Not one of Roger Clemens's denials about using steroids or human growth hormone was delivered while he spoke under oath. Now he gets that chance.
The seven-time Cy Young Award winner is scheduled to give a deposition to lawyers from a congressional committee behind closed doors today in Washington, one day after his former New York Yankees teammate and workout partner Andy Pettitte delivered sworn testimony for about 2 1/2 hours.
Both pitchers' private interviews with staff members from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are part of preparation for a Feb. 13 hearing. That public session is expected to focus on allegations made in the Mitchell Report by trainer Brian McNamee that he injected Clemens more than a dozen times with performance enhancers.
"Roger is not going to take the Fifth Amendment," one of Clemens's lawyers, Rusty Hardin, said in a statement e-mailed by spokesman Joe Householder yesterday. "He is going to answer the committee's questions truthfully under oath."
McNamee is to appear Thursday. One of his lawyers, Earl Ward, said no decision had been made on whether he would submit to a deposition or transcribed interview. It is a crime to lie to Congress, whether sworn to tell the truth or not, so the distinction between the two has more to do with the format of the questioning and the confidentiality of the transcript.
Pettitte, who chose to be deposed, did not take questions from reporters afterward as he walked from committee offices to an elevator in the Rayburn House Office Building accompanied by his wife and three lawyers.
"At the committee's request, Andy Pettitte voluntarily met with representatives of the committee this morning, and fully answered all of the inquiries made of him in a sworn deposition," two of Pettitte's lawyers, Jay Reisinger and Thomas Farrell, said in a statement.
McNamee told former Senate majority leader George Mitchell he injected Pettitte with HGH. Pettitte lent credence to Mitchell's findings by acknowledging two days after the report was released in December that he did try HGH for two days in 2002 to help deal with an elbow injury.
The trade could be announced as soon as today, assuming all involved players pass physicals. In exchange for Bedard, a lefthander who went 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA and team-record 221 strikeouts last season, the Orioles would get Jones, lefthanded reliever George Sherrill (2-0, 2.36 ERA, 73 appearances in 2007), and three pitching prospects - Chris Tillman, Kam Mickolio, and Tony Butler.
Jones, 22, has hit just .230 with three home runs in 139 major league at-bats, but is regarded as one of the top prospects in baseball.
"When and if we have anything to announce, we'll get it to you as quickly as we can," Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail told the Sun.
Detroit president Dave Dombrowski is not known to give long-term deals to players before they are arbitration eligible , but Granderson merited an exception after a breakout season (.302 average, 84 extra-base hits). Yesterday, the Tigers and Granderson agreed to a $30.25 million, five-year contract that includes a club option for 2013 that could make the deal worth up to $43.25 million.
Granderson gets $1 million this year, $3.5 million in 2009, $5.5 million in 2010, $8.25 million in 2011, and $10 million in 2012. The Tigers have a $13 million option for 2013 with a $2 million buyout.
