Gagne to speak tomorrow

Gagne will break his silence on the HGH issue tomorrow, according to the Journal-Sentinel notes column. He will not be taking questions and will not address the situation again. He will address his teammates before practice though.

I'm glad he's going to say something and I'm looking forward to hearing what it is. I really hope he just owns it. Something like, "I did it. It was a mistake. I regret it. I'm truly sorry to my former teammates and to fans of the game. I will prove on the field this year that I don't need it to be a great player." It would be much easier for me to forgive him and cheer for him this season if he said something like that.

I don't want to hear any of these now famous excuses:

- "The report is false." - This one almost always comes back to bite the player when more evidence or testimony surfaces.

- "I did it so I could get back and help my team" - What a great teammate! Not... Seriously, this is a good attempt at spinning the issue and I'm sure someone paid a PR firm big bucks to invent this excuse, but it just doesn't fly with me. It's just a clever way to duck the issue and try to save a little face.

"I'm sorry for what I did" (with no mention of steroids, HGH or other performance-enhancing drugs) - Vague apologies without addressing the issue at all are as bad as not saying anything. How can you apologize for something if you don't tell us what you're apologizing for?

I'm sure we'll all be back to comment tomorrow on what is said.

There are a couple of other interesting blurbs in the notes column too:

- Simmons says Yost doesn't have to look over his shoulder - I like Yost for the most part and think he doesn't deserve nearly as much criticism as he receives from fans, but I doubt he's naive enough to think he doesn't have to look over his shoulder this year, whether it's Simmons he's looking at or any number of other candidates. This is a big year for Yost. He's got the horses. Now he has to prove he can win the race or at least give it a good show.

- Robin Yount will be coming to spring training to do some coaching - It can't hurt to have a hall of fame player coming in to give the guys some tips. I wish he was still on the coaching staff...

Also, make sure to check out this Q&A with Doug Melvin.