Giambi to start rehab assignment
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- July
- 25
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This from the Associated Press today:
New York Yankees slugger Jason Giambi is set to start a minor league rehab assignment Friday night with Class A Tampa and hopes to rejoin the team next week.
The designated hitter, who has been sidelined since May 30 after tearing tissue in his left foot, said he will play two games with the Yankees’ Florida State League team before he is re-evaluated Sunday.
“I’m to that point where I really can’t do anymore working out, taking BP and running,” Giambi said. “Now it’s going to be more game activity. I think that will be a gauge to see how I do.”
Giambi took on-field batting practice for the second time Wednesday and went through an extensive base running session.
“I’m fired up,” Giambi said. “It’s gone faster than I expected.”
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on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 3:17 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
Great…We don’t need him and we are worse with him.
But he’s making $20M a year so he will play…Where????
Does that mean Torre sits Melky, or Damon?
Is Giambi going to play some first to get everyone equal time?
I like Giambi, BUT we are rolling right now and he throws a wrench in things
Mixed feelings here, but as long as his mobility is good then he should play. Giambi’s a pro and knows what he’s doing. Hopefully he can adjust to the new bionic legs.
I hope this isn’t like the Sheffield/ Matsui situation last year where the team was better off playing without them. Does Jason play every day? Damon is hot now and needs to play so is Melky benched?
thus begins the end of the yankees season. get ready for giambi at DH, damon in CF, melky on the bench, and a whole bunch of people trying to figure out why the team is worse off defensively and offensively.
Now that I think about it, that whole Mitchell thing was a big ado about nothing. Just a big joke in Buddy’s World.
I don’t think Joe is going to make the same mistake twice. He’s aware of what happened last season.
It’s going to be a fight between Giambi and Damon for DH at bats. Damon will play more because Joe is working in the OF rotation finally (sitting Abreu against tough lefties, giving Matsui DH days, Melk the occasional day off).
I think Giambi is going to be used more like Strawberry was for us back in the day. Power bat off the bench. If you think about it, we might have a power righty (Duncan) and lefty (Giambi) on the bench in late innings. That would be nice. Although I don’t know who goes down when Giambi is healthy and ready to come back.
I also think Damon has found whatever he lost for most of this season. Last night I saw him bust it to first on a ground out and it was the fastest I’ve seen him run all year. Maybe it was Shelley showing up and challenging his at bats or going back to KC where it all started for him, but something has changed with Damon. I’m pulling for him. A productive Damon means playoffs.
giambi coming back is going to be a very very sticky situation (as if nobody else has realized this).
Melky has to stay in CF, I have always supported Torre and felt alot of the issues this year had nothing to do with him (other then maybe his bullpen decisions sometimes). But if he takes Melky out of CF when Giambi comes back, I will have serious doubts about whether he should stay next year.
Then the question just comes down to whether damon or giambi should be DH. Its hard to say, especially as it looks like damon is starting to come around
I really think he should be a bat off of the bench until he proves he is fully back to form.
I like what Joe L is saying, Giambi and Duncan coming off the bench would be more than enough. That’s true, even if (god willing) we are playing games in an NL park in October.
If Giambi plays like Giambi – we could be adding Giambi and Hughes at around the same time as probably the most influential pitcher and batter being added to lineups prior to the deadline
I’m probably in the minority, but I think he get some time at 1B when he comes back. How’s this for a lineup:
Damon DH/LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
A-Rod 3B
Matsui LF/DH
Posada C
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Melky CF/LF
A 7,8,9 of Giambi, Cano & Melky is just sick.
I’m not saying they should play him everyday at 1B, but there should be a rotation between Giambi, Phillips, Damon & Cabrera for the 3 spots of DH, 1B and CF. Maybe even throw Duncan in there a bit.
