An Hour and a Half

I’m up in the air about my feelings regarding Jason Giambi. I just don’t know what to think about the entire situation. Stories about how the Yankees might just release him, and articles about how they might send him to the minor leagues. What should they do?

I honestly think Giambi would be smart to take the less than an hour and a half drive south to AA Trenton and get his swing and confidence back in the minors. Forget going to AAA Columbus – make sure he can get some good cuts in. Let’s face it, right now he’s a .250 hitter in AAA, but hopefully close to a .300 hitter in AA.

I have had mixed emotions about Giambi since he signed the gaudy contract with the Yankees in December of 2001. He was born and raised in California, went to college in California and was drafted in the second round in 1992 by the Oakland Athletics. He had the opportunity to stay on a team that had been to the playoffs for two straight seasons and the team that he won the American League MVP trophy for in 2000 for a boat load of cash. But Jason decided to move almost three thousand miles across the country for about $28 million dollars more money and to quote, “win a World Series.”

I like guys that stay loyal or don’t go for the fast buck. Guys like Mike Sweeney who stayed with the lowly Royals because that was the team that drafted him. Giambi had more money sitting on the table with Oakland than he could’ve ever wanted to spend…and he could’ve been written in Oakland and California sports history – but he chose the money and lure of the Yankees.

For those reasons I have a hard time not being happy that I’ve never watched him hoist up the World Series trophy. But to be honest, I do feel a little sorry for him. He’s the only guy that has really admitted to doing something wrong and stupid with the steroids scandal. He has never said specifically what he kept apologizing about – but we all knew what he meant. I have to give him respect and credit for that much. He made a mistake, we’ve all made mistakes. The best thing to do in that situation is say you’re sorry and try to rectify the wrong doing and Giambi has tried. The only problem is that the baseball Gods have punished him with a slow bat that doesn’t have much pop anymore and nagging injuries in the last several seasons. Maybe it’s the same Gods that made Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Juan Gonzalez and so many other possible steroid abusers have injury-plagued careers?

Giambi needs AA more than the Trenton Thunder need him…My advice to him would be, go down there for a month and try to revive your dying career. The Yankees still might make the incredible decision to just release him and pay him his remaining $81 million, but Jason needs to give it his best to stay with the team that emptied one of its vaults for him. My feelings are that of mixed emotions – it’s hard for me, a die-hard Mets fan and die-hard Yankee hater, to have compassion for a Yankee, but I do. Giambi should’ve stayed on the West Coast where he was from but all that he’s dealt with since then…I wish that on no one.