There’s one good reason why the lawyers of Barry Bonds are not worried on the testimonies of former team mates and other baseball players who also worked with Greg Anderson. They don’t have a direct knowledge about the allege use of anabolic steroids of the former baseball slugger. These players only talk about their relationship with Greg Anderson, Bonds former trainer. The defense told the court in a filing that the government is using these witnesses to implicate Bonds in the use of steroids because of his association with Anderson.

The defense presented to the court 83 pages of grand jury excerpts from the BALCO investigation in December 2003. It includes the testimonies of baseball players summoned by a grand jury to shed light on the alleged use of steroids by several baseball players. However, these testimonies were centered on the trainer who gave them supplements and drugs to boost their performance. They were all talking about how Greg Anderson gave them products that were supposed to help them perform better in the field. But the prosecution will have a difficult time proving Bonds also used steroids because some of the baseball players were not sure if the products from Anderson were really steroids.

A lawyer from Anderson’s camp told the NY Daily News that the excerpts from the BALCO investigation showed that Anderson never told these baseball players on the government’s list of witnesses that the products were steroids. “Not one of the excerpts has an athlete saying, ‘Greg told me this is a steroid.’ The government wants them to testify to demonstrate a guilt by association,” Paula Canny said. “The government is saying, ‘They all knew (Anderson) provided steroids, therefore Barry knew.’ But the transcripts consistently show these witnesses saying the opposite thing,” she added.

Barry Bonds was also part of the BALCO investigation and he denied that he knowingly used anabolic steroids. However, his former trainer, Greg Anderson pleaded guilty to distributing designer steroids and already jailed for that offense. He also served another 6 months for contempt because he refused to testify against Bonds in another investigation. Judge Susan Illston warned the former baseball trainer that he will be facing contempt if he still refuses to testify against Bonds. However, Anderson has no plans on talking about his detailed work relationship with Bonds. Legal experts say that Anderson can put an end to this perjury case.

The NY Daily News qouted portions of the testimonies of former Yankees Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi, former Jet and Patriot Larry Izzo and other players. When Sheffield was asked about the cream and the clear, the baseball player told the jury that Anderson never said to him that those were steroids. “No sir. (Anderson) just told me (the cream) was a massage cream you put on arthritic joints,” Sheffield said. He also told the jury that if he knows these were steroids, he would never take them.

Larry Izzo doesn’t recall any conversation about steroids with Anderson.”The word ’steroid’ I don’t recall,” he said. Benito Santiago, a former team mate of Bonds, said Anderson never told him that the clear was undetectable steroid.

On the other hand, Jason Giambi’s testimony shows that he might know the product was a performance enhancing drug but believed it was an alternative to taking steroids. Though Anderson told him that the product is undetectable in the test, the trainer did not discussed other details about the clear. “He didn’t really explain them. He just told me to take them. He explained it had something to do with my system. He didn’t go into depth about it,” Giambi told the jury.

Barry Bonds’ trial is scheduled on March 21 in a US District court in San Francisco.

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