“I don’t think Joe is going to make the same mistake twice. He’s aware of what happened last season.”
riiiiight. because what we’ve seen from this organization over the past six seasons is that they definitely learn from their mistakes and adjust accordingly.
no way torre sits a veteran guy making a ton of money so he can melky out there. not a chance.
it’s going to be sheffield/matsui all over again, and this time it’s going to submarine their playoff chances, rather than losing them a playoff series. i’m not sure which is worse.
so he can RUN melky out there. sorry.
Come on. If Giambi is actually healthy, he’ll play the field until he gets hurt again. He’s a better bat than Andy Phillips, period. Andy Phillips will come in as a defensive sub and start against tough lefties at first or second base. Shelly Duncan will go back to the minors. Do you really want Duncan around over Giambi? Having too many hot bats around is a problem I’m sure Torre won’t mind having. Giambi was off to a great start before the injury bug hit him again this year. I say ride him while he’s healthy. If he stays healthy that’s a .300/.400/.500 hitter in your lineup, if he doesn’t he goes back on the DL and we are back where we started. No big thing. We’re not going to carry 13 pitchers forever. I expect Giambi to get ample rest for the time being and everybody could use a little extra time off coming into the dog days.
On a side note, think the Yankees are looking at Garland as a chip to flip over to Texas?
Joe L. is right about Damon. He is FLYING around the bases these days.
FYI….There are 63 games to go ( and dare I say this: we have one that is almost 100% in the bag, where we are up 8-6 on O’s with 2 outs, Jeter on 2nd and MO available, hopefully, to close out the win ) We are only 4 games out in the loss column for the Wild Card and only 7 games out for the division crown. We are playing excellent baseball now and have Hughes & Giambi coming back very soon and The Boss, IMO, chomping at the bit to make a last minute deal to make the team better. Boston has been playing .500 ball for a long time and no matter what any Boston Troller/Fan thinks, we are making up for the early season losses and peaking at the very best time. Division Champs once again will infuriate the World of Yankee Haters and after being 14.5 games out of first place, to win another World Championship will be the sweetest of endings. ( and, I might add, a perfect ending to the Joe Torre Era….Or ?…the start of another string of Torre/Yankees championship “dynasty” years ?? )
Adding Giambi and Hughes at the deadline is more than any other team is going to do. When Giambi’s healthy he is dangerous, which is exactly what we need. Hopefully he is finally healthy enough to be our (almost) everyday 1b like he was signed to be.
Let’s see what develops between now and the 31st with other moves. At a glance it looks like Giambi’s only role is a late bat for a long ball situation. In the process, the chemistry the team has seen in the last month stands a chance at getting disrupted. A delicate scenario. September is another thing with roster expansion but August could be testy. Every roster spot will need contribution for at least the next 5 weeks.
Much ado about nothing. A healthy Giambi helps this team. Period. If he isn’t healthy, he won’t help this team.
If he’s healthy, I’d love to have his bat in the lineup.
Its up to Joe to work him in the right way. It will be easier than last year because Giambi isn’t a nutjob like Sheffield, and Joe won’t have to walk on eggshells worrying about whether Giambi will go postal (like Sheffield would) if he’s not in the lineup.
Melky? If he keeps hitting, he will keep playing, IMO. This is about the DH/1B spot, more than CF.
Until Giambi is back, I’m not going to worry about it. I have enough to worry about with a Mike Mussina start tonight.
No sense adding to my headache. lol
I agree with Vegomatic. The person most affected by the return of Giambi is Phillips, who is a great character guy and a great story but hasn’t proven he has staying power.
Even though we are scoring runs at a tremendous clip, it would be amazing if we could have a full strength Giambi hitting behind A-Rod. Matsui has finally come to life but when Giambi is right (hello, he has an MVP on his resume) he is an upgrade.
If he isn’t at full health, then he comes off the bench as an OPS machine.
Unfortunately there are frustrated trolls who see any news as bad news and don’t see to have any sense of shame when they are wrong time and time again.
