Punishing Giambi won't help MLB's steroid war
Posted: Sunday, May 20, 2007 11:14 PM
Jason Giambi’s crime is being the only big name in baseball to give anything resembling an honest answer about steroid use, and for that, according to The New York Daily News, the Yankees are thinking about voiding his contract.
And people wonder why no players want to participate in the inquisition former Sen. George Mitchell is conducting for commissioner Bud Selig.
The noise the Yankees are making shows a total lack of class from an organization that claims to have invented the word. Giambi has played hard for the Yankees since coming over from Oakland in 2002. He’s never come close to the .342 average he put up in 2001, but he’s had as many big hits as anyone on this underachieving team.
He’s also popular among both the fans and his teammates.
But he’s been frequently injured; in 2004, he played in just 80 games and he has missed 23 games in each of the past two years. This year, he’s missed a number of games with bone spurs in his left heel. He’s also 36 years old and making $20 million a year. (For all his stats and salary history, go to his page at the definitive stats site, baseball-reference.com.) A lack of mobility has reduced him to designated-hitter status.
Given his inability to play the field every day, the injuries and the salary, the Yankees have reason to want to cancel his contract. And if he were a cancer in the clubhouse, you might applaud the move.
But it doesn’t seem fair to punish the guy for being honest. Isn’t that what we’ve been begging all the players to do for years now? Just come clean.
So here’s a guy who says he made a big mistake and wants to apologize to the fans for it. He also says that baseball should apologize, as well.
He’s got that right. Selig keeps talking about finding out what happened, but he’s never acknowledged that he managed to be the only person associated with the game who never suspected something was amiss back when McGwire and Sosa and Bonds were knocking balls out of the park at rates never seen before. Selig thought it was wonderful, right up until it became a federal affair. Then he put on his handy big-eyed how-was-I-to-know look and ordered an investigation.
Selig is disappointed that no players want to talk. Then Giambi talks to USAToday and Selig is frothing at the mouth to get his story, the Yankees are talking about firing him, and all the writers want to talk about is steroids.
I said back when Selig announced his inquisition that it was a bad idea. The facts are already out there: the game wanted lots of home runs, the players refused testing and the game didn’t demand it, and a lot of players got juiced. It was a mistake, but, hey, admit it, folks, it was fun before you found out how they were doing it.
Selig needs to say, we all screwed up, which is what Giambi suggested. And it needs to keep making the testing program stronger and move on.
And it needs to stop punishing people for being honest.
