Giambi on Roids or not?

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Jason Giambi: To Juice Or Not To Juice...

Taking a break from my vacation. Uh don’t worry; I’ll be churning out weekly columns as soon as the NFL season starts so I can make my weekly NFL picks. Oh won’t THAT be fun! Yup. I am a consistent handicapper. Uh, consistently horrid that is.

 

 

Anyway, rest of Atlanta trip will be up, eh, eventually. But a recent conversation with a soon-to-be Stevens Ducks radio broadcaster (to be heard in a small radius surrounding Hoboken, New Jersey) named “Little Buddy” caused me to return to the blog.

 

 

I apparently enraged my young friend when I suggested that Jason Giambi could very well be back on an undetectable steroid. However, he said I should stop talking. Well Little Buddy, stop drinking the Yankee Kool-Aid, put down the Pinstripe Colored glasses and start looking at things in a more cynical way.

 

 

I’m not saying unequivocally Giambi is back on the juice at all, I am saying its easier to say he is than it is to say he is not. Little Buddy brings up the fact that I tried to shoot down his Palmerio-as-career-jucier by bringing up the fact that he played most of his career in band boxes, but that was more to get Little Buddy to think more globally about certain issues. It seems he has not learned how to think globally at all.

 

 

Fact: Giambi in Oakland was considered one of the best pure hitters in the game, when he was on the juice.

 

 

Fact: Giambi gets off the juice, and he becomes no better than a Double A hitter.

 

Fact: Giambi is back to being one of the top hitters in the game, maybe back to being one of the best 1Bmen in the game today.

 

 

Hmmm. Could Jason Giambi, so distraught about how his career was in shambles, how the Yankees were close to sending him down to the minors and/or even releasing him, go back to something, probably an undetectable one, that helped him achieve at such levels in the past? You can not NOT ask that question. Steroids may not be addictive as heroin, or alcohol, cigarettes, cocaine, gambling, or even coffee and chocolates, but it is still a drug. Its still a vice, a crutch. The only time in Giambi’s life where he had it all was when he was using steroids, he gets off steroids and boom, his life is in shambles. Do you see how one can “connect the dots.”

 

 

Yeah it could have been through dedicated work, it could have been spending less time partying like a rock star (like he was in his roid days), it could have been spending more hours with Don Mattingly, it could have been…etc.

 

 

But to get back to the same level that he was back in 2000? To swat 14 plus homers in a month as a Yankee for the first time since Mickey Mantle? To get back in such a quick manner when the guy is a now a KNOWN steroid abuser, you simply can not tell me without question he did this cleanly.

 

 

Little Naïve Buddy, you have a lot to learn about the cynical nature of professional sports. Open your eyes a little, its not all black and white. There are plenty of shades of grey, plenty of questions to be asked. Maybe you won’t necessarily get it all at a Division III school (all the other contributors here went to Division I schools, though I’m starting to wonder about Fairfield) but any issue of sports demand multiple questions, multiple points of view. Its not as cut and dry as cold hard stats.

 

-Steve J. Rogers

[Crimson Platypus 0]

The other thing to remember when asking this question is that he has not been punished by MLB for steroids. Thus if he is on the juice, and if he gets caught, it's a relative slap on the wrist 10 games. Positives > Negatives in this case I'd say.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

We have steroid testing now. If the tests turn up illegal substances in Giambi's system, so be it. But if the tests come clean, we can not still automatically assume Giambi is juicing. Whatever the effects of steroids, they were not the sole source of Giambi's skill at the plate from 1999-03. He certainly has some natural ability, and we might expect that from time to time. Moreover, I would wonder how a steroid could make such an impact in just two months. Remember, Tino Martinez had a similar streak of homer hitting in May.

