Jason Giambi admitted to taking steroids

[Bored 0]

Edit: Just noticed this is in the offseason thread but this deserves its own.

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file...12/02/BALCO.TMP

New York Yankees star Jason Giambi told a federal grand jury that he had injected himself with human growth hormone during the 2003 baseball season and had started using steroids at least two years earlier, The Chronicle has learned.

 

Giambi has publicly denied using performance-enhancing drugs, but his Dec. 11, 2003, testimony in the BALCO steroids case contradicts those statements, according to a transcript of the grand jury proceedings reviewed by The Chronicle.

In his testimony, Jason Giambi told the grand jury he had used the injectable steroid Deca Durabolin "two years ago" -- that is, in 2001, his last year with Oakland -- after obtaining the drug from a source at a Gold's Gym in Las Vegas.

 

Giambi said he had met Anderson in November 2002, when Bonds brought the trainer to join a group of big-leaguers on a barnstorming tour of Japan.

 

Giambi said he had queried Anderson about Bonds' workout and health regimens.

 

"So I started to ask him: 'Hey, what are the things you're doing with Barry? He's an incredible player. I want to still be able to work out at that age and keep playing,' " Giambi testified. "And that's how the conversation first started."

 

Giambi said Anderson had suggested getting his blood tested for mineral deficiencies and taking supplements to counter those shortages; it was a snapshot description of the legitimate business BALCO performed for athletes.

 

Giambi called Anderson upon returning to the States, then flew to the Bay Area in late November or early December 2002 and met him in Burlingame at a gym down the street from BALCO, he told the grand jury. From there, the two men went to a hospital for Giambi to provide blood and urine samples, which were taken to BALCO, Giambi testified.

 

Either during that meeting or in a phone conversation shortly thereafter, Giambi said, Anderson began discussing various performance-enhancing drugs he could provide the ballplayer. Also, when Anderson received the results of Giambi's blood and urine tests, Anderson told him he had tested positive for Deca Durabolin, the steroid Giambi said he had obtained at the Las Vegas gym. Giambi said Anderson had warned him to stop using it, saying it could stay in his system a long time.

 

At the time, baseball was implementing its first-ever steroids-testing program at the major-league level, during the 2003 season. It is illegal to obtain steroids or human growth hormone without a doctor's prescription.

 

During his testimony, the 10-year veteran described how Anderson had begun sending him several different performance-enhancers, including a batch of injectable testosterone, "the cream" and "the clear." Giambi also testified that Anderson had advised him about the use of the human growth hormone he had obtained at the gym in Las Vegas.

 

Anderson kept him supplied with drugs through the All-Star break in July 2003, Giambi said. He said he had received a second and final batch of testosterone in July but opted not to use it because he had a knee injury and "didn't want to do any more damage."

 

"Did Mr. Anderson provide you with actual injectable testosterone?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nedrow asked Giambi.

 

"Yes," replied Giambi.

 

Nedrow then referred Giambi to an alleged calender of drug use seized during a raid on Anderson's home. Addressing a January 2003 entry, the prosecutor said: "OK. And this injectable T, or testosterone, is basically a steroid, correct?"

 

"Yes."

 

"And did he talk to you about the fact it was a steroid at the time?"

 

"Yeah, I mean, I -- I don't know if we got into a conversation about it, but we both knew about it, yes," Giambi told the grand jury.

 

Giambi said Anderson described "the cream" and "the clear" as "an alternative to steroids, but it doesn't show on a steroid test.

 

"And he started talking about that it would raise your testosterone levels, you know, which would basically make it a steroid ... or maybe he said it's an alternative of taking an injectable steroid," Giambi said. "That might be a better way to put it."

 

Giambi also described for the grand jury how he had injected the testosterone and human growth hormone, which he said Anderson told him he could provide if Giambi couldn't get it elsewhere.

 

The growth hormone was taken "subcutaneous ... so like you would pinch the fat on your stomach" and inject the substance just below the skin, Giambi testified.

 

Asked whether the same were true for testosterone, Giambi told the prosecutor that it called for a regular injection.

 

"So, you would put it in your arm?" Nedrow asked.

 

"No, you wouldn't," Giambi said. "You'd put it in your ass."

