I don't see a Jason Giambi "apology" thread!

[joeybee12]

Did I miss something?

Anyway, the guy's gonna die young, so I can't bash him too much. Even if he did do steroids and can't admit it, AND he's a Yankee!

I will say this--he's one of the few Yankees who agreed to be in the NESN Red Sox Championship video! Made a couple comments.

[DaveinMD]

1. actually

he's the only one who did admit it. Most of the sluggers in the game were on the juice and he's the only one being villified.

[joeybee12]

2. My understanding is he admitted it during his grand jury testimony..

...but yesterday when he apologized to the fans, he didn't say what he was apologizing for.

[DaveinMD]

3. yep

and the others claimed in their testimony that they didn't know what they put in their bodies. How believeable is that. Barry Bonds goes from a guy who hits 30 to 70 home runs and only occasionally used the cream. It just isn't believeable.

Giambi apologized yesterday but couldn't be more specific because of instructions from his attorney and from the US Attorneys office.

[joeybee12]

4. Yeah, I love Barry's testimony--"it was linseed oil" or so he thought!

Then he puts on 40 pounds of muscle!

[kick-ass-bob]

5. he apologized - but for what?

He never said what he was apologizing for!
:wtf:

Isn't part of the apology process owning up to what you did?

[DaveinMD]

8. he apologized for what he did

he couldn't get into specifics on orders from the US Attorneys office. Its ludicrous that Giambi is the scapegoat for the steroid use by players throughout the major leagues. He's the only one who's admitted it and the only one who's being questioned.

[tishaLA]

6. And the NYTimes blasts him and the Yankees today

Apparently, it was pretty well known that Giambi (and others) were roided up for years. When Giambi signed with the Yankees, he had them remove all references to "steroids" from his guaranteed contract so it couldn't be voided for roid use.

So even before he became a Yankee, it turns out, he tacitly admitted it to the team and the team knew about his predilection for performance enhancing drugs. I certainly wish Giambi well, and I'm not a Yankee hater, but it's bullshit for him to apologize for anything when it was precisely what the Yankees should have expected from him after the contract negotiations.

Here's part of what the Times says:

<snip> person with knowledge of the contract said that before they signed off on Giambi's seven-year, $120 million deal, the Yankees acquiesced to his request and removed all references to steroids from the guarantee language routinely included in contracts.

The Yankees were not innocents in this matter. They didn't say to themselves: Delete references to steroid use? Well, all right if you insist, but why would you want us to do that?

They wanted Giambi badly enough that they relinquished the right to suspend him or stop payment on the contract or terminate the contract or convert it into a nonguaranteed contract if he was found to use steroids. No other words were deleted from that paragraph of the contract, the person said. <snip> NYTimes

[joeybee12]

7. Looks like they're stuck paying him whether he plays or not!

Good!

[DaveinMD]

9. the article is factually incorrect

Brian Cashman has called it a lie on several different radio shows. The writer of the article uses the Aaron Boone contract to make the point that the Yankees put such clauses in all their contracts. ONly one problem with that. The Aaron Boone deal was signed with the Cincinnati Reds.

[tishaLA]

10. Cashman has a very good reason to say it's a lie, though

because it would be pretty damning if the GM erased steroids from the contract at Giambi's/Giambi's agent's request. It might even be the kind of thing that would make the owner of a franchise quite angry if he discovered he'd invested $120M over 7 years for someone whose steroid use had practically been acknowledged during contract negotiations.

BTW, I just re-read the article and it says absolutely nothing about Aaron Boone, so I have no idea where those comments about Chass' veracity are coming from. And while Murray Chass, the author of the article, might be persona non grata with the Yankees (and their fans) today, he is in the Baseball Hall of Fame for good reason; he is one of the finest to ever do his job in baseball or in any other sport.

[DaveinMD]

11. I was talking about the writer's radio appearances today

he kept bringing up Aaron Boone.

When Cashman doesn't want to answer the question, he doesn't lie. He gives an evasive answer. This was not an evasive answer. It was a complete repudiation of the writer's article. I trust Cashman more than the media.

And by the way, the New York Times is one of the owners of the Red Sox. Gammons is also in the hall of fame and he hasn't gotten one thing right this offseason.