Apparently Miguel Tejada decided to take a page from the Alex Rodriguez apology book, because this morning he was charged with lying to congressional investigators about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, and this afternoon he decided to just plead guilty. Now, let's make one thing clear here. Tejada isn't being accused of using steroids or performance enhancing drugs - even though it's well known that Tejada has a background with HGH and possibly steroids. Tejada's accused of - and will plead guilty to - lying about the fact that he wasn't truthful with investigators who asked him about a teammate of his who was juicing.
In the documents filed Tuesday, Tejada is charged with lying to investigators for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2005 when he denied knowledge of an ex-teammate's use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The teammate is not identified in court documents, but is referred to as having played with Tejada on the Oakland Athletics.
Tejada "unlawfully withheld pertinent information from the committee because defendant Tejada, before and during his interview with the committee staff, then and there well knew that player #1, one of his teammates on the Oakland Athletics, had used steroids and HGH," the papers state.
The teammate is not identified in court documents, but is referred to as having played with Tejada on the Oakland Athletics.
Tejada "unlawfully withheld pertinent information from the committee because defendant Tejada, before and during his interview with the committee staff, then and there well knew that player #1, one of his teammates on the Oakland Athletics, had used steroids and HGH," the papers state.
Prosecutors also believe that in 2003 Tejada purchased HGH from the same teammate, but Tejada won't be charged for that because they can't prove he used them.
By the way, the teammate, who was not named in court papers, is identifiable as Adam Piatt, according to the Washington Post. Meaning it's exactly what you think it is: That steroids have been rampant in baseball during the Steroids Era, from the biggest names to the smallest names.
Tejada faces a maximum penalty of a year in jail, but advisory sentencing guidelines call for a sentence of probation to six months behind bars. He's unlikely to get either of those two penalities by pleading guilty though.
And hey, at least for one day A-Rod isn't the biggest news out there. But seriously, what the hell is going on in baseball right now? I have the feeling that I'm going to wake up tomorrow and find out that Juan Pierre was juicing.
Miguel Tejada expected to plead guilty to charges of lying to Congress about steroids [ESPN]
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