Yankees sign Giambi

[nyy26wc]

WFAN has just reported the Yankees have signed Jason Giambi to a 7 year contract, pending him passing his physical.

[Skipper Steve]

Holy Shit.

[ChrisCary]

As a Yankee fan, why do I not feel happy about it?




NEW YORK -- Jason Giambi will indeed be a New York Yankee next season. And for the next six after that.

Giambi has agreed to a seven-year, $128 million contract with the Yankees, according to ESPN's Dan Patrick, who made the announcement on his daily ESPN Radio show. The Yankees have yet to comment.

The Oakland A's, Giambi's team since he came to the major leagues in 1995, also have made no comment.

ESPN's Peter Gammons reports that Giambi has yet to take a physical with the Yankees, so the deal will not be finalized until then.

Yankees manager Joe Torre called Giambi in recent weeks in hopes of luring him to New York. This past season, the 2000 American League Most Valuable Player batted .342 with 38 home runs, 120 RBI and a league-leading 129 walks

He was second in the 2001 MVP balloting to Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki.

Last year, Torre made a call to right-hander Mike Mussina, who left the Baltimore Orioles for a six-year, $88.5 million deal and went 17-11 with a 3.15 ERA.

First baseman Tino Martinez, one of four Yankees starters that has been with the club since Torre took over, is a free agent. Torre also called Martinez to let him know the team is pursuing Giambi.

On Wednesday, Torre put his signature on a new three-year contract worth over $16 million.

Giambi has told Torre he wants to play first base, not designated hitter. According to an AL scout, the Yankees think of Giambi as an average first baseman. Torre told New York reporters he would try Giambi at first base, but Oakland manager Art Howe told a newspaper he thinks the Yankees may have something else planned.

"I've heard rumors that the Yankees are looking at him as a DH, not a first baseman," Howe said. "Whether they tell him that or not is another story."

The Yankees, according to the New York Post, even trotted out Hall of Famer Yogi Berra to contact Giambi with his own sales pitch for the Yankees.

"I told him to come to the Yankees," Berra told the Post. "I met him at the Bob Hope Classic last year and he is a good kid. He can help the Yankees. I told him that the right-field fence at the Stadium is a lot shorter than the one in Oakland."

Since losing the World Series in seven games to Arizona, right fielder Paul O'Neill, third baseman Scott Brosius and backup infielder Luis Sojo have retired.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are on the verge of signing reliever Steve Karsay to a four-year contract and reports continue to circulate of their attempt to bring in outfielder Moises Alou.

Where will this money come from? The Yankees payroll is $23.75 million less than it was last season, thanks to getting rid of the contracts of Tino Martinez, O'Neill, Brosius and Chuck Knoblauch.

The second player doesn't necessarily have to be Alou. The Yankees are known to have inquired about virtually every major free agent, including everyone from Juan Gonzalez to Roger Cedeno.

As for third base, Torre seems comfortable with Drew Henson taking over sometime next season. Henson, Michigan's quarterback before he rejoined the Yankees last March, struggled at Triple-A as he recovered from a broken hand.

[b-ball-lunachik]

ooh, sorry about that double Steve...I'll delete it...I have mixed feelings too...

Believe me, Jason is an awesome player and I'm glad to have him...but with so many changes, first with Paulie, Bro, Knobby and even Sojo...now Tino...we will definitely watching a whole new team next year...I knew that core couldn't go on forever but it's very sad anyway...

I'm glad it was today and not tomorrow...Tino and all his class and professionalism was my favorite current Yankee and I'm glad it wasn't tomorrow on his birthday...which coincidently is when he signed his contract 6 years ago almost to the day...I hope he winds up on the Cards -- great baseball team and the fans would love him...anyone who could make such an impact and get so much fan support after replacing Donnie one of the most beloved Yankees in history...that's a special person...

Good luck to Tino...and welcome to Jason...

[Skipper Steve]

I don't mean to do an Animal House routine, but - -

Holy Shit!

[willyg]

Animal House, great movie!

I wish Tino all the best, Boston, Mets, St. Louis, wherever he winds up.

I agree with you b-ball, it will be different, but it happens. There was a time when Tino, and Paul, and Brosius were taking over for other Yankees, it time Jason will be one of our guys.

[SmedIndy]

What I'm most upset about is the lack of effort Oakland seemed to put in here. Not that I expected them to be able to match the Yanks, but they didn't seem to try except to save face.

[satchel]

Originally posted by ChrisCary
As a Yankee fan, why do I not feel happy about it?

