Former Mets GM Steve Phillips on Mets players and amphetamines

...Extremely interesting article regarding a recent edition of ESPN's outside the lines. The show focused on a bunch of stories, interviewing former trainer Larry Starr, ex-star Dale Murphy, and current players and managers such as Tom Glavine, Joe Torre and Tony La Russa.

The article had editors notes that read:

In November 2005, Congress released the results of its investigation into steroid use by Rafael Palmiero. The report described reckless and illegal use of prescription drugs in the Baltimore Orioles' locker room. In 1999, a similar scene was unfolding in the New York Mets' locker room, as Tom Farrey reports in this bonus coverage from ESPN The Magazine's examination of steroid abuse.

The most interesting part of the show however became the comments by former New York Mets general manager and current ESPN analyst; Steve Phillips. He admitted knowing that executives knew who was and who wasn't on steroids and used that info in their player evaluations. He even mentioned an example from his time with the Mets, of course leaving the name out.

"Those conversations were standard,'' "In fact, if a player was using steroids prior to us signing him, I will tell you with a certain amount of shame, I certainly didn't want him to stop when he joined my team.'

'I had a player who hit a lot of home runs for another team prior to us signing him. With us, he was struggling. By June, I wanted to know what was going on with this guy. I found out he had chosen that year to give up amphetamines. He thought it was affecting his level of play. In my mind, I was thinking 'Dear God, would somebody please get him back on them?' I say that with shame, but that was the nature [of the game].''

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