Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
January 07, 2009
Giambi Goes Home

Jason Giambi officially returns to the Athletics:

Giambi, who turns 38 on Thursday, follows a line of aging and injury-prone designated hitters in recent years with the A's -- Frank Thomas, Mike Piazza, Mike Sweeney and then Thomas again. Giambi also could play some first base to give Daric Barton a break from time to time.

Giambi doesn't like to DH, so I wonder how that will play with the A's management.


Posted by David Pinto at 03:51 PM | Free Agents | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I'd much rather have Giambi in the field than Cust. With Ellis at 2B, Giambi's lack of range is much less of an issue than Cust's. Give up the occasional grounder past first, but keep the OF defense as strong as the roster will allow.

Posted by: g at January 7, 2009 04:57 PM

Giambi has no range - he also can't throw and makes mental errors. Unless Ellis can play 2 positions at once Giambi's going to be a liability. I guess he perfers to play 1B amd hits better when he does - or he thinks so or something. Maybe you rotate based on who's pitching or just try to figure out who's going to hurt you less.

Posted by: bandit at January 7, 2009 05:34 PM

As a hardcore Yankees fan who watched almost every game Giambi played for them, I think Giambi is a better defender than everyone makes him out to be. He doesn't have much range (which is a good thing at times), but is usually a sure-handed receiver and can surprise you with the occasional power scoop on the tough pick. Just don't ask him to throw the ball- he gets confused (think daydreaming little leaguer), and the ball usually ends up bouncing three or four times. But to be honest, for a "liability", the Giambino won't hurt you most days. He's no wizard in the field, but as what is typically the case, the New York media managed to accentuate all of his defensive woes.

To Mr. Giambi- I wish the best of luck for you back in Oakland in '09, you produced more than people give you credit for (although for inane amounts of money), and seemed like a really good guy.

Posted by: AJJ at January 7, 2009 11:09 PM

No - he's not better - there's no aspect of playing 1B that he's even average at.

Posted by: bandit at January 8, 2009 09:28 AM
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