A few weeks ago, I swore off posting about Wallace Matthews. However, I read his article on Jason Giambi and could not help myself. Apparently Giambi is to blame for the Yankees’ fall from grace (or at least is to blame until A-Rod comes back and it becomes more relevant to blame him):
Technically, the signing of Mike Mussina to a six-year, $88.5-million deal after the 2000 Series may have been the first shot, but with the Giambi signing, The Boss – drunk on four shots of championship Kool-Aid – was off and running.
Since then, the Yankees have spent $1,466,012,054 on players. That’s one billion, four hundred sixty-six million, twelve thousand and fifty-four dollars. In return, they’ve won this many world championships: zero.And one thing every one of those teams had in common was the presence of Giambi.
You know what else those teams had in common? Derek Jeter. Mariano Rivera. Joe Torre. Brian Cashman. George Steinbrenner. Yankee Stadium. Yet somehow this is all Giambi’s fault. He apparently forced the Yankees to surround him with high priced players, and then coaxed those players to fail in the postseason. He did so by playing exceptionally well in October, causing the other players to lose focus due to Giambi’s brilliance. Alternatively, Matthews has no idea what he is talking about.
Was Giambi’s tenure in NY a success? Probably not. He had some very good years that were diminished by the awful years he interspersed among them, and he never won a championship. But to point a finger at Jason and say that he was the reason, or even one of the primary causes, for those team failings is ridiculous and revisionist.
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8 Responses to Matthews: Giambi The Root of All Evil
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TIQ IQ
I disagree and think Wallace MAtthews is right on.GIambi failed much more often than he succeeded, clogged up basepaths (he actually needed 3 singles to score usually) and his faiure to adjust and hit to the vacated areas on the left side, when the YAnkees absolutely, absolutely needed a 2 out base hit in a big game was egregios.
Additionally he was a horrible, horrible fielder who had zero range and couldn’t throw.Tex has arguably saved 2 games already with his glove and arm that GIambi would have screwed up.
GIambi was symptomatic of a poorly designed team and he was NOT a winning style YAnkee player in the ONeil, Broscios Jeter Mold.
If you want to SCREW your team always sign FAT first Baseman in the 30 years or older age bracket.Never fails.Ask Mets about Mo Vaughn.
Whoa. firstly, clogging up basepaths is silliness, there is no such thing. To clog the bases you need to constantly be on base, and be constantly somehow blocking others from scoring.
Second, I said he wasnt a success, I agree on that. I just think that he was the symptom, not the cause, as you yourself said.
Confusing correlation with causation Wallace?
http://xkcd.com/552/
Check that out, great cartoon.
Yep, its all Giambi’s fault, he didnt bunt against Schilling in 04 and it was Giambi’s choice to start Bubba Crosby in a game 5 against the Angels in 05 and dont forget starting Jared Wright against the Tigers in 06, I dont know why he just cherry-picked Jason, when there were alot more reason why the Yanks didnt win during his years here.
Because Jason is in town. Next week it will be Abreu’s fault, until A-Rod returns, at which point everything is his fault.
It’s so easy to look for a single scapegoat. That’s why the manager is usually fired. But in reality, particularly in a game like baseball, which is so team oriented, to point the finger at one single person is stupid.
Wallace = Lupica Jr.