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Pujols trainer denies being named by Grimsley

Mihlfeld also says Cards slugger 'frustrated' by rumors he's taking steroids

Image: Albert Pujols
Tom Gannam / AP
Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols, who is injured, reportedly has ties to scandal-plagued reliever Jason Grimsley through Pujols' personal trainer.
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msnbc.com news services
updated 12:39 a.m. ET June 11, 2006

A personal trainer denied that his name was redacted from a 20-page affidavit released Tuesday after federal investigators searched the home of former Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Jason Grimsley, The Kansas City Star and St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday.

Chris Mihlfeld also said there is no way that St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols, who works with Mihlfeld, was one of the names given by Grimsley or that he is using performance-enhancing substances.

"I just don't want my name to be part of this,'' Mihlfeld said. "It's not fair to me. It's not fair to my family. It's not fair to the other players I work with. It's not fair to the kids I work with.''

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Several Web sites said that Mihlfeld was one of the people identified by Grimsley as people involved in steroid usage in baseball.

Mihlfeld said he firmly believes Pujols is not one of the names stated on the affidavit by Grimsley, who named several former and current major league players who allegedly used banned substances such as steroids, human growth hormone and amphetamines.

"I can guarantee you that one, too,'' Mihlfeld told the Star. "I've known Albert since he was 18 years old. Albert won't even drink his protein shakes anymore during the season because he's scared they're contaminated. That's been part of his training for the last five or six years, and all of a sudden he won't even do that. He's tired of it. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of people putting this kid down. He's a great kid. Let him be great. He's clean.''

Mihlfeld told the Star that he has spoken with Pujols and Grimsley since Grimsley's house was searched Tuesday. He said Pujols is frustrated by the notion that he is taking drugs.

"You know why he's frustrated?'' Mihlfeld told the Star. "Because he cares. He cares what every little kid thinks about him. He cares if some kid picks up a magazine, and they start talking about steroids. He cares that little kids will always link that to him. He's sick about it. He hates it."

Arizona released Grimsley on Wednesday, a day after his home was searched by federal agents following his admission he used human growth hormone, steroids and amphetamines. Grimsley’s agent, Joe Bick, told the AP the revelations were likely to end the 38-year-old reliever’s career.

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Thirteen federal agents searched Grimsley’s home in Scottsdale, Ariz., for six hours Tuesday, but didn’t reveal what was found. Investigators who cracked the BALCO steroid scandal in San Francisco said Grimsley initially cooperated in the probe but withdrew his assistance in April, prompting Tuesday’s search.

An affadavit in support of that raid said agents had tracked a package containing human growth hormone to Grimsley’s house April 19 and confronted him at his door. Novak said agents coerced Grimsley into cooperating to avoid being embarrassed in front of friends and family members at the home.

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