Here I thought he'd be the bigger man, and explain his growth...

Thank you, try the veal. ;)

I apologize.

Batgirl's started another usage discussion! And who knew that Jason Giambi even HAD usage?

Wow, a PR gaffe that might actually top Doug Mientkiewicz's.

"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I can't tell you."

Great, I feel much better.

Now let's hope this becomes a festering sore for the Yankees all season long.

Come on, Bat-Girl, don't be such a prude. Even Fowler eventually succumbed to the sentence adverb.

Do you think that Giambi should be forced to comment on testimony that was illegally leaked to the press? I think your outrage is misplaced.

Think Brenda Lee will blare out as Giambi comes up to bat this year? I'm sorry, so sorry.....

Stick and Ball Guy is on the right track, I think. I don't see Bonds apologizing for anything (ambiguous or otherwise). More importantly, I don't see any other (current) baseball players (not trying to sell books) coming out and apologizing. If we honestly think that Giambi is the only one who knowingly used steroids (and at a time where they weren't necessary illegal in baseball, no less) then we should be outraged at Giambi. As it stands, he is the most righteous of the bunch (for what that is worth).

Giambi, according to leaked testimony, began injecting steroids after his career was already underway. Without debating whether this was a smart move or what his motivation could have been, he had the talent to excel in this league before juicing. I would like to see him post a line of .310/30/100 this year and go on to a post-baseball life of educating people on the dangers of steroids. His apology has opened the door for this life. Without the apology and public remorse, he would be a hypocrite like Bonds and Sheffield (and others that are yet unnamed and unwilling to come forward). He is still in the wrong. Please don't mistake my ramblings for support of his actions regarding the use of steroids. Rather, he told the truth to the grand jury, and apologized for something yesterday. That's more than anyone else in the league has done.

Yes, it was completely a PR move...but isn't that what baseball needs? More Public Relations? We have already decided that PR is the thing that the Twins need most, so why not (on some small level) appreciate the (however minimal) attempt at reinstating the good baseball feelings we had about Giambi before the steroids-news became back-page fodder.

To recap, steroids are bad. Players who take steroids are bad. Players who took steroids are bad. Players who took steroids and haven't come forward are bad. Players who took steroids and have told the truth at the grand jury and have apologized ambiguously are bad, just not quite as bad as the others... m'kay?

YankeeFan

P.S. Just realized that Mr. Mackey is the guy who says m'kay (which is basically mackey)... is this intended and am I simply the last one to get the joke (as usual)?

Insider - That was Connie Francis I think, or did Brenda Lee do a version of it too?

Here's a question... Why hasn't there ever been any Twins who have taken steroids? Of course we don't know that for sure, but by looking at the player's physiques over the last few years and the fact that there have been little or no "rumblings" about steroid use here in Minnesota, I feel pretty confident that steroid use is not an issue at 5th and Chicago Avenue.

Potential reasons:

(a) Twins typically haven't had on their team a "big bopper" for whom steroid use would concievably help.

(b) Twins organizationally have frowned on steroid use and have stayed away from players who potentially have taken steroids. Also a good minor league system that warns of the dangers of, and discourages steroid use in its younger players.

I hope it is reason (b), but am resigned to it being reason (a).

I don't have a problem with using "hopefully" in that context. I would use "frankly" or "similarly" as sentence adverbs, so why not "hopefully"?

Because, frankly, I have no opinion on Giambi's apology.

And, similarly, I have little opinion about former athletes calling out other athletes just to sell more books.

*Why hasn't there ever been any Twins who have taken steroids?*

I suspect the answer is "Because we trade them to Toronto for Shannon Stewart." But that's nothing more than a hunch.

Who wants to bet their life that Marty Cordova wasn't taking steroids?

I also apologize.

I can't help it, I still like Giambi. He's had a rough go of it lately. Not just the testimony/steroids thing. I kept expecting to hear on Sports Center that a plague of locusts had infested Giambi's locker.

