 and Bonds did an interview via conference call.
At issue were specifics about what would happen if the slugger were to be indicted or face further legal trouble, as well as details about a personal-appearance provision that was rejected by the commissioner’s office.
The Giants sent revised documents to Borris, which Bonds signed Thursday.
A federal grand jury is investigating whether Bonds perjured himself when he testified in 2003 in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid distribution case that he hadn’t knowingly taken any performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds long has denied knowingly using steroids.
Attorney pleads guilty to leaking BALCO testimony
A Colorado lawyer who admitted in court papers that he leaked secret grand jury documents in a federal steroids probe to reporters made an initial court appearance Thursday on obstruction of justice charges.
Troy Ellerman pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court, but prosecutors said it was a formality and they expected he would plead guilty later in the day.
“That’s what we anticipate,” prosecutor Douglas Miller said.
Ellerman can be sentenced to up to two years in prison and fined $250,000. Ellerman could also lose his license to practice law.
Ellerman’s appearance came the day after federal prosecutors announced he agreed to plead guilty to obstructing justice in a deal that would prevent two San Francisco Chronicle reporters from going to jail for refusing to divulge their source.
In court papers filed Wednesday, Ellerman said he allowed the Chronicle’s Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada to view transcripts of the grand jury testimony of baseball stars Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and sprinter Tim Montgomery.
Eve Burton, general counsel for Hearst Corp., which owns the Chronicle, would not confirm or deny that Ellerman was the source of the leaked documents. The reporters also declined to discuss their source.
Ellerman, 44, of Woodland Park, Colo., briefly represented Victor Conte, the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, the Burlingame-based supplements lab that allegedly provided performance-enhancing drugs to the elite athletes. He later represented BALCO vice president James Valente and that’s when he obtained transcripts of the athletes’ testimony from federal prosecutors.
“I find the fact that Troy Ellerman has admitted to leaking the BALCO grand jury transcripts to be outrageous,” Conte said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Ellerman signed agreements with prosecutors and was under court orders to keep the grand jury testimony confidential. Ellerman even made a motion in October 2004 to dismiss the case against Valente because of “repeated government leaks of confidential information to the media.”
Valente, Conte and three other men have pleaded guilty to steroids-related charges in an earlier phase of the investigation.
The Chronicle published stories in 2004 that reported Giambi and Montgomery admitted to grand jurors that they took steroids, while Bonds and Sheffield testified they didn’t knowingly take the drugs.
Shortly after the first leak in June 2004, Judge Susan Illston ordered an investigation. Ellerman and all lawyers in the case filed statements under penalty of perjury swearing that they weren’t the source.
Prosecutors said a “previously unknown witness” approached the FBI and offered to help prove that Ellerman was the source. Larry McCormack, former executive director of the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and a private investigator who briefly worked for Conte, told the AP Thursday that he tipped off FBI agents.
McCormack said he shared a Sacramento office with Ellerman and that Fainaru-Wada visited there several times in 2004. McCormack said Ellerman told him about the leaks.
In February 2005, McCormack moved to Colorado Springs, Colo. to work for Ellerman, who then served as commissioner of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
The association’s board of directors fired McCormack in August, but he said Ellerman tried to save his job and his decision to call federal investigators and expose the lawyer had nothing to do with his firing.
“My concerns were whether I could be in any kind of criminal jeopardy,” said McCormack, a former Yuba County sheriff’s deputy. “Another thing that was bothering me was that the government was spending all of this money on the investigations and these reporters are looking at going to prison — it ate me alive.”
Shortly after McCormack was fired, he said he wore an FBI wire and had a “heated conversation” with Ellerman in which the lawyer made incriminating statements. McCormack declined to discuss the details of that conversation.
San Francisco U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said the plea deal should end speculation that his office was a source of the leaks.
“I’ve maintained from the beginning that neither the agents nor the federal prosecutors involved in the BALCO case were the source of any grand jury leaks,” he said.
Besides Conte and Valente, chemist Patrick Arnold, Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson, and track coach Remi Korchemny have all pleaded guilty in the BALCO probe. Korchemny and Valente were sentenced to probation and the others were each sentenced to jail terms no longer than four months.
Bonds has never been charged but suspicion continues to dog the San Francisco Giants slugger as he chases baseball’s career home run record.
He told the grand jury he thought Anderson had given him flaxseed oil and arthritic balm, rather than the BALCO steroids known as “The Clear” and “The Cream.” A federal grand jury is investigating him for possible perjury and obstruction of justice charges.
Glad he's back. I don't give a fuck what anybody says about the roids or anything else. Fuck you. I can't wait until Bonds breaks the record. Hopefully it'll be at Pac Bell Park, and hopefully I'll be there.
