GMJ's Non-Answer Speaks Volumes

"But still if you were in that situation, you would be careful too, right?"

Now that you mention it, Tim's writing has been a bit "juicier" lately. Almost as if he was writing on roids....care to comment Tim?

And I supposed you are good friends with GMJ? So much so that you would be able to forecast his every move and thought. You guys must be tight. Since when does anybody come out with anything other than "no comment" when a story initially breaks?

There is also the aspect of lending credibility to an inquiry by answering the question.

It would have been better had he pretended not to understand english.

My first thought was why wouldn't he deny it if he didn't do it? Then I thought about it a little more. When Andy Pettitte was first approached when the Grimsley names leaked, his response was:

"I haven't done anything. I guess reports are saying that I've used performance-enhancing drugs. I've never used any drugs to enhance my performance on the baseball field before. Like I said, I don't know what else to say except that it is embarrassing that my name would be out there with this."

Yet, reporters were all over that statement trying to find loopholes in it. Maybe GMJ was thinking of that when he decided not to respond.

Honestly, if GMJ stared a reporter in the eye and said something along the lines of "No, I never took steriods," people would say "That's what Palmeiro said" and be convinced he was guilty.

How do you unknowingly take steriods? Like someone just slipped some HGH in your coffee? You'd think being a professional athlete you'd know every substance that goes into your body. But the rate of baseball players "accidentally" taking steriods is ridiculous.

From a legal standpoint, GMJ's statement certainly amounts to "no comment," as Dave and Skelley pointed out. He didn't admit anything.

But from a public relations standpoint, there's a distinction between actually using the "no comment" standby, and stating that he hasn't read the story and doesn't have all the information.

"No comment" can be interpreted as a statement that the speculation is baseless and not worthy of discussion. GMJ's comment seems to imply that the story actually contains information that will be relevant to whether or not he comments, and the likely inference - though admittedly a hasty one - is that there may be some info out there that impugns him, and he is merely waiting to see if anyone has dug it up before he speaks.

"No comment" sounds infinitely better than "I don't have all the information." The only time categorically denying steroid use will get you into trouble is if someone comes forth with information that you did use them. This sounds more like a game of "you show me what you have first" than the traditional refusal to comment.

yanksfan, HGH is legal for prescription in a few select cases, so it's not entirely illegal. Aside from that, the pool of talent currently using (or having used) HGH in the last few years is undoubtedly monumental (Luis Gonzalez comes to mind). HGH didn't find its way onto the banned substances list for Major League Baseball until sometime between the 2004 and 2005 seasons. If guilty of having taken anything (again, NOT steroids), he would face no repurcussions because:

a) his system is clear of it by now
b) there's no proof he ever used it anyway
c) if he did face repurcussions, they would not fall into the 50 game suspension range. it would be a small (relative to his ludicrious contract) fine, and a much shorter suspension.

Either way, don't expect any suspension to come of this. I personally find it less-than-newsworthy just on the grounds that the whole story just sorta stinks. Call me when there's some real evidence, and everyone should stop the "guilty until proven innocent" until something besides a name-drop has occured.

There's a very, very long stretch between "an order in his name" (which sounds odd enough in itself...who would use their own name over the internet to order something illegal? It's tantamount to a pedophile giving his name, address, and contact info to a potentially undercover cop in a chat room), and "GMJ injected himself with HGH".

And they couldn't push for a 50 game ban, because the 50 game ban came into effect in 2005, so his use (without proof of injection) can only be tied back to 2004. His violation of the drug policy would fall into the same standards as the cocaine or marijuana violations, not the steroid policy. That would be a $10,000 fine and a 15-30 day (not game) violation, which is often marginally reduced by the MLBPA.

Also, I'm not sure right now, but I've been led to believe from early reports that a doctor gave him a prescription (albeit for a reason it wasn't liscensed for by the FDA: anti-aging purposes). I don't know how that plays in to things yet, but he could always play the "I didn't know it was illegal for that purpose" card, even if it's a lie.