Giants Singled Out by Congress

   If you opened up your morning paper today, you know the Giants are in hot water with commissioner Bud Selig.  And it doesn't even matter whether you live in Northern California.     Newspapers all over the country have headline stories about the Giants--specifically, about Selig's pledge to a congressional committee that he is committed to punishing not just players for steroid use, but upper-level management figures as well, for looking the other way while their players were bulking up illegally.

   The Giants are being singled out here, of course, because of compelling evidence that Magowan&Company not only rolled out the red carpet for Barry Bonds' personal trainer Greg Anderson--giving him full run of the Giants clubhouse and beyond--but ignored repeated warnings from team trainer Stan Conte that Anderson was making steroids available to players.  As committee chairman Henry Waxman noted, the Giants apparently were more interested in protecting Bonds than they were in respecting the law, and the integrity of the game.

   My esteemed colleague Stan Bunger believes that any punishment handed down to the Giants by Selig would be benign in nature, because to do otherwise would be to open Pandora's box, because there were undoubtedly management officials from virtually every other major league team that had knowledge about the use of steroids within their own confines. However, I disagree.

   While it may be entirely true that management officials from most teams had such knowledge, very few such figures are specifically identified in the Mitchell Report, and that document is what Selig is using as his primary source of evidence.  Stan assumes that Sandy Alderson and Tony LaRussa knew of steroid use by Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.  That may be true, but there is no such documentation of that in the Mitchell Report.  To the best of my knowledge, after reading through most of that report, the only team with high-level management figures identified as having knowledge of the probable existence of steroids within their own clubhouse--and failing to do anything about it--was your San Francisco Giants.  And so Bud Selig, with the Mitchell Report in hand, will go after the Giants, and quite possibly no other team, with no qualms about doing otherwise.

   Selig pledged to Waxman that if he determines the Giants are guilty, they will face serious punishment.  Other team owners will not worry that they might be next, because they aren't cited in the Mitchell Report.  Keep in mind, too, that Selig is not nearly as interested in uncovering all the culpable figures in this steroid scandal as he is in saving his own reputation, as the anti-steroid commish.  So, whether he fines the Giants millions, or suspends key individuals, or docks them a draft choice--or some combination thereof--Selig will act accordingly.  There is no such Pandora's Box in the Mitchell Report.

   Furthermore, Selig is forever faithful to the legacy of Henry Aaron, and was very unhappy that the Giants signed Bonds for the record-breaking 2007 season.  Finally, Magowan's fellow owner are not happy with him for building his jewel of a ballpark with private money.  It all adds up to Magowan&Company being suitably punished, or being made a major scapegoat, depending on your point of view. And no other team owner will lose an ounce of sleep in the process.