Gillies arrested for cocaine possession
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Gillies arrested for cocaine possession
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
UPDATE (5:06 p.m.): Read the latest version of the story, with more details of the arrest, here.
Phillies prospect Tyson Gillies, one of the three players acquired in the Cliff Lee trade this past off-season, was arrested for cocaine possession in Clearwater, Fla., early Friday morning.
Gillies, 21, was arrested by Pinellas County Sheriff's Officers at 1:48 a.m. Friday morning, according to a spokeswoman. The possession charge is a felony.
Gillies was released from jail at 10:52 a.m. on a $2,000 cash bond.
He was found by police at the La Quinta Inn on Route 19 in Clearwater, less than a mile from the Phillies' spring training complex.
The story was first reported by the St. Petersburg Times.
The team issued the following statement:
"The Phillies have confirmed that Tyson Gillies was charged today on a drug possession charge arising out of an incident that was alleged to have occurred in June. Because this is an open case, we will not comment further at this time."
Gillies played two games for double-A Reading in June, but spent the majority of his time working out at the Phillies' complex in Clearwater while attempting to rehab a sore left hamstring that has slowed him all season.
This past week, Gillies saw his first game action since June. The Vancouver native played three games for the Gulf Coast League Phillies.
On Wednesday, Gillies told his hometown newspaper, The Kamloops Daily News, that he was "finally figuring out the little things coaches have been trying to explain, things you have to struggle with and feel for yourself."
But after three games in the Gulf Coast League, he was shut down again because of the bothersome hamstring. He told the paper he could be headed for a visit with renowned orthopedist James Andrews for an examination.
Gillies hit .229 with two home runs and six RBIs in 26 games for Reading this season. Along with pitchers Phillippe Aumont and J.C. Ramirez, Gillies was acquired by the Phillies on Dec. 16, 2009 from Seattle for Lee.
The outfielder was born with hearing impairments in both ears and is legally deaf.
More to come.
Who's he think he is? Keith Hernandez?— pigday31
the coke was to help relieve his hamstring
Rube the Boob can sure pick them!— younged- he's going to the Florida Instructional League this winter to learn how to get his Michael Phelps on properly,....think we can get the cubs to eat about 30 million and trade Gillies even up for Zambrano??— SyddBarrett
Get rid of him or let him go.— pedge- use cocaine. Howe was the second player banned from baseball because of substance abuse. The first was Fergunson Jenkins.— EL Zorro
- Didn't Steve Howe used cocaine also? He was a nasty closer for a while, wasn't he?— EL Zorro
- Is he still going to the AFL in Novemeber?— Romus
- guess he was trying to get his micheal phelps on and got confused— SyddBarrett
- How do you get popped for coke in a hotel room if you are snorting? The sucking sound of the straw alerted the authorities, perhaps? I would bet that old Tyson may have been hitting the glass pipe. Smoke is definitely more of an attraction to nosy neighbors than powder. Tyson remember dude.....the best hit is the first hit, and when the Phils said they needed you to have more hits, they meant it on the diamond, not at the La Quinta Inn.— rockinrob
- I still think we got the better end of the Cliff Lee trade— erbower
- Here comes the Amaro hate parade from all the ingrates
Comment removed.- If the dude would have the misfortune of going blind he would have all bases covered. Deaf Dumb & Blind Good GOD— slapback
- Cliff Lee Who?— boobird#20
- As if we were all mad at the prospect we got back from the Lee deal a couple months ago this one has topped it off.— JST1331
- Darryl Strawberry is his consultant on this matter.— ob18
- They say prospects are like stock some you keep, some you sell. I guess Gillies is like DeLorian stock.— EarlKeese
well if it worked for daryl strawberry and doc gooden, who are we to doubt the performance benefits of cocain use?- He's my new favorite player.....Kinda reminiscent of Greased Up Deaf Guy— JohnnyN
- Glen Beck was right!! Damn immigrants taking our jobs and breaking our laws.— ForWhoForWhat?
- Time to send him to the Mets— mike
- dumb. hope he gets his act together and learns from this.— esesjay
- When you are arrested you go to "jail" not prison, so he would be released from county jail. Its amazing so many in the media have trouble with this concept. Only convicted felons go to prison,county jails house those waiting for trial and thus not convicted yet and those serving a sentence under 365 days or the state requirment,which changes from state to state. In Florida, a sentence of 366 days is a "prison" sentence. On an even more depressing note, this CLiff Lee deal keeps looking worse and worse. Aumont was demoted to single A ball and he is still gettting lit up by those young propects, hopefully Aumont can turn it around. WOuld love to Lee in the rotation with Halladay for this stretch run. It seems Hamels is an improvement from last year but he still seems to find ways to lose every game he pitches, plus the Phils could use a tough Lefty.
- Comment removed.
and he is Outta' here!— Graves- hahahahahahaha way to go Ruben. That's your boy.— power808
- is it too late to return him for cliff?— Random39
"Twice as sweet as sugar, twice as pretty as salt. And if you get hooked, baby, it's nobody else's fault, so don't do it!"— bboybeballin- Oh the Cliff Lee trade is looking worse and worse.— Jerseymagic
- Sad.— Julius May
- wonderful...— spittooncj
Well this isn't good. Que the ..............
