|
Time for Yanks, Giambi to part ways
|
|
Topic Started: Aug 12 2004, 12:37 PM (72 Views)
|
|
Mantlemurcer
|
Aug 12 2004, 12:37 PM
Post #1
|
Home of Champions
- Posts:
- 27,513
- Group:
- Moderator
- Member
- #5
- Joined:
- January 29, 2004
|
Full Story
- Quote:
-
BY LAWRENCE ROCCA Star-Ledger Staff Take all the new questions he raised and all the old ones he didn't answer, add them to every Clintonian dodge, hem and haw, then multiply by his total references to "traumatic" and "lab rat," and still, by far, the most disheartening words to come from Jason Giambi's lips yesterday were these: "My goal is to get back this season."
Now that Giambi is headed for a full recovery from his undisclosed illness -- truly good news for a nice guy -- the time has come to make the harsh admission that the Yankees would be better off without him, for the rest of this season and his spectacularly bloated contract. Recuperate in Tampa the next three months, Jason, then get back to playing in another uniform, in another city. Oh, and for your own sake, make it west of the Mississippi.
- Quote:
-
Is it too much to ask him to be like those great champions? Not for $120 million, especially when $82 million of it comes the next four years, when Giambi figures to produce less and less at the plate and move less and less in the field.
On paper, there is no way the current version of John Olerud is better than Giambi at full strength. But that's ignoring one big question -- how likely is Giambi, with his chronic knee problem, to be at full strength again? -- and the fact is the game ain't played on paper.
The Moneyball guys can argue all they want about statistics, but Olerud has great intangible values, including his no-maintenance professionalism and the confidence he gives his pitchers and fellow infielders.
"He's the best player I ever played with," Alex Rodriguez said. "He just completes our team."
- Quote:
-
No team would take Giambi and all the money still owed him, but the Yankees would surely chip in some cash and he could agree to restructure his contract, by lopping off years or deferring huge portions of money, regardless of what the Players' Association says. After all, a player has a right to be happy, and there's not a polygraph test Giambi wouldn't send into spastic scribbles by saying he loves life as a Yankee.
The feeling is mutual. While Giambi is personally liked by Joe Torre and most members of the team, he is regarded as soft by many in uniform, who won't ever forget that he begged out of Game 5 of last year's World Series.
- Quote:
-
Giambi might never have signed with the Yankees if it weren't for his father's strong influence and lifelong love of the Yankees, so you have to wonder how much this veil of secrecy about his current physical condition comes on instructions from John Giambi, who made some sanctimonious statements about media and fan speculation in an interview in yesterday's Daily News.
Well, when a millionaire athlete volunteers to the press that he is being tested for cancer, his personal trainer says he is being tested for a potentially fatal parasite and then that player grows as tight-lipped regarding his final diagnosis as he has been regarding his testimony to a grand jury investigating an alleged steroid distribution ring, people are going to wonder what's being hidden.
If Giambi wants to end the speculation and squash the rumors, disclosing the full truth is a good start. An even better move, for all parties, would be a divorce between Giambi and the Yankees.
|
|
|
| |
|
Strider
|
Aug 12 2004, 12:45 PM
Post #2
|
Legend
- Posts:
- 27,612
- Group:
- VC_Moderator
- Member
- #15
- Joined:
- January 29, 2004
|
Good stuff. I liked this part:
- Quote:
-
Well, when a millionaire athlete volunteers to the press that he is being tested for cancer, his personal trainer says he is being tested for a potentially fatal parasite and then that player grows as tight-lipped regarding his final diagnosis as he has been regarding his testimony to a grand jury investigating an alleged steroid distribution ring, people are going to wonder what's being hidden.
If Giambi wants to end the speculation and squash the rumors, disclosing the full truth is a good start. An even better move, for all parties, would be a divorce between Giambi and the Yankees.
|
|
|
| |
|
NYY-51
|
Aug 12 2004, 03:01 PM
Post #3
|
- Posts:
- 156
- Group:
- Members
- Member
- #148
- Joined:
- June 20, 2004
|
- Quote:
-
"He's the best player I ever played with," Alex Rodriguez said. "He just completes our team."
is he talking about olerud or giambi? either one i think hes nuts considering some of his previous teamates, edgar, rj, griffey in his prime, palmiero, jeter, shef, riveria, etc... sometimes it seems this guy talks just to hear himself talk. :no1: :no1: :no1:
|
|
|
| |
|
Mantlemurcer
|
Aug 12 2004, 03:08 PM
Post #4
|
Home of Champions
- Posts:
- 27,513
- Group:
- Moderator
- Member
- #5
- Joined:
- January 29, 2004
|
- NYY-51
- Aug 12 2004, 03:01 PM
- Quote:
-
"He's the best player I ever played with," Alex Rodriguez said. "He just completes our team."
is he talking about olerud or giambi? either one i think hes nuts considering some of his previous teamates, edgar, rj, griffey in his prime, palmiero, jeter, shef, riveria, etc... sometimes it seems this guy talks just to hear himself talk. :no1: :no1: :no1:
Olerud
|
|
|
| |
|
KOCUR
|
Aug 12 2004, 03:18 PM
Post #5
|
- Posts:
- 11,572
- Group:
- VC_Members
- Member
- #52
- Joined:
- April 27, 2004
|
- Quote:
-
he is regarded as soft by many in uniform, who won't ever forget that he begged out of Game 5 of last year's World Series
c*nt :serious:
|
|
|
| |
|
Strider
|
Aug 12 2004, 03:26 PM
Post #6
|
Legend
- Posts:
- 27,612
- Group:
- VC_Moderator
- Member
- #15
- Joined:
- January 29, 2004
|
- Mantlemurcer
- Aug 12 2004, 03:08 PM
- NYY-51
- Aug 12 2004, 03:01 PM
- Quote:
-
"He's the best player I ever played with," Alex Rodriguez said. "He just completes our team."
is he talking about olerud or giambi? either one i think hes nuts considering some of his previous teamates, edgar, rj, griffey in his prime, palmiero, jeter, shef, riveria, etc... sometimes it seems this guy talks just to hear himself talk. :no1: :no1: :no1:
Olerud
Athletes say that kinda stuff all the time. Most of the time I think they say it just to say it and its not the obvious answer. If you asked him who was the better player in his prime, Griff or Jonnie-O, I'm sure he would say Griffey. By late September he'll probably be saying that Jeter is the best.
|
|
|
| |
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
|