Chris, I feel precisely the same way. I've been thinking about this a lot lately as I've waited for this seemingly inevitable announcement to come.

It will take me a while to sort out my feelings over this one. It's not merely the added fuel for the anti-Yankee and anti-New York fires. It may have something to do with my being a closet A's fan. But I have been deeply disappointed and somewhat depressed every time I think of this potential signing. I've been praying it wouldn't happen.

Maybe it's that signing the big free agent slugger just seems antithetical to what's made the Yankees so easy to root for over the past few years. I like many have particularly loved the core of homegrown talent and talent traded for rather than signed out from under weaker or poorer teams.

I hope my doubts and reservations will fade when the season starts and we get used to seeing him in the new uniform. I've always thought there was only one thing that could end my Yankee allegiance. I don't think my allegiance has died - I'll have to wait until April and see how I feel for sure - but I've definitely lost something.

Again, I can't put my finger on why I feel this way. I was dancing in the street when the Yankees signed Mussina. But Giambi - it just feels wrong.

[Skipper Steve]

Holy Shit!

[ChrisCary]

Satchel,

You must be in my head.

I hat the hot stove to begin with and usually start getting depressed around this time of year.
I hope it's just my anual period, but it seems to feel different this year.

[Skipper Steve]

Originally posted by satchel
But Giambi - it just feels wrong.

This picture way have something to do with it for some fans:

[ChrisCary]

or this

[b-ball-lunachik]

Originally posted by satchel


Chris, I feel precisely the same way. I've been thinking about this a lot lately as I've waited for this seemingly inevitable announcement to come.

It will take me a while to sort out my feelings over this one. It's not merely the added fuel for the anti-Yankee and anti-New York fires. It may have something to do with my being a closet A's fan. But I have been deeply disappointed and somewhat depressed every time I think of this potential signing. I've been praying it wouldn't happen.

Maybe it's that signing the big free agent slugger just seems antithetical to what's made the Yankees so easy to root for over the past few years. I like many have particularly loved the core of homegrown talent and talent traded for rather than signed out from under weaker or poorer teams.

I hope my doubts and reservations will fade when the season starts and we get used to seeing him in the new uniform. I've always thought there was only one thing that could end my Yankee allegiance. I don't think my allegiance has died - I'll have to wait until April and see how I feel for sure - but I've definitely lost something.

Again, I can't put my finger on why I feel this way. I was dancing in the street when the Yankees signed Mussina. But Giambi - it just feels wrong.

Great post, satchel...I'm so out of sorts, I thought it was Steve I was answering instead of Chris...even though they both do have the flag avatar!

I agree with a lot of your points...I too took some solace in the anti-Yankee, anti-New York bashing, that there was a lot of talent that was home grown...and that there was a group of very good players instead of the real superstars...yes, Clemens is a superstar but at the end of his career, Jeter is a great player but again, home grown as was Bernie and Mo...I could always counter that the Yankees spend a lot but spend it more wisely than say Boston or the Mets, and especially the Dodgers...but now, I feel like that's a hard argument to make...

Another thing that bothers me is that while i know this team needs to get younger, it would appear that George completely changed his philosophy from last year when they haggled over money with Nelson (although some argue that wasn't the issue in signing him) and made a huge stand that they wouldn't pay that much for a player when the Manny signing came up...is that changed now because we didn't win a championship this year or is it that they just didn't want to spend that for Manny? Or is it because of George's new network? Any of those answers, I'm not crazy about...

I was also thrilled about Mussina...but maybe it's because it's two years in a row, they went out and got one of, if not the top free agent on the market...

I've been a Yankee fan since '77 and will be come 2002 but it will be a different feeling when I go to Spring Training this year...or watch the first game with a new group...but my allegiance will still be there...it will just be different...

[willyg]

For some reason I do not think the Yankee version will look like that. You are going to see a cleaned up, short-haired, guy who has to understand he is just another piece of the puzzle.

Jason is coming to into a lockeroom where Derek Jeter is the big fish. He is taking the position of one of Jeter's best friends. He is coming into somewhere where most of the guys (as of now) have much much more money than he does, and a few World Series Rings to boot.

I don't care how much money he has coming, or what his numbers were, Jason has to prove himself.

You cannot come here with a better resume than Roger did, it has taken him three years.

[willyg]

Enough of this touchy feely stuff. Let's be honest, although you may feel that way now, when next October rolls around you will feel the same way you always have.