Several O's Cited by Commission

A day after the Baltimore Orioles traded shortstop Miguel Tejada to the Houston Astros, he was among the current and former Orioles linked to performance-enhancing drugs by former Senate majority leader George J. Mitchell's report on steroid use in baseball.

Second baseman Brian Roberts, a former all-star, was also among those named in Mitchell's report.

Citing Adam Piatt, Tejada's former teammate with the Oakland Athletics, the report said Tejada, a former American League Most Valuable Player, purchased steroids and human growth hormone in 2003.

"According to Piatt, Tejada asked specifically if he had any steroids," the report said. "Piatt believed that Tejada asked him because Piatt was in good shape and generally friendly with him.

"Piatt had several conversations with Tejada before a transaction occurred. Piatt admitted he had access to steroids and human growth hormone and agreed to obtain them for Tejada. Piatt recalled that he provided Tejada with testosterone or Deca-Durabolin, as well as human growth hormone."

According to the report, Piatt's bank provided the investigators with copies of two checks written to Piatt by Tejada, one for $3,100 and the other for $3,200. Both are dated March 21, 2003. Copies of both checks are included in Mitchell's report.

According to the report, Piatt told former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk J. Radomski that he needed to purchase testosterone for an associate, whom he later identified to Radomski as Tejada. Radomski was interviewed four times by Mitchell's investigators, according to the report, and told them of his conversation with Piatt about Tejada. Radomski told the investigators that he never spoke to Tejada or sold performance-enhancing drugs directly to him, the report said.

Tejada was not available to comment. One of his agents, Diego Bentz, said: "I've got no comment."

Fernando Cuza, another representative of Tejada, did not return telephone messages.

According to the report, Tejada declined to meet with Mitchell.

Former Orioles player and coach Rick Dempsey said of the allegations in the report about Tejada: "The suspicion was there. I don't know what the truth is. I coached on teams that Tejada played on. I never saw him take drugs. I never even saw him take an aspirin. I never paid attention. That wasn't my job. My job was to work with the catchers. There were just suspicions about some guys."

Andy MacPhail, the Orioles' president of baseball operations, did not return messages. He said during a conference call with reporters Wednesday that the pending release of the Mitchell report "really didn't have anything to do with" the timing of the trade and "was never discussed" with the Astros.