Here are the other former Mets/people connected to the Mets named in the Mitchell Report (Part I here), and my evaluation of how surprising it was to see their names, or how disappointed I was that they were implicated.
MO VAUGHN
Surprise: 8
Disappointment: 9
Just another disappointment in the saga of Mo Vaughn as a Met. Vaughn's connection with Radomski allegedly happened in 2001...and in December of 2001 Vaughn was traded to the Mets. Does that mean the Mets had information that Vaughn would somehow speedily recover from his horrible ankle injury? Again, it makes you wonder. The Vaughn write-up did provide one of the few laughs of the Mitchell Report - "Radomski said that he did not sell Vaughn steroids because Vaughn was 'afraid of the big needles'".
DAVID SEGUI
Surprise: 0
Disappointment: 7
This is no surprise, because Segui came out and admitted use before the Report was released. It's still disappointing, because they all are, but mostly because Segui sounds so entitled when he talks about taking steroids. His comments about Radomski in the Report make it sound like the guy's some sort of hero to cheaters. On the one hand, Segui's comments add some legitimacy to Radomski's comments throughout the report, but on the other hand, it is coming from David Segui, who sounds more and more like an idiot when you read his comments.
CHRIS DONNELS
Surprise: ?
Disappointment: 9
I haven't really thought much about Chris Donnels for the past 15 years or so, so I don't know about the surprise factor. It was interesting, though, that he played such a big role in the steroids case in baseball. Donnels is named in the report as being one of the people Ken Caminiti talked candidly to about steroids before he took them for the first time. The allegations regarding Donnels and steroids don't come up during Donnels' time wih the Mets, but I always think of him as a Met when I hear his name (again, not often in the past 15 years). At least he didn't impede the investigation, and spoke to Mitchell....though he did say he wouldn't tell the names of people he knew were using steroids, anyway. Ain't ballplayers great, stand-up guys?
FERNANDO VINA
Surprise: 0
Disappointment: 9
I realize there's not much fluctuation in the 'disappointment' category here - I get frustrated when this is the topic. I'm absolutely not surprised by Vina's involvement. I don't remember Vina being huge when he was with the Mets...and now that I look it up, I would have bet money that Vina was with the Mets for a while...but it was just 1994, which I guess was an era which seemed interminable. But the way Vina ballooned later in his career makes this one seem kind of obvious. The disappointment climbs the scale by Vina's admission to only using HGH to help recover from injuries after the report was released. I don't believe it.
MARK CARREON
Surprise: ?
Disappointment: ?
I don't really know what to say about Mark Carreon. He's pretty irrelevant, except for the fact that he is quoted as having told Radomski that 'the ball was jumping off his bat' in the report after he started using a performance enhancer while with the Giants (after his time with the Mets). His numbers reflect an improvement while he was in San Francisco. His case raises doubt for anyone with significant statistical increases during this time period.
SCOTT SCHOENEWEIS
Surprise: 5
Disappointment: 2
Really, could this guy be any more disappointing? I had high expectations when he joined the Mets, and those expectations were met with a 5.03 ERA, 28 walks in 59 innings pitched out of the bullpen, and allegations connecting him with the use of performance enhancing drugs. A successful run, I'd say.
TIM LAKER
Surprise: 7-8
Disappointment: 9
At long last, your Gary Carter connection. When Carter retired in 1992, he hit a double in his last major league at-bat for the Montreal Expos. He was standing at second base, and was lifted for a pinch runner to a standing ovation. That pinch runner was a young rookie catcher named Tim Laker. As a current employee of baseball (Laker manages in the Indians' farm system), Laker had to be interviewed by Mitchell, and he was up front about his steroid use. It's also interesting that the steroids never really helped him - he was hardly effective in the major leagues. But I bet Gary Carter was disappointed to see his name connected....and that's good enough for me.
(By the way - how is Tim Laker good enough to have a high level minor league managing job, while Hall of Famer Gary Carter is stuck in the Golden Baseball League?!)
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