 

Ultimately though, I think we need to wait and see how this plays out.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

I'll say the same thing I always say when people talk about Bonds being a great hitter regardless of the steroid issue here Al. I'm not trying to say that Giambi isn't a good to great hitter, but how many of his home runs would have been long fly outs if he wasn't on the juice?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I'll say the same thing I always say when people talk about Bonds being a great hitter regardless of the steroid issue here Al. I'm not trying to say that Giambi isn't a good to great hitter, but how many of his home runs would have been long fly outs if he wasn't on the juice?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It's impossible to say. How many MORE could Giambi have hit if he didn't have to hit juiced pitchers like Ryan Franklin? There is no sure way of determining the effects of steroids on the statistics. But that's all a side issue. The issue here is whether Giambi can perform at this level while clean. I think that it could be legitimate, with the disclaimer that this IS a hot streak after all, and he is bound to regress.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Very true. Of course there really is no way to prove either side of the issue since he has already been known to be a juicer. All that does is shine all of his career under a bad light and make it very difficult to side with Giambi.

[snuffbox 0]

That Ryan Franklin really held Bond/Giambi/Palmeiro below 800 homeruns....

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Very true. Of course there really is no way to prove either side of the issue since he has already been known to be a juicer. All that does is shine all of his career under a bad light and make it very difficult to side with Giambi.

 

That is true as well.

 

That Ryan Franklin really held Bond/Giambi/Palmeiro below 800 homeruns....

 

Franklin himself did his part to make sure they hit MORE home runs. But the point is that many of the suspended players were pitchers, and many pitchers either are or certainly did take steroids. Many assume that steroids have contributed to this era of high offense, but let's not pretend that they hitting towering home runs off of beacons of clean and fair play 60 feet away.

[Fuzzy Dunlop 0]

After the Palmeiro stuff nobody can say "Giambi hasn't tested positive so how can you accuse him?" or anything stupid like that anymore. Palmeiro tested positive in May, so how do we know there aren't hundreds of major leaguers who are going through appeals processes at this very moment?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Because I have no interest in turning every game and every player I see into my own personal witchhunt. If they're caught and suspended, so be it. But if not, you can't keep hanging it around.

[Guest Fishyswa]

Are you guys serious? Giambi's career goes down the shitter because of steroids, and he gets it back on track by....taking more steroids? How is that in anyway more likely than him just putting in more work and havng the best hitting coach he's ever worked with? It's common knowledge he's partying less, it's common knowledge Mattingly has put in more time with him than any one player on the team. In what world does one assume it's more likely he's back to taking what ruined his career to begin with!?

 

Sometimes the shit that's discussed around here just blows my mind. The idea that a guy can't be a great hitter without roids being talked about is just disgusting....

[Crimson Platypus 0]

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.

[Fuzzy Dunlop 0]

Are you guys serious? Giambi's career goes down the shitter because of steroids,

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

NO, his career went down the shitter because he STOPPED using steroids.

[Fuzzy Dunlop 0]

Because I have no interest in turning every game and every player I see into my own personal witchhunt.  If they're caught and suspended, so be it.  But if not, you can't keep hanging it around.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Completely disagree. Giambi for years denied steroid use, attributed his weight loss to less "In&Out Burger," and only finally admitted he used steroids once it was already proven that he had. He has never even apologized for using steroids, just for some unspecified actions at that ridiculous press conference pre-season. Add that to the fact that he started this year one of the worst hitters around, and has just suddenly started hitting and gaining weight again, earns him the right to suspicion for the rest of his life.

[Guest Fishyswa]

"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck."

 

So if a black guy listens to rap and wears fubu jeans it's ok to assume he commits crimes also? I love how convenient logic can be.

 

"NO, his career went down the shitter because he STOPPED using steroids."

 

We have no proof of when he was doing them, we have no proof of what kind of player he would of been had he never done them, saying he can only be good with them and that any time he's good he must be on them simply because we know he was once on them, is basically empowering steroids to the point where they are bigger than the game.

 

I was the first to pile on after his bullshit apology, but to assume this is steroids again after the damage they've done to his career and all the obvious work the mans put in is just insane. How stupid do you think he is? It's this kind of mentality that's gonna define steroids impact on the game, not who takes them and what they acheived....

[Crimson Platypus 0]

"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck."

