Column, Scott J. Adams, Aug. 17:

Could Bud Selig be trying to lure Barry Bonds into admitting he took steroids?

I find it fair to ask considering the Commissioner’s latest move Thursday when he pardoned Yankees slugger Jason Giambi of his steroid use in light of Giambi’s cooperation with Senator George J. Mitchell’s steroid investigation.

This came three months after Giambi told USA Today that he “was wrong for doing that stuff.”

Selig took it as a green light to invite the 36-year-old Giambi to meet with Mitchell, an offer Giambi couldn’t refuse.

In early July, Giambi became the first active Major League player to meet with Mitchell and his peers, who got a carbon copy of testimony Giambi told a federal grand jury in 2003.

“Jason was frank and candid with Senator Mitchell,” Selig said in a statement. “That and his impressive charitable endeavors convinced me it was unnecessary to take further action.”

Although Selig hasn’t directly pegged Giambi’s confession as the main reason for his pardon, the Commish has set an underlying precedent — a precedent that could, for all intents and purposes, turn a noose into a loophole for underground steroid users.

In January 2005, Major League Baseball instilled a stiffer steroid policy, calling for 10-day suspensions for first-time offenders, 30 days for second-time offenders, 60 days for third time offenders and a yearlong ban for a subsequent offense. All suspensions will be without pay.

The league expanded the policy even further in 2006. Now, first-timers are dealt a 50-game suspension with a 100-game suspension for a second offense and a lifetime ban for a third (strike).

With the exception of Giambi, league officials have stuck to their guns on this policy but only for players who did not admit taking illegal performance-enhancing supplements before being tested.

Detroit’s Neifi Perez can attest. He burnt his second strike earlier this month when he tested positive for a banned stimulant. It cost the 11-year veteran 80 games.

Perez’s suspension looked like a paint scratch compared to the nasty dent steroids put into Rafael Palmeiro’s reputation. Type “steroid policy” into Wikipedia and you’ll find a direct link to his name — no kidding.

In case you don’t remember, Palmeiro’s membership to the 500-home run, 3,000-hit club was painted over with the grayest of gray paint in August 2005 when he tested positive for stanozolol, a cogent anabolic steroid. This only five months after his infamous “I have never used steroids, period” speech at a Congressional hearing.

When he returned to the diamond after serving a 10-day suspension, Palmeiro did so while wearing ear plugs — but not to drown out cheers. He faded away from baseball at the end of the 2005 season, having never officially retired.

For the sake of baseball, it’s a good thing Palmeiro didn’t do anything big like set the all-time home run mark. Wouldn’t that have been a shame?

The sport is already getting a taste of that circumstance from suspicious minds that continue raising questions about Bonds and his denial of ever knowingly taking illegal supplements.

Could Selig maybe, just maybe have a soft place for Barry if he admitted doing it?

And what about Palmeiro? Upon analyzing Selig’s latest move, I can only wonder where his career would have gone if he turned himself in at the Congressional hearing. Sure, there would still be the boos. There would still be the suspension. There would still be the questions. But honesty would surely have paid some dividend.

It did for Giambi.