Time for Glaus and club to come clean on steroids, By: Richard Griffin
Sep 15, 2007
It was a happy-go-lucky group of Jays that strolled onto the field for batting practice yesterday. No more stressful pressure of a pennant race. No more hovering media looking for information on the steroid controversy surrounding third baseman Troy Glaus. Although he may be gone, Glaus's murky situation is not forgotten.
Four days after the burly third baseman was named as a possible recipient of banned steroids obtained via an illegal Internet pharmacy, his foot problems became too painful to continue. He packed his locker on Tuesday and flew to California for pre-surgery examination of his aching foot. Out of sight, but not out of mind.
Glaus, unless someone physically tracks him down, will likely not be seen or heard from until next spring — MLB's interview and follow-up report notwithstanding. But if the meeting in New York happens next week, the club should make sure that Glaus makes a statement – more than "no comment" – to begin to salvage his image.
As for the Jays' front office, there seem always to be two ways of dealing with information arising from unsettling issues. One is GM J.P. Ricciardi's disdainful method of, "What and why do fans and media really need to know?"
The other is president Paul Godfrey's more political, "We will let the fans know when we have all the information."
Godfrey, yesterday, had not yet been made aware of baseball's request to meet with Glaus in New York. The commissioner had already called upon Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel on Tuesday.
As opposed to Glaus's terse "no comment," Ankiel was cooperative and gave a report of the MLB interview that took place before Tuesday's game with the Reds to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
"I think it was a good thing to do, and I was happy to help," Ankiel said in Friday's paper. "I answered whatever questions they had. I was in full compliance with whatever they needed."
It is thought that Ankiel cited his elbow surgery as the reason for his short-term use of Human Growth Hormone. Glaus's experience may not go as smoothly.
The next seven days will be a difficult week for the 31-year-old slugger who last night was placed on the 60-day disabled list. Glaus faces surgery Monday in Los Angeles. As soon as he is physically able to travel, he could be asked to fly to New York for a meeting. According to Godfrey, only then will the Jays make a statement. Godfrey wants to know all the facts.
"The trouble with a question like that is it's all hypothetical," Godfrey said when asked why there has been no immediate statement. "I have trouble answering a hypothetical question on anything. It all depends on what comes out of the meeting. There's no doubt we will consult with Major League Baseball."
Meanwhile, the D.A. in Albany, R. David Soares, finally sat down with frustrated MLB officials yesterday to try and establish an information exchange, the kind of link already made with the NFL. Baseball had been pressing for more information.
"This was never about cleaning up sports," Soares told the Associated Press.
"It's about shutting down a major supply line of illegal prescription drugs. The concern is that anyone, including young people, can sit at their computers and order them illegally."
Ankiel helped himself by coming clean with baseball and with a brief media mea culpa.
Glaus needs to do the same after his own meeting with MLB.
And the Jays need to let fans know in a clear statement their reaction to Glaus's situation as a Rogers employee, and what they plan to do to help clean up the sport. They cannot ignore it.
