While speaking at a charity event in New Hyde Park on Wednesday David Wright was quoted as saying his former teammate and good friend Paul Lo Duca deserves "a harsh penalty" if the allegations against him in the Mitchell report are true.

"He's a guy I would go to battle for any day, but when you're talking about steroids, you're talking about something that's illegal," Wright said of Lo Duca. "Steroids are something I could never - no matter how close of a friend it is - condone."

"I'd like to think that maybe there's some fabrication [about Lo Duca in the report], or maybe it's not all true," Wright said. "But I've said it from day one - whether it's my best friend in the game or whoever, if they get caught . . . using performance-enhancing drugs or steroids, there should be a harsh penalty."

According to Wright, he keeps in touch with Lo Duca, but they do not discuss HGH or steroids.

It's very uncharacteristic of Wright to speak about other players, but for something like performance enhancing drugs, it seems as if he feels very strongly about eliminating them from baseball, hence the "harsh punishment" comment.