As for the apology, well, I don't know. It's just an instinct, but I've never perceived Giambi as the type to do something like that strictly for PR reasons. Maybe I'm just not cynical enough. And, as YankeeFan said, it's more than we're getting from anyone else.

On the usage issue, well, you've read my posts, it's obvious I know nothing of usage.

Lo siento tambien

Wonder Woman

I think positive examples for America's youth has been replaced with bling and Canadain worship.

I mean, did you see the way Koskos and Dr. Morneau demolish trees? They gotta be juiced!

TwinsGeek -

I am all hopped up on cold meds, so my mental clarity isn't at 100%, but are you referring to Bobby Kielty?

What's the story behind that comment? I'm intrigued...

Say Rah!

Unfortunately, in an age when reporters for NPR and the New York Times have been known to confuse the use of "lie" and "lay," we should probably cut a baseball player some slack for following the prevalent usage of "hopefully."

I'm actually more concerned by the phrase "at the present time." What ever happened to "now"?

I'm with Yankee Fan on this one. It would be nice to see someone come off steroids and then have some productive years -- that might actually do more to curb steroid use than any testing. Though perhaps the PR person who helped put together yesterday's tableau needs to look for another line of work. How could they NOT realize the media, especially in New York, would jump all over the vagueness of Giambi's apology?

Anyway, The Cardinal Birdhouse has an interview with a health and fitness journalist on the steroids issue, that was pretty interesting.
Here's the link:
http://www.thestlcardinals.com/WALBxInterviewwithFitnessExpertLouSchuler.html

I tell you what - I'm on the juice, and I'm not sorry.

Hahaha, Haplo...

...reminds me of this:

http://www.comics.com/comics/getfuzzy/archive/getfuzzy-20050112.html

I never liked Jason Giambi, but I have to say that I stand with YankeeFan, mmmarkiep, and Redbird on this. At least he admitted it, and is (sort of) acknowledging it publicly. I've got to give him credit for that, though it's tough not to let out a little chuckle at his vague statement.

Bobby Kielty did go to Toronto for Stewart. I had to web-search to be sure though, and in the process found a nice quote on
http://www.wyoung.net/Stewart.html where this guy is explaining why Shannon Stewart is his brother's favorite baseball player:
"Shannon Stewart was easily the most friendly player we ever had the pleasure to talk to. Not only did he sign autographs for us, but he also threw up about fifteen pieces of Bazooka Bubble Gum from the dugout to my brother."

Quite a feat! Did the brother put the regurgitated bubble gum on eBay?

Oh here we are, back to usage again!

Actually, I cut and pasted one of the recent usage discussions out of here and e-mailed it to my brother the English teacher, and added, "You'd never see a discussion like this on a football fan site, would you?"

To reiterate, this is absolutely speculation. If you can't deduce from my comments that I have no inside info on this, then let me make it clear - I'm just thinking out loud.

That said, if I had to choose the current or ex-Twins who was most likely to have done 'roids, I would choose Kielty. There is a certain profile for guys and he fits it. Outstanding breakout seasons from someone who wasn't highly thought of. Suddenly showing way more power than before. Lots of little injury problems later. Sudden decline (that roughly corresponds to the time they began testing). Plus, he just looked like he had that puffed up head and neck that seem to go with usage.

I also wouldn't be shocked if the Twins figured it out and were more willing to trade him because of it. Or if it played into their hesitation to commit to him as a full time starter.

To be fair, there are lots of other reasons that could explain some of that. He might of just had a great year-plus, and then started dealing with some chronic injuries. There was some suggestions I published just before 2003 that he was due for a fall because of his low contact rate (pitchers figured out he couldn't hit as well as he seemed). But I wondered about his growth even when he was here, and his subsequent fade hasn't diminished my suspicions.

New Topic.

Kyle Lohse won his arbitration case.

