Selig May Suspend Giambi

Word is out that Commishnook Bud Selig may suspend Jason Giambi if he doesn't co-operate with George Mitchell's witch hunt investigation. Here's the official AP release.

MCLEAN, VIRGINIA (TICKER) -- Baseball commissioner Bud Selig is "leaning" toward suspending Jason Giambi if the New York Yankees slugger fails to cooperate with the steroids investigation by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, USA Today reported on its web site Thursday.

Citing a high-ranking baseball official who spoke with Selig, the newspaper said the commissioner wants a decision from Giambi by Tuesday.

On June 6, Selig said he wanted Giambi to meet with Mitchell and to "cooperate fully" with the probe which began in March 2006. Selig said discipline would be determined after Giambi has completed activities with Mitchell. He also said he would take into account Giambi's level of cooperation with the investigation.

The players' association said Giambi, who is on the 15-day disabled list with a foot injury, would make his decision after consulting with his lawyer and the union. To this point, no player has met with Mitchell.

Giambi told USA Today in May that he was wrong for "doing that stuff" and claimed Major League Baseball should have apologized years ago for its widespread drug problem.

There also had been multiple reports that Giambi failed a Major League Baseball-administered amphetamines test in the past year, subjecting him to additional drug testing.

Under baseball's amphetamines policy, a player who fails a test for the first time is not punished and the information is kept confidential, but he can be tested six additional times within the next year. After a second failed test, the player is suspended for 25 games.

The reported failed test was the latest in a series of embarrassing revelations for Giambi. In 2003, he was one of nine players to testify before a federal grand jury because of his connection to the BALCO steroid controversy.

In 2004, the New York Daily News reported that a mysterious ailment that had plagued Giambi was actually a tumor in his pituitary gland, and that he had not disclosed the information because his treatment included the use of corticosteroids, which breaks down tissue and reduces inflammation.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported in December 2004 that Giambi told a grand jury that he had injected himself with human growth hormone during the 2003 season. Giambi publicly had denied taking performance-enhancing drugs, but his December 11, 2003, testimony contradicted those statements.

According to transcripts of testimony obtained by the Chronicle, Giambi told the grand jury he had used several kinds of steroids obtained from Greg Anderson, the personal trainer of San Francisco Giants superstar Barry Bonds.

That led Giambi to call a news conference in February 2005, in which he apologized but never addressed the reasons for the apology "due to legal issues." He never has failed a baseball-administered steroids test.