Why the wait, Mark?

It's just a few more days now until the official release of Jose Canseco's new book, but we've already gotten a taste of what's to come. Allegedly, in the book Canseco names former teammates Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro (amongst others) as steroid users.

Upon the release of this information, Rafael Palmeiro nearly immediately released a statement denying that he ever used steroids. In fact, Palmeiro's statement is pretty clear and pretty succint:

"I categorically deny any assertion made by Jose Canseco that I used steroids. At no point in my career have I ever used steroids, let alone any substance banned by Major League Baseball. As I have never had a personal relationship with Canseco, any suggestion that he taught me anything, about steroid use or otherwise, is udicrous."

Mark McGwire, on the other hand, has not issued any such strongly worded public statement. In fact, his only official comment to date has been:

"I will reserve comment until I have had chance to review the contents myself."

Interesting. If you were clean and had never used steroids, like Palmeiro - per his claims, why would you need to wait to review the contents of Canseco's book before making a statement? McGwire may be consulting with a lawyer and planning a lawsuit against Canseco if he truly believes that Canseco's allegations are baseless. Palmeiro could be doing the same thing though. He was still confident enough in what he knows the truth to be to come out and make a clear statement about the matter.

McGwire has not done the same. That speaks volumes.