For a .268 hitter with limited pop, Jason Giambi (0 for 2 in the Yankees’ 7-3 loss to Boston last night) sure has been getting a lot of press recently, the latest bombshell coming courtesy of the New York Daily News’ T.J. Quinn.
Jason Giambi failed a Major League Baseball-administered amphetamines test within the last year, which has subjected him to additional drug testing, sources told the Daily News. Giambi tacitly admitted last week that he has used steroids, but he failed to mention that he has been caught using other drugs.
Because Major League Baseball’s amphetamines policy keeps a first positive test secret, however, it is unlikely Giambi will be asked about it when he meets with representatives from commissioner Bud Selig’s office, possibly as soon as tomorrow on the Yankees’ day off.
Giambi declined comment before last night’s loss to the Red Sox, saying, “I can’t really talk about anything.”
Giambi’s agent, Arn Tellem, said in an e-mail: “For the record, I’m not commenting.”
But Giambi himself hinted at the failed test – which was later confirmed by the Daily News – in his eye-opening interview with USA Today last week, when he said that he is “probably tested more than anyone else.”
On the bright side, all of these new trials and tribulations will just make Giambi a more viable candidate for the 2008 Comeback Player Of The Year Award. That is, if the Atlantic League actually has such an honor.