Feds probe D-Backs' Grimsley for drug use

Diamondbacks reliever Jason Grimsley admitted to federal investigators that he has used illegal perfor- mance-enhancing drugs, and implicated other major league players as well, according to federal court documents unsealed late Tuesday.

According to documents obtained by The Associated Press, Grimsley initially cooperated with officials after they discovered he received a package containing $3,200 worth of human growth hormone at his Scottsdale home on April 19. In the affidavit, Grimsley admitted to using human growth hormone, steroids and amphetamines.

The Associated Press reported that Grimsley’s house was searched Tuesday by 13 federal agents, who spent six hours attempting to locate “any and all records showing contact or relationship with any and all amateur or professional athletes, athletic coaches and athletic trainers’’ regarding illegal drug use and purchases, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

IRS agent Mark Lessler would not say what they found.

The IRS is investigating the use of steroids, human growth hormone and other illegal substances in baseball in a probe that began four years ago with the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative in San Francisco. The investigation has implicated Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi, but Grimsley is the first D-Back to be publicly named.

Grimsley was not available for comment following Tuesday's 10-1 loss to Philadelphia.

D-Backs managing general partner Ken Kendrick said in a statement the team learned of the situation late Tuesday afternoon, but declined further comment.

Asked if the news affected his team, D-Backs manager Bob Melvin said, “To an extent, how can’t it?

“We’ll be all right. It locks you up for a little bit. Down the road, we’ll be fine. We haven’t indicted the guy. This is an ongoing investigation. Nothing’s been proven.’’

AP reported that Grimsley told the IRS the names of other major league players he believed were using illegal drugs, according to agent Jeff Novitsky, but those names were blacked out of the court records.

The New York Daily News reported that Grimsley also described to authorities how he and other players had received HGH from a Florida physician and had even received drugs from an equipment salesmen. Another player had received amphetamines from a Colorado physician, the affidavit said.

The Daily News also reported that Grimsley admitted to Novitsky that he started using HGH exclusively once baseball began testing for steroids, according to the affidavit, because baseball does not test for HGH.

The documents show Grimsley was told that he tested positive in 2003 during baseball’s supposedly anonymous ‘‘survey’’ testing program.

Grimsley also said amphetamine use was prevalent in the major leagues, Novitsky wrote the court in his application for a search warrant, and that it was placed in coffee in clubhouses — marked "leaded" or "unleaded" to indicate which pots contained the drugs.

Novitzky is the same agent who pursued the BALCO case, which led to the prosecution of five men and the embarrassment of more than a dozen MLB, NFL and track and field athletes.

According to the documents, Grimsley withdrew his cooperation with authorities in April, but not before he allegedly made ‘‘extensive statements’’ about illegal drug use, ‘‘for the purpose of performance enhancement.’’

Major league baseball commissioner Bud Selig has appointed former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell to head baseball’s investigation into illegal drug use.

Tribune writer Jack Magruder contributed to this report.