Jason Giambi Agrees to Steroids Meeting

NEW YORK -- Jason Giambi will meet with George Mitchell, agreeing right before baseball commissioner Bud Selig's deadline Thursday to cooperate with the steroids investigator. Giambi will become the first active player known to speak with the former Senate majority leader. No date was set for their session.

The New York Yankees star announced his decision after he spoke on the phone with Selig. Lawyers for the players' union and Major League Baseball reached a written agreement that set rules for the meeting.

The former American League MVP said he wouldn't implicate other players and appeared to backtrack on earlier remarks that the sport owed fans a collective apology for the steroids era.

"I alone am responsible for my actions and I apologize to the commissioner, the owners and the players for any suggestion that they were responsible for my behavior," Giambi said in a statement.

Selig said the meeting with Mitchell will take place "promptly." Following remarks by Giambi that seemed to be an admission of steroids use, the commissioner had threatened discipline if he didn't talk to Mitchell.

Selig again left open the possibility of punishment.

"I will take Mr. Giambi's level of cooperation into account in determining appropriate further action," he said.

Giambi's decision came two weeks after Selig requested the meeting and followed contentious negotiations between management and union lawyers. As late as Thursday morning, it remained unclear to some in the talks whether an agreement would be reached.

Selig called Giambi's cooperation an "important step forward" in Mitchell's efforts to provide a comprehensive report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. But by pressuring Giambi to testify, Selig may have made other players even more reticent to discuss steroids.

Mitchell's investigation, which began in March 2006, has gone more slowly than he expected. Giambi said there were boundaries on what he would tell Mitchell.

"I will address my own personal history regarding steroids. I will not discuss in any fashion any other individual," Giambi said.

Giambi is in the sixth season of a $120 million, seven-year contract with the Yankees. He hasn't played since May 30 because of a foot injury and it is not known when he will be able to play again.