This is an interesting article. David Segui -- who has had no problem cooperating whatsoever and is mentioned several times in the Mitchell Report -- is in doubt that Brian Roberts was actually involved in anything.
Bigbie, who has signed to play in Japan in 2008, could not be reached for comment. Roberts and his agent did not return phone calls to The Sun.
In the Mitchell Report, Bigbie makes assertions about his own drug use and said that it was Segui who introduced him both to steroids and to Kirk Radomski, the former New York Mets clubhouse attendant who has admitted to supplying dozens of players with human growth hormone and performance-enhancers.
Segui said that much is true, and he admitted to educating Bigbie on steroids -- after the rookie persisted -- and giving Bigbie a sample of his own stash while Bigbie waited on his first shipment from Radomski.
But Segui contends that several other statements were fabricated, including the large quantity of steroids Bigbie initially took and allegations that Segui injected Bigbie and oversaw the rookie's drug cycles.
The most egregious inaccuracy in the testimony, Segui said, is Bigbie's recollection of a lunch in New York during the 2003 season. Bigbie told Mitchell that he, Segui, Radomski and Roberts dined together and then later Bigbie sat in Radomski's car and watched Segui buy "performance enhancing substances and paraphernalia." Bigbie said Roberts was not in the car at the time.
Segui said Roberts wasn't there at all -- that instead, Segui's son, Cory, then 11, was with them at lunch. Segui added that not only didn't he buy drugs from Radomski that day, but that he didn't purchase anything illegal from Radomski after 2002.
"Brian Roberts has never met Kirk Radomski, at least not in my presence," said Segui, who has admitted to taking steroids and to providing Radomski's contact information to several players who wanted to know more about performance-enhancers. "And I don't know wherever else he would have met him."
He refrained from offering more discrepancies to Bigbie's statements, instead saying he wanted to focus on Roberts.
"I'm not worried about damage control on my part, I don't care about that," Segui said. "What I care about is Brian Roberts. He is the kind of guy you want your daughter to marry. He is the kind of guy you want your son to grow up to be. Leave him out of this [stuff]. He has nothing to do with this."
Listen, I'm not naive. If Brian Roberts was a legit name that should be mentioned, it would not surprise me, and I really, truly, would not feel differently about him. He'd still be one of my favorite players.
But if Brian Roberts' name is being dragged through the mud for little t no reason -- and this is not just Segui, sportswriters like Jayson Stark have said the same thing -- then that is horseshit on the part of both Larry Bigbie and George Mitchell.