Posted on 08/07/2009 3:53:47 PM PDT by Artemis Webb
The A's have given Jason Giambi his walking papers, ending his return to Oakland and, most likely, his controversial career.
Given Giambi's performance this season, it's not exactly surprising news. However, I find it funny that Oakland took the measure of pointing out just how bad the 38-year-old was this season while announcing his departure.
Check out the third paragraph from the A's press release:
"However, Giambi was placed on the 15-day DL July 20 with a strained right quad. At the time he went on the DL, he had the lowest batting average in the majors and fourth lowest slugging percentage in the American League (.364)."
For what it's worth, the A's did use the previous paragraph to detail Giambi's chemically enhanced career numbers (407 homers, 1,319 RBIs, 1,255 walks), but it's rare that a club ever embarrassingly details the sad reasons for a midseason divorce.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
Well, he was offered to start the season from the pen to begin with...but insisted on coming in as a starter. I just had this discussion last night while watching the game on MLB Network. He should have done 3-4 weeks from the pen...done some 7-8th inning relief...and then gone for full games at the end of August. He wasn’t ready yet...that surgery was no joke.
Everything you said, and agree about Mattingly ... however, both were stable low key kinda players who were *productive*, and that is the key to a well oiled machine that wins Championships. Although unfortunately in Mattingly's case his career was during the wild wild out of control hands-on Steinbrenner era of the 80's, which brought every single so-called 'superstar-of-the-month' player to the Yankees, as if trying to create an all-star team instead of a *winning* team.
Tino was fortunate to be on a winning Yankees squad which won their first of four Championships largely bereft of any so-called 'superstars' --- the 1996 Yankees --- one of my favorite Yankees squads of the modern era - (the 1976 team being the other, although they didn't win the WS)
MM
You have to be be the most reasonable Yankee fan I have ever met (and I live in the heart of Yankee-land). Most of them consider Mattingly the reincarnation of Gehrig. He was not.
Hahahahaaaa .. and yer right too! That's what I meant about the Yankees 'clean-cut' image stifling the (formerly) born-to-be-wild funloving Giambi when he was seen as a leader of the Oakland crew early 90's. It just wasn't a good fit for either player nor team (meaning Yankees) ... let the guy grow a mustache and all of a sudden he's *Jason* again ...
Likewise, similar to Johnny Damon when he was on the *Idiots* Red Sox team .... comes to the Bronx, gets all cleaned up, and then he's not so much a funloving hard playing 'leader' anymore ... just another cog in the machine.
And this is from a lifelong Yankees fan too! /laughs
Cheers,
MM
Well, I've been known to yell out the occasional 1918 !!! chant from time to time at the Stadium (pre 2005 season, of course :) ... and otherwise DO NOT consider that new Palace across the street as being 'Yankee Stadium', but just simply a poor replica which belongs in the backyard of some casino in Vegas ... where in heck is 'death valley' ??? Not even any allusion to it in the new palace!! ... Other than the outer and inner famous facades, the innards of the field and grandstands look like a (dare I say it?) --- COOKIE CUTTER STADIUM !!!
YIKES !!!
OK, rant off ... back to being a reasonable Yankee fan again :)
MM
So you're the one!
/laughs
None of them can tell me what position they played.
OK, what the hecky then, I'll bite: 26 World Championships - 39 American League Pennants
This means that there were 13 (count 'em THIRTEEN!) World Series that were LOST ... totally unacceptable in YankeeWorld !!! /laughs
None of them can tell me what position they played.
Well, I played a fan in the stands for 6 of those WS Championships, and for 10 of the Pennants ... as for my position in the Stadium, it varied ... sometimes in the stands, sometimes within the innards (on a Press pass) ... and lemme tell ya, there *are* ghosts within its innards, they are there, really, no kidding .... I chatted with Gehrig once, he tol' me that we are all the luckiest person on the face of the Earth ...
God Bless America,
MM
Hey, he did rock the Mattingly ‘stache for a bit in the Bronx.
What a game last night ;)
Damon is having a stellar year. I wish I would have selected him over Jorge Cantu in many UTIL slots in my fantasy leagues.
Nah. Somebody will pick him up. Well, assuming he still wants to pitch. And I think he does. He'll have to take a pay cut but if he wants to pitch there will be somebody out there to pick him up.
Actually, as a lifelong Cardinal fan, I recall KH with the Cardinals before he went to the Mets.
He became a lights out closer and wrecked the Braves when he suddenly decided to return to the starting rotation. They could no longer close out games, had a revolving door system of inefficient closers, and died as contenders. I always thought the guy was really selfish. He has kept a feud running for years with Mark Bradley of the AJC, because of one critical column.
Smoltz will be a hall of famer, but Glavine and Maddux contributed more to the Braves in the nineties. Maddux was darn near unhittable in 1995, and Glavine pitched a masterpiece that clinched the Braves' only World Series win in game six of the 1995 WS.
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