Today in The Journal News
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Feb 27, 2008 
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Dan McCutchen is pitching to get his good name back.
Jason Giambi is getting after it this spring. This notebook also has word on the intersquad game and some special guests in camp.
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It’s cold here in Florida today (51 now) and rained like it was the end of the world last night. But the Yankees will press on and play a 7-inning intersquad game today.
The beat writers had dinner with Joe Girardi last night. It was an off-the-record night but there wasn’t much Yankees talk anyway. I can reveal this: Joe G is a Seinfeld fan.
Our reservation got a little messed up and we had to wait a bit to get seated. I checked it out with the manager and reported back to the group.
“Anybody can take a reservation,” Girardi said, quoting from an episode when Jerry rented a car. “They key is holding the reservation.”
Quoting Seinfeld? That’s makes you OK with me.
Thanks to the manager for sitting down with us and to Media Relations Director Jason Zillo for helping work out the details. I think we’re going to have dinner with Hideki Matsui later on this spring. That has become a tradition since he arrived.
51 degrees, in tampa,makes me scared to go outside. i hate it when it rains in the winter here. most always means cold front. anything under 70, not fit for man or beast.
Be glad it’s 51. It’s 27 in Jersey.
Pete:
I think thats great Girardi went out to dinner with the writers. Just out of curiosity, did Torre do that as well? And how many writers go?
“Be glad it’s 51. It’s 27 in Jersey.”
It’s 22 and we got 8-10 inches of snow last night here in VT.
my friend totalled her car on the way home from work, ramming into the back of some 50,000 mercedes. Boo.
great story, Pete. i really enjoy the work you’ve done to get some exposure to the younger guys.
(and its not a bad strategy either, getting on their good side early so that when they hit it big, you’ve got the in!)
one of the espn guys, i think maybe Keith Law, believes McCutchen is destined for a middle relief role, but it seems like no matter where he ends up, he’s got some good stuff and a great attitude to work with.
It is 70 in Miami….way too cold for my liking =)
51! that means all the flatlanders down there will be breaking out thier parkas and gloves!
Pete, when you mentioned Seinfeld and waiting for dinner reservation, I was hoping someone made a bet that for 50 bucks Girardi would stick his face into someone’s soup and blow!
Dr. Cox: All of the beat writers attended.
Did Dan appeal? If so why not? If he could have proven that it the postive test was from a perscription drug, shouldn’t he get a break?
Pete: How many beat writers are there?
Excellent article on Cutch, Pete.
So when a team drafts a player and they turn it down to go to college, thats a wasted pick for the team? Why would the player be enlisted in the draft if they have no intention to sign?
the seinfeld news is just one more reason for me to get really excited about the team this year.
great articles, too, pete.
Pete are you going to do the play by play of the game? At least inning to inning? please!!
That’s pretty cool. I think its a good idea for players or managers to do something like this.
so klapish writes a piece in the record about how the redsox are completly not talking about the yankees or boasting about being champs and the headline they put on the article is “Boasting Red Sox”
I somtimes wonder if the headline writers and editors actually read what they’re putting in the paper.
“Did Dan appeal? If so why not? If he could have proven that it the postive test was from a perscription drug, shouldn’t he get a break?”
I think the whole “one strike and you’re out” thing that’s mentioned in the article means that the minor leagues don’t have an appeal process. That’s just my assumption.
sorry left out the link
http://www.northjersey.com/spo.....d_Sox.html
I remember a couple of years ago Donnie baseball had Giambi start going the other way, and that season he was essentially 0-for-April. He went back to pulling the ball and started hitting again. Of course he has had so many health problems that you can’t say that wasn’t part of the problem also.
I hope he does well this year, I think he is essentially a good guy and teammate.
51 & rain. 9 here in Toledo. 6″-8″ of snow yesterday, heavy, wet snow I had to shovel. Sunday it felt so warm I actually opened my windows, then checked the temp. It was 35.
I think Dan’s issue was that as he didn’t inform the Yankees of his prescription, he was SOL. Harsh, but a real attempt to get illegal PEDs out of baseball. Good luck to him.
On a national cable news channel, the weather girl told us of a tornado watch in Tampa ’til 11p last night. I figured Fort Myers would be a better place for a tornado or an earthquake, or some such.
giambi’s approach to hitting since the yanks signed him has been horrible. When he raked in Oaktown he was going power alley to power alley. As soon as he got here, he dropped that. Occasionally, when he’s slumped, he starts to go the other way and gets back in the groove, then goes right back to trying to pull everything.
Then came the shift, which he constantly ignores and hits rigth into. He has been told enough times that if he would just drop a groounder through the left side say once a week, they would have to defend it, defeating the shift, but he refuses. Now its his contract year and all of a sudden hes in shape, he’s going the other way, he wants to play first….if we got that kind of commitment over the entire contract there would be no question about bringing him back for $20M
I know it’s off the record, but did Sweeny Murti get hammered? Sheesh, two Shirley Temples and that guy is off the chain.
did joe pay for the meal?
“Then came the shift, which he constantly ignores and hits rigth into.’
he still gets on base 40% of the time and hits enough homers and doubles that, when healthy, he’s one of the top ten most productive offensive players in the league.
So, I have a hard time calling his approach “horrible”. In fact, it seems pretty likely to me that his bat speed has been decreasing with age and he needs to swing earlier more to pull the inside pitch. As such, he sacrifices some ability to go the other way.
