LAWYER: JASON GRIMSLEY IS A PAWN, FEDS ARE AFTER BARRY BONDS

Grimsley's lawyer says feds after Bonds - Baseball - MSNBC.com

This story gets curiouser and curiouser. Jason Grimsley's lawyer is now asserting that his client was a merely a tool for the feds to get more evidence on Barry Bonds.

Grimsley's lawyer, Edward Novak, said the authorities tried to get Grimsley to wear a wire in order to implicate Bonds in further trouble.

Jason Grimsley, who was cut by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday after admitting to steroid use, was only a pawn in federal agents' attempt to gather evidence against Barry Bonds, Grimsley's attorney told the Arizona Republic.

According to Grimsley's lawyer Edward F. Novak, the feds tried to
pressure Grimsley into wearing a listening device to lure other players into
confidential conversations, all in an effort to find evidence against Bonds of
steroid use.

"It was a specific effort to target Bonds," Novak told the Republic.
"We were told that Jason's cooperation was necessary to their case."

Grimsley denied that he named names.

Novak denied reports that Grimsley volunteered names of other users to the feds, saying that instead, agents asked the pitcher about specific athletes and what he knew about their drug habits.

"They asked him specifically about Barry Bonds and Jason said he didn't know Bonds well and didn't know if he did or didn't use drugs," Novak told the Republic. "There is a lot in the affidavit that my client would dispute."

But his client wouldn't dispute, Novak said, that he used steroids himself.

Grimsley's defense is that he took steroids, but he's no rat.