I think we will rarely see Giambi at 1B. He’ll DH mostly, as Torre rotates everyone between DH, CF, LF and day off. They will all still play while getting enough off time to not run down during the dog days.
this is a tough situation . giambi coming back completely messes with the team chemistry . it took a half season to get on the ball . the yanks look real good against sub-.500 teams and i dont know if giambi coming back will help . melky needs to stay in the outfield . damon is starting to get hot – he has to stay in the line-up. matsui is hitting – he has to stay in the line-up. i think this means less time for duncan , phillips and melky . which is a damn shame . i guess the yanks bench just got a hell of alot stronger .
Agreed, SJ.
Giambi coming back only helps this team. We’ll just be seeing less Shelley Duncan.
Well said SJ -
Giambi isn’t a team killer and if I recall correctly the return of Matsui and Sheff was much later in the year than this.
July gives Torre plenty of time to see what is going on, not to mention the possibility that someone gets traded as part of a package. Plus, God forbid, we could lose someone to injury in the meantime.
Cool note in the paper this morning on Melky, he is in the top 10 in the league batting with 2 strikes, I was surprised.
it seems every time giambi plays first , he comes up lame the next day or two . so , to say that phillips is going to be affected most is crazy . its damon , melky and duncan who will feel the hit on this one . bottom line is if giambi can play up to his abilty then great but it really messes with the team chemistry and it was so hard to get in the first place .
I am sorry.. this is just very very bad news.. this is not the time to introduce a base-path clogging non-steroid Giambi.. things are going smooth.. we are getting decent production out of the current DH/1B combo and defensively Andy has been good. The ripple effect of Giambi in the lineup is scary.. if this mean more playing time for Damon at CF.. then we dont have a chance.. i was hoping that he wud be out for the year.. its a bad thing to wish n hope.. but i really like the balance in our team offensively and defensively…
This will help our bench. We will every night have two of the four: Melky, Damon, Giambi, Cairo. Whichever two aren’t starting. Thats some nice insurance for when Jose Molina is at bat in a crucial situation. Duncan is a good guy, but Giambi is better.
I agree with everyone that we need to keep Melky in center. You can’t touch our outfield situation right now, it is near perfect. Gotta find a way to have Giambi play first so we can free up that DH spot and keep Melky in the outfield. I will murder someone if Melky is taken out of center, he has saved A LOT of runs.
I have NO problem with Joe playing Giambi at first and using Phillips as the late inning replacement. With some of the leads we’ve been building up, Phillips would be in by the 6th.
I think that is the best scenario out of them all since Phillips can help us out at 2b and 3b as well.
I would have a problem with Joe benching Melky or Damon to get Giambi DH at bats on a regular basis and I just don’t think he’s gonna do that. Melky is our best defensive OF and he’s helping win games with his defense.
I think if Giambi is gonna help us, he better be nice and limber and bring his 1b glove and show he can play the position he was signed to play.
I don’t think they want Giambi to play the field. That’s why they went out and got Minky in the first place.
Maybe we trade Damon to Chicago for Garland and ship Garland to Texas for Tex and all these problems just go away…
“Vegomatic” — u gottob kidding.. if u think we lose Damon and get Tex in the end.. thats called smoking my friend
hehe, but I can dream
Giambi has outlived his welcome, the Yankees should trade him to the Angels
“I have enough to worry about with a Mike Mussina start tonight.”
well played.
I wish we could just cut ties with Giambi and move on. I hope people remember how bad we were with him on our team, and how hot we got right when he got injured. Yes, we did go into a losing streak after that, but overall we are a much better team without him. He signifies everything the Yankees tried to do for the last couple years, and have just realized that is not the way to do it. We need speed, energy, defense, and consistency. He brings the exact opposite of all those. As we have seen the last week or so, we have PLENTY of offense without him, so what does he provide us with?…
I wouldn’t mind using him as a Ruben Sierra / Chili Davis type as a power bat off the bench in late game situations and spot starter, but that should be the extent of his roll.