It really doesn’t matter if he hits .250 as long as his OBP is .400 and his SLG is .500 or greater. I’ll take that from the five hole in my lineup any day.
whozat i understand and im not saying hes a horrible player, i like the guy, but if he would just force them to defend the left side, all those balls he hits to the short fielder would be hits. He’s good, but he has not been near his Oakland form as a Yankee.
So… Hideki takes you guys out to the Pinelli Deli, right?
“im not saying hes a horrible player,”
But I’m saying that, when healthy, Jason’s been an elite offensive force.
“He’s good, but he has not been near his Oakland form as a Yankee.”
Yeah, but he’s older and off the roids. It was foolish to expect him to continue to put up the video-game numbers has had in Oakland. Sure, being a more complete hitter would be better. But he’s not 30 any more. And it’s very possible that looking to go the other way more often would prevent him from yanking inside pitches for extra bases, as he’d need to start his bat later and may no longer have the bat speed to catch up to the inside stuff if he starts doing that.
I don’t know. But I really don’t want Giambi to start giving up doubles and homers for singles to the short outfield, especially given that he walks so much that it doesn’t really matter.
Dee,
FYI, you’re mixing episodes. Face in the soap and blow is the Chinese Restaurant one. LOL
Anyways, dos anyone else feel that Big Pee eating dinner with our Yankees, cheapens the whole experience ?!?!?!
LOL j/k
if i remember right, Giambi was going to left-center/center quite a few times early in 07, prior to injuries…
Apparently my lack of spell checking cheapens the attempt at humor in my previous post
for the money they paid him, and his age at signing, they certainly Did expected him to continue to put up the #’s he did in Oakland. and he hasn’t.
When the yanks signed reggie, the EXPECTED WS Championships and WS MVP caliber play, and they got it.
When they aquired Arod, the EXPECTED MVP performance, they got it.
When they signed Roger Clemmens, the EXPECTED CY YOUNG caliber pitching and they got it.
When they signed Giambi, they EXPECTED MVP hitting, he hasnt provided it.
Part of that is injury, part of that is roids, and he cant go back and change those, but certainly part of it is his approach.
“When they signed Giambi, they EXPECTED MVP hitting, he hasnt provided it.”
You have obviously never looked at the numbers he has put up the years when he has been healthy.
looking at them right now ray, there’s only been 2 seasons he’s been healthy, so u think he got robbed of the mvp in 02 or 03?
you know Eli Manning is a Seinfield fan too
rbj
I too, am in Toledo. 43614. Stuck in the house recovering from pneumonia. I always try to be the first on the street to take care of my snow, but now have to work around my son’s work/school schedule. Grrrr.
Thanks to Pete for diverting my misery for awhile. I’m looking for a big year out of Cabrerra.
“looking at them right now ray, there’s only been 2 seasons he’s been healthy, so u think he got robbed of the mvp in 02 or 03?”
No, there have been 4 seasons where he’s been healthy. Unless you don’t consider 139 games played as healthy. I don’t know if he got robbed of any MVP’s in any season. What I do know is he was a top ten offensive player in those seasons. Top 6 actually.
he signed a $100M plus contract and although hes been good, he has not been what they paid for. giambis only chance at yankee salvation is to contribute to a championship this year or have a monster year this year and get extedned and win a WS next. anything short of that and his yankees tenure will be looked on as a failure.
In the four seasons Giambi has been healthy, he’s been posting OPS+ of 148 and higher.
…you’re talking production that’s 50% higher than league-average. Granted, his best years were between 70%-90% above league average, during his peak years in Oakland, but if the Yankees were expecting *that* level of production throughout the length of the contract, then I think they made a serious projection error.
But production 50% higher than league average…is that worth $20 million a year? Well, if you work out how many wins Giambi has produced those healthy years…and you work out the cost of a win…well, maybe it’s closer to a fair than it seems.
I’m not suggesting the deal was a bargain (it wasn’t), or that the Yankees didn’t overpay (they did), or that Giambi’s tenure has been a complete success (it hasn’t been). But it’d be absurd to say it was a complete failure.
I’d rate the Giambi signing as a disappointment. I’ve rooted for him because he’s obviously a nice guy, and well liked in the clubhouse and by the press. He’s had some big moments, for sure.
But, I certainly never realized until he put on the pinstripes what a hack he is at first. If he played for another team his throwing would be comical. But he doesn’t, and it isn’t.
Hi John in Ohio,
The last big snowstorm, around Mardi Gras time I was sick with the flu and still had to shovel. Gah, it was horrible. Stay in bed, maybe pay a neighborhood kid to shovel (or tell your own to do it, if you have any.) Hope you get well.
sorry if i gave anyone the impression that i think giambi’s been a complete failure. i dont think that. But no mvps and no ws rings would fall far short of expectation. i hope he wins mvp this year, and a ring!
Did Joe Girardi leave on a high note? Love it that he digs Seinfeld.
“When they signed Giambi, they EXPECTED MVP hitting, he hasnt provided it.â€
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In Giambi’s total time with the Yankees, including his injury years, he has posted a .935 OPS. If you eliminate his 2 injury years, he has posted a .975+ OPS.
In 4 years, ARod’s OPS with the Yankees is .975.
And it’s not his fault that the Boss overpaid him. My guess is we could have had him for $20m less.
Giambi: $17m/AAV – .935 OPS / .975 OPS when healthy
ARod–: $25m/AAV – .975 OPS (although only $17 from NY)
So you figure out how ‘bad’ Giambi has been.
great story, Pete. i really enjoy this post.