Yours,
k-bro

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/baseball/mlb/02/11/bc.bbo.arbitration.ap/index.html

skorch and Insider -

I had to look this up, but Brenda Lee did in fact sing "I'm Sorry". Connie Francis sang "Who's Sorry Now?" (skorch, perhaps?)

Apologies,
TribeScribe

Bobby Kielty exhibited a lot of symptoms described above, plus the stroid-acne. Bobby Kielty had a huge head full of pimples when he was with the Twins, if memory serves.

There was a big discussion on ESPN radio's Dan Patrick Show today about Sosa and McGuire's stroid-scarred complexions.

Those big zits are reason enough to get me off the juice -- I don't care about money that much.

Give your face something to smile about with Stridex, dudes!

Hahaha, can't you see the endorsement potential though????

Hi, I'm Gary Sheffield. If you're a teenager, or major league baseball player, try Clearasil cream. (Which can be nicknamed both the "clear" or the "cream").

Incidentally, you think the "Clearasil for Men" line, including cleansers and shaving cream product was made specifically for major leaguers?

http://www.clearasil.us/products/index_sub.phtml?column_category=7

Have a gerat weekend boys and girls... can you smell the baseball season yet?

YankeeFan

In re Lohse's successful arbitration:

I'm really unhappy.

I know it's not nice, but I was hoping we'd get rid of that nut-ball. He's not a fundamentally bad pitcher at all - he just never shows up with a level head. He'll throw 4 maybe 5 mentally-stable games a season... it's like he's in Fight or Flight mode before every single pitch. And he whines.

9-13 with a 5.34 ERA does not deserve a $2 million dollar raise. Kyle, if you're reading this, you have some 'splainin to do.

I really hope Joe Mays is back strong this year.

>Kyle Lohse won his arbitration case.

Everyone to the shelter now! The hour is upon us. It's the Apocolypse for sure.

Heheh. That Bucky Cat cracks me up, too, YF. Plus, for you, an added bonus as he's always busting Rob's chops for being a Red Sox fan.

Hmmm. Very interesting thoughts on Bobby. I guess I just naively assumed he was a swell dude. Maybe it was the less than menacing name and the Opie-esque appearance.

Interesting possibilities.

I'd like to have the arbitrator's head examined on that one.

His agent is Scott Boras, though. Must have scared the arbitrator...

TribeScribe - Thanks for clearing that up, I obviously got the two switched around.

Indeed, who's sorry now? Skorch is.

Kyle over the last 3 years is 35-32 with a 4.72 ERA, and has been paid a total of $940K over that time. As Twins Geek recently pointed out, the Twins have been getting a nice bargain out of him, and still should be even if he's getting $2m+ this year. Good for him. I hope... er, hopefully, he has a nice season for us this year.

As for Giambi, I don't feel sorry for him, but I agree with those who say he doesn't deserve to become a pariah or scapegoat of the steroids issue, either. It's been said that the home run, and specifically the Mac & Sammy Show in '98, brought fans back to the game after the '94 strike, and I don't recall anybody asking many hard, persistent questions about who was on steroids back then. "Oh, so you just take andro and creatine, huh, Mac? (wink, wink) OK." Nobody was in a hurry to drive Big Mac out of baseball. Cubby fans didn't turn on Sammy until he failed to deliver the 50+ homers they'd come to expect.

Giambi is on the spot because he told the truth during sealed testimony to a grand jury, and someone leaked it out. He'll have to face the consequences of what he's done, but the whole sport and its fans have enjoyed the performance benefits of steroids in the last decade. If we're in a mood to look into the dark side of juicing now, I think everybody is due for some examination and hard reflection.

Breaking news!! Al Nye the Lawyer Guy has the REAL story of the Giambi Press Conference!!!

check it out: http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/1826135onference.

:) Go Yanks!
xxxoo
Mrs. Johnson

I was so excited to find out the real story, but the link didn't work for me. Can you post it again??? Thanks!

