Since former Senator George Mitchell launched his investigation into baseball's steroid past 18 months ago, the big questions have been whether the final report would name names, and how many names would be named, and how important the names would be.

Some officials came away from a 30-team Major League Baseball conference call held mid-day Friday with the understanding that the forthcoming Mitchell report would include many names; names which have so far not been disclosed publicly; and the names of well-known players.

According to those familiar with the conference call, Tom Carlucci, a lawyer for MLB, told the team representatives on the conference call that the report is going to be "salacious."

Said one source familiar with what was said on the conference call, "This is going to be enormous ... it's going to be a huge story when these names come out."

Carlucci, part of the San Francisco-based firm of Foley and Lardner, indicated on the call, according to sources, that the report would come down sometime between the conclusion of the World Series and the beginning of the new year.

MLB vice president Rob Manfred downplayed the significance of what was said on the call, saying that Carlucci is not even in a position to know specifically what has been generated by the Mitchell investigation. What Carlucci told the clubs, Manfred said, was that for their planning purposes, they should assume that the number of players who will be named will be "more than a handful."

"No one except Senator Mitchell's people know for sure whether there's going to be names named and how many names are involved and who those names are," Manfred said.

Mitchell issued a statement that did not go into specifics.

"The investigation has not been completed, and no decisions have been made about any aspect of the report," he said.

There were questions from club officials about whether individual teams would be given an opportunity to review the report for accuracy, according to sources, and the response was that teams will probably not be allowed to respond to the Mitchell report before its release.

Don Fehr, the executive director of the Players Association, said that he had no idea what was said on the conference call, but added, "It is my understanding that no such decisions have been made, of written conclusions, or anything like that... There's only one person who knows the answers to that."

Fehr was referring, of course, to George Mitchell.

There has been great concern among some agents, players and management officials about the implications of guilt that will be attached to any name contained within the report. They also have questions about the standards of proof the Mitchell investigators will apply before a player's name is included in the report.

The consensus among them is that Mitchell and his investigators are in a position to broadly define those standards for themselves.

"If Senator Mitchell has a list of players who were on the mailing list of a pharmaceutical company," said one agent, "I don't know what can stop him from putting that in his report."

Commissioner Bud Selig, meanwhile, said he wasn't worried about Mitchell's findings.

"None of us know what's in that thing," Selig said at the NL championship series in Phoenix. "There's nothing to be afraid of. Whatever comes out comes out. I have no concern."

Albany County District Attorney David Soares, whose own investigation aimed to shut down a major supply line of illegal prescription drugs and "was never about cleaning up sports," has met with representatives from the Mitchell Commission.

The New York Times reported last month that the names of 10 more baseball players turned up on a list of clients at the Florida pharmacy at the center of Soares' investigation into illegal steroid sales.

Heather Orth, a spokeswoman for Soares, said Thursday she was not sure exactly what information had been turned over to Major League Baseball but said the DA's office has not given the league a list of players.

shit, i'm afraid MY name might even be on that list

shit, i'm afraid MY name might even be on that list

do you think the speculation that tejada might be on that list is why the trade went through today?

does your trade value decrease if you are on that list, probably yes.

I had the same thought, although I don't think his trade value would decrease unless there was evidence he was still doing it. The teams don't care, they just want the production. The reason why I think it went through before the report came out was to protect Houston from getting publicly slammed for making the trade AFTER it becomes public knowledge. At least now they can say they didn't know before the trade went through.

Bottom line, both teams wanted the deal to happen, so they pushed it through quickly to help both teams deal with the anticipated fallout over the report.

I'm going to guess that Clemens name is in there, and possibly Frank Thomas. Tejada for sure. A number of mid-90s Rangers and Orioles. It wouldn't shock me to see John Smoltz named either, although I love the guy and hope he's not. I'm just thinking about the timing of his injury that forced him into the closer's role, and how easy it would have been for him to use HGH to help him like Byrd and others apparently did.

I'm going to guess that Clemens name is in there, and possibly Frank Thomas. Tejada for sure. A number of mid-90s Rangers and Orioles. It wouldn't shock me to see John Smoltz named either, although I love the guy and hope he's not. I'm just thinking about the timing of his injury that forced him into the closer's role, and how easy it would have been for him to use HGH to help him like Byrd and others apparently did.

As a Tigers fan, I am worried about how seeing Pudge and Sheff on this list, and how that might affect the upcoming World Series Championship season. There's no way those two are absent from this list, I just hope they're the only ones.

Any guesses on who the surprise guests on this list will be?

The only reason I mention Thomas is the reference to MVPs and guys who are likely to come up for HoF consideration. I don't think I've heard anything about him juicing, but who knows.