 

Giambi said he wasn't worried about testing positive for testosterone because he had only taken the drug during the off-season, and Anderson assured him it would be out of his system before he was called for a steroid test.

 

Nedrow also asked Giambi about several different-colored pills Anderson provided; they were denoted on calendars as "Y" for yellow, "W" for white and "O" for orange, according to the ballplayer. Giambi testified that he didn't know what the pills were, though he thought the white one might have been Clomid, a female fertility drug that can enhance the effectiveness of testosterone. His use of the drug was reflected on a calendar, the prosecutor said.

 

"I don't know what they were," Giambi testified. "He didn't really explain them. He just had told me to take them. And it had -- he explained it has something to do with the system. ... He just said to take it in conjunction with all the stuff."

 

Giambi said Anderson had led him to believe that he was among a select few athletes dealing with the trainer. He made it "sound like I even needed a lottery ticket to even talk to him about it," Giambi said.

 

"Did he ever say, 'Don't be talking about getting stuff from me?' " asked Nedrow.

 

"That's what I mean by saying that he made it so, you know, private, that you know, 'Hey, don't say anything, don't talk about anything,' " Giambi told the grand jury. "You know, I assumed because he's Barry's trainer -- you know, Barry -- but he never said one time, 'This is what Barry's taking, this is what Barry's doing.' He never gave up another name that he was dealing with or doing anything with."

 

Giambi said he had spent somewhere between $7,000 and $10,000 on performance-enhancers provided by the trainer.

 

Toward the end of his grand jury testimony, which followed a 2003 season in which he nursed the knee injury and hit just .250, Giambi was asked, "Had this all not become public, would you still be using?"

 

"I didn't actually notice a huge difference, to be honest with you," Giambi answered. "I, of course, got injured this year. So, that's not a fair assessment, either. Maybe, yes, no, I don't know."

 

Finally, Nedrow asked Giambi whether Anderson had done anything to help the player with his weight-training regimen "or was it more on these things?"

 

Said Giambi: "It was more on these things."

[MikeJordan23 0]

Yeah, just saw this on SportsCenter

 

But it's not really a shocker that he took them, just surprised he said he did.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Funny that he did this a year ago -- yeah, this is a real witch-hunt...

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

this is actually great news for the Yanks if they can somehow get out of his contract.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Yeah, just saw this on SportsCenter

 

But it's not really a shocker that he took them, just surprised he said he did.

He's got the whole sympathy card to save himself now though.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Fuck Jason Giambi.

 

Another roided up hot shot who punched a one-way ticket to injuries and a breakdown. Man, Joe Torre doesn't even seem confident he can be productive again.

 

HA HA. I hate New York. I hope the scandals keep coming.

 

And I Can't Wait until Big Bad Barry gets either found out or injured.

 

Cheaters.

[lomasmoney 0]

Everyone was on the juice. Notice how almost every player seemed to be talking about weight training and off-season training programs back in the mid 90's. It seems like so many guys came back bigger stronger and faster over the offseason that the only way some guys thought they could compete was to use steroids. I'm not condoning steroid use at all, but I will say the shit doesn't make you see the ball any better, although it does allow you to turn a double off the wall to a homerun. Baseball did this to themselves by having the absolute worst drug testing system ever. Yes they caught the Howe's, Gooden's, and Strawberry's of the world, but missed all the roid users. That seems to me to be a bigger problem than recreational drugs since steroids give you a competitive advantage and do much more than lines of coke to threaten the integrity of the game

[geniusMoment 0]

Conte is going to be on 20/20 tonight, and is going to reportedly name names.

[TSA09 0]

and Giambi's name will be the name mentioned. I doubt Barry will even be mentioned.

[Dr. Tom 0]

Giambi was a pretty obvious case, IMO. Just look at the skinny-armed, slender lad he was on his rookie card, and then compare that to the monster he was during his last season or two in Oakland. He bulked up an absurd degree in a fairly short amount of time.

[Guest Anglesault]

Is it possible for a baseball team to just "skip" a year? With this new news, and the Yankee management actively trying to put a losing team out in 05, I wouldn't mind a one year vacation for this team.

