VIERA, Fla. -- Paul Lo Duca, cited in the Mitchell Report as a user of steroids and human growth hormone and the person who referred former Dodgers teammates Eric Gagne and Kevin Brown to his drug supplier, issued a statement Saturday in which he apologized for "mistakes in judgment."
Lo Duca met briefly with reporters Saturday but did not discuss particular performance-enhancing substances and would not directly say what he was apologizing for.
"C'mon, bro," Lo Duca said. "Next question."
Lo Duca issued the statement on the day he reported to camp with the Washington Nationals, who signed the four-time All-Star to a one-year, $5-million contract two days before Mitchell released his report. He had not commented publicly since the Mitchell Report was released in December, saying he chose to focus his off-season on his knee surgery and rehabilitation.
"When the baseball season started back up, I wanted to take care of this issue," Lo Duca said. "It hasn't been something that's burning inside me, obviously."
He said he did not know he would be named in the report and did not push to sign a new contract before its release. Still, Lo Duca called it "a big relief" to have his misdeeds exposed.
"You do something wrong in your life and you get away with it," he said, "you still have something inside of you that burns."
The report cites former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski as saying he sold at least six kits of human growth hormone to Lo Duca. Federal law forbids the use of HGH and steroids without a legitimate medical prescription.
"In regards to the Mitchell Report," his statement read, "I apologize to my family, all my fans and the entire baseball community for mistakes in judgment I made."
Lo Duca declined to say whether the specific statements about him in the report were accurate. He acknowledged that he passed up the opportunity to meet with Mitchell before the report was released.
"I respect what he's done," Lo Duca said. "I respect that they're cleaning up the game. I'm 100% in favor of the report. It's not a lie. I'm not saying that to say that. I am. But I just never spoke to him."
Commissioner Bud Selig did not meet his timetable of determining by the start of spring training whether active players cited in the Mitchell Report would be suspended. Lo Duca said he has not been contacted by the commissioner's office.