Ah Minky, talk about your odd man odd. Although I guess they won’t activate him before rosters expand on Sept 1st. Then the tryouts can begin for October. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but if the Yankees make the playoffs and Hughes has proven himself, do you leave Mussina off the playoff roster for a position player? Ok sorry I brought that up, there is much to do befroe thinking about that.
Ryan:
Cairo is a good teammate and a versatile player but given a choice of him or another versatile player (Wigginton) with a bat in his hands then uh …………
Dont worry guys. It is no big deal. Look at it this way. It is a 7 man hitting rotation out of which 5 can play in a game. The number of combinations is C(7, 5). Which is 21. Which means on average each of the 7 players will only miss 6 of every 21 games played. If you consider the biases it is not bad at all. All these old guys can use those breaks.
Uggghhhh no. Put the fat, old, bases-and-DH-clogging, strikeout king steroids cheat who gives no one a rest at DH Giambi on the 60-day d.l. that way he screams for a trade & the Yanks tell him to make a list of A.L. Central & West teams he’d be willing to go to. His Yankee career should be over. This has shades of Sheffield & Matsui stinking it up in the 2006 postseason all over again.
2008:
Torii Hunter CF, Melky in RF & one of these 3 scenarios:
Damon DH, Phillips 1B
Duncan DH, Damon 1B
Matsui DH, Damon LF, Phillips 1B
If the 2007 Yanks miss the postseason or get knocked out in the A.L.D.S. again & Giambi stinks thus is a reason why, Cashman & Torre should be fired immediately.
People are saying put Giambi at first. Cash wont do it.
He covers no ground and throws as bad as his buddy Damon.
As far as a big upgrade.We are not talking about the 2000
version that hit 300. He has been at 250 for a couple
years now. I say bench player only.
Defense wins championships.Melky stays in cf. Phillips
at first unless we get something better.
Reality is Melky will sit(NOT MAKING MILLIONS)
Another thing:
The Yanks should put Mussina on notice: If he stinks tonight, he’s out of the rotation & Karstens takes his place. Maybe a trade acquistion does. I’m down w/ Wang/ Clemens/ Pettitte/ Hughes/ Karstens or Wang/ Clemens/ Pettitte/ John Garland/ Hughes the rest of the way. I’d even give Kei Igawa one more start considering his last start was solid.
Mussina is another one who can make a list of teams he’d be willing to be traded to if he doesn’t like it.
Anybody who uses the term “base clogger” should think about what they are really saying. What does that even mean? How many times in a full season would a runner behind Giambi actually have to slow down so they don’t pass him??? Yeah, Giambi’s high OBP will really hurt this team.
Note to Brian Cashman:
Please acquire John Garland from the Chi-Sox so Mussina gets bumped out of the rotation (Garland & Hughes replace Mussina & Igawa) & screams for a trade.
Oh No! Yankees are going to add Giambi! The horrors. The Giambi bashers need to get a clue and get back to booing A-rod, you may not have driven him to the west coast quite yet.
Jeez.
Actually, Giambi’s base-clogging & pathetic BA hurts this team like this:
Yanks down 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth of Game 5 of the A.L.D.S. Giambi draws a leadoff walk, not gets a double for a possible run scored w/ 2 outs (2 deep flyouts, 2 groundouts, or one deep flyout & one groundout) or homerun to tie the game & set up a possible bottom of the ninth walk-off win, cuz he can’t hit better than .250-something or doubles anymore. It could take the Yanks as much as 2 hits & a sac fly or grounder or 3 hits to drive him in & there’s no guarantee he’ll score on a sac fly.