TWINS DO'T USE ROIDS FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:1. THEY ARE TAUGHT FROM EARLY MINOR LEAGUE HOOD THAT HOME RUNS ARE A BAD THING TO HIT OR GIVE UP. 2.THEY EAT PLENTY OF GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES. 3.NO ONE IS WILLING TO STICK A NEEDLE IN A TEAMMATE'S ASS.4. TORII HUNTER ONCE SMOKED A ROACH THAT SOMEONE HAD FINISHED AND FLIPPED OVER A HIGH HEDGE. TORII LAUNCHED HIMSELF HIGH INTO THE AIR AND SNAGGED IT, TAKING ONE QUICK HIT BEFORE APOLOGIZING PROFUSELY. HE TELLS THIS STORY TO TEAMMATES CONSIDERING THE USE OF ANY TYPE OF DRUG. AL

THat's a trackback link, yankeemom. Use permalinks. Click my name for Al Nye the Lawyer Guy's blog.

so sorry! hit the wrong one

http://commonscold.typepad.com/commonscold/2005/02/breaking_news.html

this will take you to Al Nye's REAL story about hte press conference.

if any problems: commonscold.typepad.com - it's the today's post.

xxxooo
mrs. jeter

There is an amusing bit in the paper on what Giambi has to be sorry for:

http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/sp_columnists/article/0,2071,NPDN_14991_3542648,00.html

Well worth the read!

Love this blog. My question to you all is this: Do you think that any team will forego drug testing again this year? What I'm asking about, I suppose, are the new rules on steroids.

If a certain number of players test positive, as in last year, will higher safeguards and stricter penalties be thrown up?

MQ: The steroid testing policy is administered by Major League Baseball under its collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association - individual teams have no say as to whether or when players get tested.

The new testing and penalties policy announced last month was a result of a provision of the 2002 collective bargaining agreement, which called for random testing in 2003 of 120 percent of MLB players (i.e., some players got tested more than once) to get a general idea of what the level of steroid use might be throughout the game. Based on the 2003 tests, MLB said that 5 to 7 percent of players tested positive; others said the result was more like 6 to 8 percent. (The difference comes from the distinction between number of positive tests and number of players testing positive - some players were tested more than once).

Either way, passing the 5 percent threshhold in 2003 authorized MLB to impose testing and penalties starting in 2004. No player was penalized for steroid use last season. Under the present basic agreement, MLB can impose testing until fewer than 2.5 percent of the players test positive in two consecutive years.

The policy announced in January 2005 adds ephedra, HGH, steroid precursors, diuretics, and masking agents to the list of banned substances, and provides for somewhat stiffer penalties than those in effect for positive tests in 2004. While these are the toughest penalties MLB has ever had, they look pretty weak compared to the penalties in effect, say, for the International Olympic Committee. I think the Players Association still has to ratify this policy due to the changes beyond the 2002 basic agreement, but I find it hard to imagine that it won't.

Under the 2005 arrangement, players are subject to year-round, unannounced testing, and each player is to be tested at least once a year.
"Selected players" (players under suspicion?) can be tested repeatedly. A first positive test gets a ten-day suspension, with escalating penalties up to a year's suspension for a fourth positive test.

I don't think that penalties stiffer than those announced last month by MLB are a likely possibility, due to the fairly mixed reaction to the policy in the U.S. and the strength of the Players Association. (Worldwide, it was generally regarded as a joke, but hey who cares what anybody else thinks? |:-) )

I've come to the view that although these penalties do look pretty weak, they might be enough to deter steroid use in the big leagues. Because minor leaguers have been tested for some time anyway, I don't think it's ever been a big problem that young players are juicing their way to the majors. It's more a problem of marginal players trying to hang on to major league jobs, and star players trying to juice their way to huge contracts (Giambi) or Cooperstown (Bonds). By itself, the public fallout over the latter class of transgression might prove to be a pretty good deterrent for most players, as long as a rigorous testing program remains in place.