Orioles quiet as steroids speculation swirls

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco declined to comment. That office has been at the center of an ongoing federal steroids investigation.

Sosa, Palmeiro, Grimsley, Segui and Tatis were among those whose medical records were being sought by investigators, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The (New York) Daily News reported in Wednesday's editions that Mitchell's panel wants information from Hairston, along with Palmeiro, Segui and Tatis.

Sosa and Palmeiro both played for Baltimore in 2005; Grimsley played in 2004-05; Segui retired after an injury-plagued 2004 season with the Orioles; and Tatis was limited action in 2006.

Mitchell initially asked teams for the medical records, but clubs concluded they were not able to release them because of federal and state privacy laws, a lawyer familiar with the requests said, speaking on condition of anonymity because disclosure of such details wasn't authorized.

The union, the commissioner's office and Mitchell's staff agreed in April to a procedure in which Mitchell's staff would ask teams for medical records of certain players, the teams would send the records to the players, and the players would make the decision individually whether to release them to Mitchell's investigators. Mitchell has requested records for more than a dozen players but fewer than 100, the lawyer said.

Mitchell also sent a letter to the players' association on March 28 requesting interviews with active players, and talks on that request are ongoing. Agents for players have said in recent weeks that it was unlikely players would provide medical records of agree to interviews.

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AP Baseball Writers Ronald Blum and Mike Fitzpatrick contributed to this report.