Matt Lawton admits that he used steroids two days before being suspended 10 days for violating Major League Baseball rules, Sports Weekly reported Thursday.

Lawton said he took the veterinary steroid boldenone.

"I wasn't playing well enough to be on a Little League roster, let alone be on the roster of the New York Yankees," Lawton told Sports Weekly. "I just wasn't physically able to do the job. I had never been in the playoff hunt before. So I did something that will always haunt me."

Lawton told the magazine he injected the steroid Sept. 20 while he was with the New York Yankees. On the following day, he hit a home run in his first at-bat. He said he didn't feel any pain. The day after that, he was tested.

"It was such a stupid thing, but I was desperate," Lawton told Sports Weekly. "Maybe it was the pressure of playing in New York, I don't know. I never had the urge to take any of that stuff before, but I was talking to some guys, and they guaranteed it would get the pain out."

The Seattle Mariners took a chance on Lawton, agreeing Thursday to a $400,000, one-year contract with a player who will start next season under suspension because of steroid use.

The left-handed-hitting Lawton batted a combined .254 last season with 13 homers and 53 RBIs in 141 games for Pittsburgh, the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. He was terrible at the end of the season, going 6-for-48 (.125) for the Yankees with two homers and four RBIs. New York did not include him on its playoff roster.

The 34-year-old Lawton, who received a limited no-trade clause, can earn an additional $1.25 million in performance bonuses based on plate appearances and would get the full amount if he has 600.

He earned $7.5 million last season, completing a $27 million, four-year contract he agreed to with Cleveland in December 2001.

He is a career .267 hitter with 138 homers. He was an All-Star in 2000 with Minnesota and 2004 with Cleveland.

"I don't want people to think that everything I did, the good years I had, were steroid-related," Lawton told Sports Weekly. "I learned a lot about myself last year, and I'll be better for it.

"Now I'm ready to prove it."

Lawton made his major league debut with Minnesota in 1995 and remained with the Twins until the 2001 season, when he was traded to the New York Mets. He also played two seasons in Cleveland.

Earlier in the week Seattle let go pitcher Ryan Franklin and outfielder Jamal Strong, also among the 12 players who tested positive for steroids this year.

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