I have to admit, in the interest of full disclosure, that I have a soft spot for Jason Giambi. He always seemed like a nice guy, and you never got the impression that playing in NY got to him. There were a few mentions of him today, so I thought it might be a good time to look back on his contract, the 7 year, 115 million dollar deal he signed after the 2001 season. In an interview with Jim Caple, he said the following:
2. What was the best part about playing in New York?
The history. The pinstripes and knowing all the players who wore them before you. Ruth. Gehrig. Mantle. Guys like that. Playing to a sold-out house every night is pretty exciting.
3. What’s the worst part about playing in New York?
I don’t know if there is a worst part. It’s just different. With New York comes more media and higher expectations. But I don’t really see that as being bad.
Giambi is the man, and I was under the impression that his tenure in NY was a decent one for the Yankees. Then I read the following from our good friend Wally Matthews:
And yet this is the kind of day you will remember, either as a false start to what probably will go on to be a great eight years for Teixeira, or as a bad omen of a Giambi-like or even a Whitson-esque epic failure.
I was not aware that Giambi’s contract was widely viewed as a failure, but a look at the salary data on Fangraphs confirms the notion. Jason’s value exceeded his compensation in only 3 of his 7 seasons, while falling very short of his salary in the other four seasons. Overall, he earned 77 of his 115 million, a startlingly wide spread. The numbers are skewed by his awful seasons in 2004 and 2007, in which he did not exceed 83 games. He finished in the top 5 of MVP voting once, was embroiled in a steroid controversy, and sat out Game 5 of the 2003 World Series with an injury. This is why statistics are so important- my memory of Giambi was skewed by personal feelings towards the guy. The numbers help put his time in pinstripes in a much clearer perspective.
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6 Responses to The Jason Giambi Contract
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TIQ IQ
The only thing offensive about Wally Matthews piece is he tried to relate one bad day by Teixeira to meaning his contract could be a bust. Simply stunning.
At ESPN Giambi is suddenly a good guy who’ll help the ‘resurgent’ A’s, while the Yankee headline is ‘Tex and CC gag…’
Before he became a Yankee Tex could walk on water. Now he’s persona non grata.
Haha. I was totally going to say the same thing. Last few years in NY, ESPN labeled Giambi all that was wrong with the Yankees…Old DH types that can’t field, steal bases, had declining eyes, and bat speed. Now he’s the A’s godsend in the resurgence back to the playoffs.
As an add-on, didn’t Giambi ‘gag’? After all, he went hitless and left a guy on base while his team was shut out.
If today’s Cashman could go back in time Giambi would have never been considered. The Yankees would have signed both Manny and Mussina after the 2000 season instead. This would have also saved the 2002 first round draft pick.
Sure its great to go back in time, but I would guess that if the team knew it would manage to re-coup 70% of the value of that long term contract it still likely will have signed Giambi. He had an MVP bat and obvious longevity issues but potentially could have been a top 5 player in the AL in any given year which not many players can claim. I have no problem with the deal other than the above-mentioned point that Muss/Manny would obviously have been WAY better (and that was obvious at the time).