Nobody is going to care in a year. These guys likely haven't used for a couple of years. The report is going to focus on history, most likely 2001-2004 or so. The guys with ties to 2005 (like the Guillen and the other guy who got suspended) will get that same 15 day suspension (which is what the penalty was in place back then for a second positive test). I'll be shocked if he uncovers evidence of currently-using players.

Besides, Pudge and Sheffield are widely known to have been "outed".

I think Thomas was a tight end at Auburn - not sure if he ever played.

I seriously doubt Thomas is involved. He's been pretty outspoken about this topic and joked about how if anyone has seen his sisters before, they would realize size runs in the family.

All I'm hoping for is tons of pitchers to be on the list.

So much to take in...dizzying, isn't it? The hearsay and the innuendo and suspicions and all that.

Sheff & Pudge juiced - Sheff got caught ("clear" & "cream" remember) and Pudge, the spring training after MLB's first doping tests were in place, immediately dropped almost 30 lbs of bulk before telling media "Thin is in".

I would very literally be shocked if Thomas' name surfaced. First off, he's always been a hulking figure - from his football days to the bigs. More tellingly, he was all but gagged & bound by the MLBPA when, in the mid 90's, he publicly begged his locker room to be piss tested then & there. Remember that? He was whistle blowing a year or two before the Sosa (doped) & McGwire (doped) Summer of '98.

It doesn't do any good to contribute to the witch hunt but it's hard not to. I'm inclined to agree a number of pitchers names will appear. I don't want to say I'm 'hoping' anybody's name will be on there but I really would like to think having the stink of this embarassment might deter some players from meddling with the stuff....

And after the report is issued, what then?

I'm guessing outrage, followed by less outrage, followed by Frank DeFord's commentary, followed by discussion of possible record book revision, followed by nothing.

I'm rooting for Carlton Fisk to show up on the list. And Roger Clemens. And Randy Johnson. I'd also like to see Derek Jeter on this list. And Jeff Kent.

Actually I don't really care.

And not to mention, there was a fair amount of speculation that Clemens' first delayed season (2006) was more about him sitting out due to steroid related issues than aribitration issues between him and the Astros during the offseason.

Here's the list that is circulating around the New York financial markets this morning. I make no claim to its legitimacy, but this list is flying around everywhere. I'm just going to cut and paste it.

"Brady Anderson, Manny Alexander, Rick Ankiel, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Aaron Boone, Rafaeil Bettancourt, Bret Boone,
Milton Bradley, David Bell, Dante Bichette, Albert Belle, Paul Byrd,
Wil Cordero, Ken Caminiti, Mike Cameron, Ramon Castro, Jose and Ozzie Canseco,
Roger Clemens, Paxton Crawford, Wilson Delgado, Lenny
Dykstra, Johnny Damon, Carl Everett, Kyle Farnsoworth,
Ryan Franklin, Troy Glaus, Rich Garces, Jason Grimsley, Troy Glaus,
Juan Gonzalez, Eric Gagne, Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Giambi, Jeremy
Giambi,

(9:54:45 AM) : Jose Guillen, Jay Gibbons, Juan Gonzalez,
Clay Hensley, Jerry Hairston, Felix Heredia, Jr., Darren
Holmes, Wally Joyner, Darryl Kile, Matt Lawton, Raul Mondesi,
Mark McGwire, Guillermo Mota, Robert Machado, Damian Moss, Abraham Nunez,
Trot Nixon, Jose Offerman, Andy Pettitte, Mark Prior,Neifi Perez,
Rafael Palmiero, Albert Pujols, Brian Roberts, Juan Rincon, John Rocker, Pudge Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa,
Scott Schoenweiis, David Segui, Alex Sanchez, Gary Sheffield, Miguel
Tejada, Julian Tavarez,Fernando Tatis, Maurice Vaughn, Jason
Varitek, Ismael Valdez, Matt Williams and Kerry Wood.

Carlton Fisk? Wow, that's a name I have never heard mentioned with this mess.

But yeah, the other two would be nice to see. Along with Kent. And if somehow Jeter's name made it, that would be the biggest subplot of the entire story.

If I could put one name on this list, it would be A-Rod.

I'm guessing outrage, followed by less outrage, followed by Frank DeFord's commentary, followed by possible record book revision, followed by nothing.

Pujols on that list could be fairly significant for baseball.

Didn't Darrel Kile mysteriously die in his sleep? Yikes.

Yes - in a hotel room here in Chicago before a day game against the Cubs. Joe Girardi took the field and announced there would be no game that day - stuck in my memory for life...

That Pujols shows up saddens me.

This is going to be really ugly - all the pointing & jabbering & circling of wagons & positioning & blah blah blah...