[Precious Roy 0]

Hahaha, this asshole on ESPNews says he needs to see more evidence. What evidence? He admited to using the shit.

[Guest LooneyTune]

If anyone is surprised that every one these muscled monsters take steroids, they deserve a kick in the balls. Giambi took steroids, no mystery. Bonds is still lying his ass off, but no mystery he does it. Name 1 player who hasn't taken steroids that has beefed up from a skinny 170-180 lb. frame to 220-230 lbs. of muscles.

[C Dubya 04 0]

I'd like to officially declare a moratorium on the joke "why wasn't Jeremy Giambi better if he was on roids." I think that I've already heard some form of that joke 3240194 times today. Enough.

 

And, this does not leave much doubt about Barry either. Especially where the Giambi says that the trainer never once mentioned weights when he was asking him about what Barry was doing.

[Big McLargeHuge 0]

But what about the big fish like Ron Belliard and Benito Santiago?

 

Jesus, Barry's an idiot. He was a hall of famer before the '01, and if Giambi is any indication, he would've increased the risk of breaking down before he got to accomplish anything more.

 

It's not like Giambi's admission means much anyway. It's just confirmation of what everyone thought before. The people and "purists" want to hang Barry.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

If anyone is surprised that every one these muscled monsters take steroids, they deserve a kick in the balls.

If you could find them, that is...

[Mik 0]

Well, by all means, kick me in the nuts.

 

Giambi, yes. But I'm assuming you mean Bonds also. I still think Bonds is innocent.

[Special K 0]

I wonder about McGwire, he was always very open about using Andro, which was basically a steroid that was OK at the time (banned now).

[Slayer 0]

More like Juicin' Giambi...

[The Czech Republic 0]

That took way too long

[Guest LooneyTune]

If anyone is surprised that every one these muscled monsters take steroids, they deserve a kick in the balls.

If you could find them, that is...

Whoops, sounds like I worded that wrong. I meant if someone (fans) thinks that one of these guys isn't a roid-monkey, they deserve a kick in the nuts. Hell, so do the players for taking them and lying...if they are even visible anymore like noted.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Sheffield is probably the next to come out.

[Precious Roy 0]

I wonder about McGwire, he was always very open about using Andro, which was basically a steroid that was OK at the time (banned now).

I've always assumed that Giambi got his first taste of roids from his days as Mac's teammate.....

 

Sheffield is probably the next to come out.

 

There's no secrets with Sheff, he told his story to Sports Illustrated. He claims he went out to Cali in the off-season, I think 01, to train with Bonds when he was rehabbing after knee surgery, and Bonds and the Balco guys gave him the cream and clear, telling him it was just something to help his rehab. He says he used it on his knee and that's it, and that he stopped once the knee was fully healed, not realizing until later that it was a steroid. He cut all ties to Bonds after that.

 

Now, he could be bullshitting, I happen to believe him as he didn't show the signs of someone who was knowingly using steroids to bulk up and change their body type, but either way he has admitted to using the clear/cream for about 6 months.

[Big McLargeHuge 0]

Someone on the Giants messageboard posted this link with Bonds' testimony. I can't find a link to it anywhere else though, so don't know how reliable it is.

 

sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1937456

[Bored 0]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/n...orts-columnists

 

Newsday hit piece on Giambi's lifestyle off the field. Kinda all over the place, goes into his habitual steroid use and his well known all night partying (OMG an athlete drinking and going to strip clubs!) but this paragraph was fairly interesting:

Giambi "lived the life of a rock star," according to a former member of the Yankees' traveling party, and several witnesses say he was partying late with Ricky Williams in Miami during the 2003 World Series, right before begging out of Game 5. The same person said Giambi would sneak beer onto the bench and call his in-game shots personal "protein drinks."

[Guest Anglesault]

I miss the days when God was a Yankee fan.

 

This is like an updated version of the Bronx Zoo but without the winning.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

when I read Jeremy Giambi's testimony I practically cried laughing. That is all.

[Big McLargeHuge 0]

Someone on the Giants messageboard posted this link with Bonds' testimony. I can't find a link to it anywhere else though, so don't know how reliable it is.

 

sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1937456

Looks like it was legit afterall.