Triple Hearsay

New York Daily News - Baseball - Jason back in swing, trainer tells Sturtze

This one's courtesy McCarron at the Daily News. You know it's a slow news day when anyone--and I mean anyone--cares what Jason Giambi's trainer (the ever-controversial Bob Alejo) told Tanyon Sturtze about Jason Giambi's condition.

I mean, Alejo is Jason's trainer, and Sturtze is Jason's "close friend." What the heck are they going to say? "Jason's a washed up scrub"? "He can't even outhit his little brother anymore"? Of course they're gonna say he's coming back, better than ever. This is a non-story, on the same level as one of those "I heard from my hairdresser, whose cousin lives next door to Julia Roberts' accountant..."

By the way, as the personal trainer for an admitted steroid abuser, shouldn't Bobby Alejo disappear right about now? If Jason's really trying to turn over a new leaf, shouldn't a change of the personnel he keeps around him be in order?

Farther down in the piece Sturtze does have some actual news, revealing that even though he's a native New Englander:

"I'll never enjoy the Red Sox winning again," Sturtze said. "Those days are over for me and I'm very happy to say they're over."

Very touching. Very touching indeed.

Now, onto some possibly real news. Jason Giambi is now scheduled to address the media on Thursday, at the Stadium, his first public comments since the steroid story came to light. According to Tyler Kepner of the New York Times:

Late yesterday, the Yankees announced that [the press conference] would be at Yankee Stadium, with strict ground rules. They have invited each newspaper that regularly covers the team to send no more than two reporters.

Giambi will meet with the print media in one location, and Cashman and Torre may be in the room with him. After that meeting, Giambi will speak with television reporters in a separate room.

"No more than two reporters" per paper doesn't sound particularly strict (specially given the story's headline, "Yanks Script Giambi's Talk With Media") but the separate news conferences sound like a great idea, from the Yankees point of view. I would think that nobody knows how Jason's going to react to the questioning, or quite sure what he's going to say. If he does a bad job in front of the print guys, they could possibly cancel the broadcast portion of media day as a damage control measure. If he passes the grilling with the reporters, he gets to go in front of the cameras.

This is the first indication that the Yanks are circling wagons around Giambi, and are reconciled with the fact that they can't get rid of him. Hopefully, that commitment extends far enough that Jason can talk openly about his steroid use--without fear that any admission will be grounds for the Yankees to terminate his contract--and apologize for having broken the law, having lied about it, and having cheated. Because until he makes that admission, and those apologies, his life as a Yankee is going to be a living hell.