The Yankees held a news conference on Wednesday that was supposed to provide answers about Jason Giambi’s medical condition. Instead, it just raised more questions.

And the biggest question may not be the most obvious one. While the rest of the transom-peekers continue to speculate on what is “really wrong” with Giambi – is it the parasite, the benign but unspecified tumor, or something far more sinister? – the most puzzling issue right now is a comparatively simple one.

Just what is the rush with getting Giambi back into the Yankee lineup?

Heading into last night’s game against the Texas Rangers, the Yankees sat solidly atop the AL East, 31 games over .500 and 9-1/2 games ahead of the hopeless Boston Red Sox. There are a mere seven weeks of regular season baseball remaining, and nobody’s catching the Yankees.

So why force the issue?

The first base situation has been handled extremely well, by Tony Clark and new acquisition John Olerud. And how many teams can alternate between two potential Hall-of-Famers, Bernie Williams and Gary Sheffield, at DH?

In the lineup and on the field, Jason Giambi has not been missed. Yes, he is costing George Steinbrenner a lot of money, but that can’t be the reason for trying to shoehorn Giambi back into a lineup that is doing just fine without him, could it?

So why not just shut Giambi down for the rest of the season and send him home to Southern California, where he can recuperate at his own pace, regain his strength and start over with a clean slate next February in spring training?

If you are concerned about Jason Giambi the person,not the ballplayer,that would seem to be the way to proceed.

And yet, that is not the way the Yankees or Giambi are proceeding.

Wednesday’s news conference seemed to have a two-fold purpose.The first was to trot out a healthy-looking Giambi to answer, sort of, the questions that have lingered since the initial announcement that the former MVP’s problems were being caused by an intestinal parasite.

The second was to foster the belief that somehow, all the health issues that had reduced Giambi’s season to a mere 70 games were nearly resolved, and the first baseman’s return to action was, if not imminent, at least not very far off.

It was the oldest of public relations tactics, trying to put positive spin on an increasingly negative story. But for this particular story, it was a new way to deal with it.

Earlier in the week, Giambi’s agent, Joel Wolfe, had responded to a journalistic inquiry into the specific nature of Giambi’s illness with a veiled threat. “I will not comment on or off the record,” Wolfe e-mailed the journalist. “If you want to pursue this, please do not contact me about this or anything else.”

By comparison, Wednesday’s news conference was a nicer way of saying Mind Your Own Business.

Giambi, as is his right, refused to provide any details of his lingering illness. He correctly pointed out that his health was a private matter, to be discussed among himself, his family, and his doctors. In truth, he didn’t even acknowledge that he had a tumor, as the Yankees announced last week.

Unfortunately, however, that kind of a stance is more appropriate for Private Citizen Giambi than Yankee Giambi. As a member of the most lionized and scrutinized franchise in the history of professional sports, fans and the media have come to expect more in the way of information, no matter how personal or embarrassing.

And the Yankees have been remarkably forthcoming in such matters, ranging from the life-threatening – Joe Torre’s prostate cancer and Mel Stottlemyre’s multiple myeloma – to the commonplace, such as Derek Jeter’s broken hand.

Why, Giambi was asked, is this situation different?

“Because it’s mine.”

That’s fine, provided Giambi and the Yankees agreed to call it a season and sent him home to recover, for the time being no longer a ballplayer, merely another human being in need of some rest and recuperation.

But he remains Jason Giambi, disabled New YorkYankee, and as such he is fair game.

The Yankees sent Jason Giambi to Tampa hoping to make all the questions go away. In the process, they raised a whole lot more. Better they should have just sent him home.