 

So if a black guy listens to rap and wears fubu jeans it's ok to assume he commits crimes also? I love how convenient logic can be.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Whoa whoa whoa. That's a terribly racist comparison man.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Let me throw this idea out. Giambi gets tested back in June and passes the test. Whose to say he didn't take some kind of steroid knowing he wouldn't be tested again this season.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Here's a stray thought...

 

What if the Yankee fans had gotten their wish and Giambi's contract had been voided, leaving Giambi mashing like this for another team? Can you imagine the hang-wringing and mashing of teeth in the Bronx as Tino Martinez produced another 0-4? I would've paid to see that, in retrospect.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Yankee fans don't wring hands, they wring necks

[Vern Gagne 0]

What if this is really Jeremy Giambi pretending to be Jason?

[The Czech Republic 0]

Trust me. It's not.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Keep drinking that Kool Aide.

[KingPK 0]

Though the Palmiero situation makes me leery of every player that has been connected with steroids in the past, I don't think Giambi is juicing. It would just be a disaster for his career if he got caught because the Yankees would probably be able to void his contract without blinking.

 

Still, Palmiero testified to CONGRESS that he never took steroids and was on the fast track to the Hall of Fame but STILL juiced up, so who knows.

 

Off topic, but I love how some people (not here) are considering tonight's Yankee win as YET ANOTHER "Turning point" in their season. Give it UP, people. Their pitching will probably prevent them from going on a real long run and leaving the rest of the East in the dust.

[Fuzzy Dunlop 0]

Off topic, but I love how some people (not here) are considering tonight's Yankee win as YET ANOTHER "Turning point" in their season.  Give it UP, people.  Their pitching will probably prevent them from going on a real long run and leaving the rest of the East in the dust.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Especially since these same people said the same thing after Sunday's win, and then they just lost two in a row.

[Fuzzy Dunlop 0]

http://www.thehomerunguys.com/Animation/Made_With_THG.htm

[The Czech Republic 0]

Why don't you just put it in all thirty front page threads while you're at it.

[Jericholic82 0]

If he is, hes a dumbass.

 

But remember last year he was out for a long time due to soc alle dintestinal parasites as well as a tumor, now if those illnesses weere legit, I can see why his production was done last year. Mattingly I belive has helped him with the swing and how to take pitches. Whne he finally started producing, it was like a domino effect as people stopped ragging on him in NY and his confidence returned.

 

 

Who knows? As has been said, we dont know all who have tested positive yet, as the appeals take a while (as seen with the current Palmeiro thing).

 

But I will say one thing, at least Jason told the truth on the stand (unlike some other people I know)

 

Not to say that he isnt wrong for cheating, cuz he is.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Though the Palmiero situation makes me leery of every player that has been connected with steroids in the past, I don't think Giambi is juicing.  It would just be a disaster for his career if he got caught because the Yankees would probably be able to void his contract without blinking.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

It would also be a disaster to his career if he had continued to not produce at the plate the way he was before he went on his recent tear.

[Guest Fishyswa]

^Not producing in NY would at least give him the chance of signing a smaller contract in a smaller market with the hopes of him just crumbling under the "ny pressure". If he gets busted for steroids again, he loses his Yankee job, and NO ONE will pick him up again.

 

I seriously doubt he'd go back to using steroids considering the health issues and the fact that he'd be done in the MLB if it was discovered.

 

"Off topic, but I love how some people (not here) are considering tonight's Yankee win as YET ANOTHER "Turning point" in their season. Give it UP, people. Their pitching will probably prevent them from going on a real long run and leaving the rest of the East in the dust."

 

Where are these fans you always come here to bitch about? I mean this is probably the 14th time this season you've come here to tell us a game wasn't a turning point despite no one saying it was. Go tell them, spare us.

[Guest StylesMark]

He could be.

 

But as stated, it's worthless to try and figure it out. Unless we hear that he got caught, then the world should assume that he is clean. This is baseball in 2005, people. This is what every season will now be like.