Frankly, I think Giambi should have his MLBPA membership taken away. He's made nearly $100 million in his career because other players had the balls to stand up against the sort of bullying pressure that Giambi wussed out under. It would have been far, far more honorable to name names on his own accord and free will than this charade.

Guess all the steroids did shrink his balls.

Of course he's not naming names, he'll just be saying what he did.

The headline on ESPN is that he agrees to cooperate with Mitchell.

Given his statement accompanying it:

I alone am responsible for my actions and I apologize to the commissioner, the owners and the players for any suggestion that they were responsible for my behavior.

the more appropriate headline would be : "Giambi agrees to eat shite"

So let the whitewash of the Managers, Front Offices, Ownership and Corporate MLB begin.

And so soon afte Jason Giambi bat day. I bet they'll be collector's items now.

Of course he's not naming names, he'll just be saying what he did.

Yes, Giambi doesn't have to give anyone else up, but it's not like Mitchell or MLB is bestowing some sort of transactional immunity to everything he ever said or did or will otherwise disregard the details of his testimony. Giambi is going to speak at length about all kinds of stuff, and the topics of conversation will naturally touch on trainers, friends, associates, and habits he shared with other players. Even if he doesn't have to answer a question such as "did you ever share a needle with Danny Tartabull," the information he provides will be useful ammo against others all the same, and everyone involved will know where the corroboration came from.

If that happens -- and it seems likely that it will -- will Giambi's testimony have technically thrown anyone under the bus? No. But it will have inadvertently bumped some folks off the curb, and he's going to have to live with it.

would any fines or suspensions levied by Selig stick when brought before an arbitor?

#### no.

Frankly, I think Giambi should have his MLBPA membership taken away. He's made nearly $100 million in his career because other players had the balls to stand up against the sort of bullying pressure that Giambi wussed out under.

I'm on record as being generally anti-union, but I wholeheartedly agree with this.

“I’ve come to this decision for a number of reasons. I did not want to put my family through a lengthy legal challenge in support of my position."

Yeah, they'll be some real hard times for the Giambis if they have to scrape by on the $100 million he's already made. Much better for some minor league player making $15K to have to fight this when High Lord Selig summons them to his presence.

Looks like Giambi values that extra $10m before his dignity.

I've always thought that Giambi was wholly capable of playing hardball here. You don't like what I say, fine. I'll retire, and go on every talk show in the country, maybe write a book, and tell everybody how MLB and the Yankees knew I was using steroids and did nothing.

I understand Giambi may not want to take out half of baseball with him, but he's capable of wielding a big stick to more than just a LOOGY.

I dunno, I guess I don't see this as too perplexing. I suspect it's a PR exercise for all concerned.

Giambi will essentially repeat the sorts of things he's already said publicly. There will be more dates attached probably but very little detail otherwise and no other names.

The Mitchell committee looks good, Selig looks good, Giambi looks good ... and the Union looks OK. The PR black eye the Union would take from Giambi refusing, Selig suspending, the Union filing a grievance ... oy. Yes, the Union would win the grievance but take a further PR beating.

Of course this will put more pressure on other players to cooperate ... but I'm not sure they'll testify to anything but "what Giambi said" and unless Bonds, McGwire or Sosa testifies, the novelty will quickly wear off.

I think all sides recognize there's a bit of a prisoner's dilemma here. Yes, MLB wants positive PR and to embarass the Union. On the other hand, they know they're taking the risk that one or more players will testify that the GM, the manager, the owners all knew; team trainers supplied the stuff; the media knew; etc. They don't necessarily want Giambi naming names any more than the Union does.

I think folks have really undersold how badly the Union lost the 2001 negotiation, then the latest one was just continuing the same mostly but adding testing, then they lost further with the testing. They've always lost the PR battle but it's gotten worse (especially in the media) with steroids. If I recall Doug Pappas' figures from two CBA negotiations ago, MLB players got a smaller slice of the revenue pie then than any other major sport and salaries have declined/stagnated since then while revenues have exploded the last 2-3 seasons. The MLBPA may well be in the worst shape it's been since the early days of FA.

There's also this -- Giambi has already been the most open of any current player. Maybe he actually has personal reasons (guilt?) driving him as long as he doesn't have to throw anyone under the bus.

Two things will interest me. (1) the media/fan reaction -- will Giambi be "forgiven" as many say McGwire would have been if he'd come clean? (2) assuming he attaches some dates to his usage, when will he admit to starting and how easily will it be tied to his breakthrough?

I think folks have really undersold how badly the Union lost the 2001 negotiation

The 2002 CBA negotiations, I think you mean.
IMO, what really did the union in during that round of talks was the spectre of being on strike during the first anniversary of 9/11. How un-American! someone declared, and it stuck.

Well, the person who said that was right. Unions are un-American, clearly. Just look at the state this ####### country is in.

But in all seriousness, the MLBPA probably allowed itself to take some short-term hits in 2002 as part of a long-term strategy to get fans and media off their thirty year hate-fest of it. Major league players make a lot of money, and free-agency/arbitration leverage gives them the near certainty that as revenues increase, their salaries will increase. They can afford to mount a PR-based strategy for a little while. I fear, though, that it's not only that, but also that the money has diminished severely any sense of urgency that the association's membership had. There are battles left to be fought. What of minor leaguers? What about bettering the pension fund for fringe MLBers?

Still, the MLBPA hasn't been crushed like the NFL union has.

As for steroids and management, I think that an awful lot of players will speak up after they retire. Those, that is, who know they have no shot at the Hall of Fame. Canseco, by the way, must be unusually smart to have realized that he had no shot. Players with his numbers often harbor the delusion for some time.

Well, Canseco did seem pretty smart on the Surreal Life. ;)


Anyway, someone needs to give Giambi one of these shirts:

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/moredetails.aspx?showBleed=false&ProductNo=90146910&colorNo=6&pr=F

I don't think the results of the 2002 negotiations were that big of a deal in terms of the fate of the union. The MLBPA didn't get hammered -- contrary to what Andy thinks -- until Congress stepped in and threatened to impose a much stricter steroid policy than the owners were seeking.

As for Giambi, I don't think he looks good now, but let's wait until we see what he says before we condemn him too harshly. If it's just a PR exercise, and he talks about stuff which is already public knowledge and nothing else, then it's not a big deal. If he rats out other players, that's a different story. (And if he rats out owners but not players, that would be poetic justice.)

There are battles left to be fought. What of minor leaguers? What about bettering the pension fund for fringe MLBers?

Putting aside the question of whether anything can practically be done for minor leaguers, who aren't worth much (economically speaking), the union has no legal power to do anything for minor leaguers. And the MLB pension fund is extremely generous, much more so than that of other sports.