Now you’ll tell me he’d be lifted for a pinch-runner? Really in an elimination game? O.k., then since he’s the DH, the Yanks have to burn a bench player, lose the DH & do the double-switch cuz of one pinch-running play. Cairo pinch-runs, but what if Cano, Jeter, or A-Rod gets hurt? You really want Andy Phillips at 2B, 3B, or SS cuz guess what?
That’s who the backup 2B/3B/SS is if you lose Cairo for one play.
Now imagine Damon at DH & drawing a leadoff walk. No need for a pinch-runner, Damon remains in the game if it goes on & Cairo isn’t burned. Damon has a much better chance of scoring from 1B on a double, from 2B on a single, or from 3B on a sac fly. That’s who should be in there at DH.
Giambi basher? Um, first off he’s a steroids cheat thus a disgrace to the Yankee pinstripes.
Second he’s an albatross like this.
Slow. ‘Can’t play 1B anymore. ‘Never a good 1B to begin with. ‘Strikes out a ton. ‘Clogs the basepaths. ‘Forces the Yanks to use Cairo as a pinch-runner thus puts the Yanks in danger of having to use Phillips to play 2B, 3B, or SS if Cano, A-Rod, or Jeter get hurt in extra-innings. ‘Clogs up DH thus takes needed at-bats from Posada, Matsui, Damon & yes even A-Rod & Jeter who could use a break from the field now & then,”jeez”. ‘Can’t hit for average anymore. Automatic double-play on a tapper right to the 2B. Once kept Cabrera from taking over LF and Matsui taking over DH cuz he can’t play 1B. Created the Phelps/ Mientkiewicz/ Cairo 1B fiasco cuz he can’t play 1B. Off-the-field distraction. Overpaid, over the hill, underpeforming, underachieving. Two years out of 6 (a third of his Yankee career) lost to injury (2004 & this year). His best year under contract with the Yanks was his first (2002) but he flopped in the 2002 A.L.D.S. esp. w/ the glove (ball past him which Tino would’ve snagged which blew one game wide open). One could argue he was on steroids when he hit the pair of solo shots off Pedro in Game 7 of the 2003 A.L.D.S. Did nothing in the 2003 World Series.
But oh he has that great OBP, whatever. Last I checked, he was being paid $20+M a year to hit for power, average, drive in 100 runs, not be a .253-batting slug-slow walk machine.
Giambi 2007-Canseco 2000
‘Yanks down 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth of Game 5 of the A.L.D.S. Giambi draws a leadoff walk, not gets a double for a possible run scored w/ 2 outs (2 deep flyouts, 2 groundouts, or one deep flyout & one groundout) or homerun to tie the game & set up a possible bottom of the ninth walk-off win, cuz he can’t hit better than .250-something or doubles anymore. It could take the Yanks as much as 2 hits & a sac fly or grounder or 3 hits to drive him in & there’s no guarantee he’ll score on a sac fly.’
I hate to call people stupid but this got me over my hatred. How can getting on base with a 1 run deficit in the 9th be bad regardless of how slow one is. You should be able to get on 1st base to get to third base to score on a sac fly. It is not allowed in baseball to make an out and go stand on 3rd base.
and regarding the pinch runner, I am willing to lose one bench player to tie the game or take the lead in the 9th inning
man I still can’t get over it. ‘Banish Giambi’ should be banished from using the key board. Forever.
If Jason is healthy he will play.Period.Hes a better hitter then Damon,Phillips,Melky or Shelley.Anyone who thinks this is like last year is wrong.There is 2 months left and plenty of time to shake things out.Im guessing Cabrera plays most of the time in CF and Giambi mostly DHs.Damon could play some first maybe twice a week in center.It will be interesting but anyone who thinks Jason will have to beg for ABs is wrong.
I think Boston has won every game since David Ortiz has been out. I guess he was ruining their team chemistry just like Giambi, and their fans are hoping he is out for the year. Come on, stop with the Giambi bashing. If he is healthy (and that is the important issue here), he will be one of the Yankees best hitters, and he will only help the team.