Skip to main content

Rockies grab Jason Giambi

An excited reader sent me a text about this while I was in church today, but in case you haven’t heard, the Colorado Rockies agreed to terms with first baseman Jason Giambi. Giambi had hit .193/.332/.364 for the Oakland A’s this year.

This friend was excited to have the lefty Giambi as a pinch-hitter against right-handed relievers, but Giambi’s hitting even worse against righties (.186/.335/.306) this year than lefties (.209/.327./.488). For his career, of course, he’s better against right-handers.

I’m largely ambivalent about the move. That said, Giambi isn’t the most likeable guy and I’m not thrilled about adding even an apologetic performance-enhancing drug user in the middle of a strech run when the Rockies could use all available good karma.

Comments

blaine said…
I was the excited texter (is that a word?) and I'm still excited for the move. Giambi will start off with the Sky Sox and move up to join the club when the rosters expand in September.

I know you keep pointing out the .193 BA, Mike, but he does have a .332 OBP right? The Rockies are getting him for almost nothing, so it's not like they are even taking a risk. If he even gets one big hit that helps the Rockies win a game down the stretch then it was worth it. I'm more excited about the fact that Rockies' management is actively trying to win instead of passively hoping their "youth-movement" works out for them.
10:11 AM
Mike said…
.332 ain't special, especially when we're talking about big hits. I don't think it's a big risk, either, but I'm amazed we don't already have a pinch-hitter batting more than .193 on the roster.
11:10 AM
John said…
Someone was going to gamble on Giambi in the hope that he has a few big hits left. It might as well be us. This move doesn't excite me; at worst he fizzles out in the minors, and at best he gives us a few good hits down the stretch. Given that he is off the juice, I am betting it will be the former.
2:29 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The NFL hates you.

It's no joke. It seems like the more devoted of a fan you are, the less the league cares about your continued patronage. The best example is the league's blackout policy, a wonderful gift from the league to its teams granting them added market pressure to charge whatever ridiculous amount they want for tickets. If a game doesn't sell out, the home market doesn't get to watch it on TV. (Basically, a 75-mile radius around the stadium doesn't get to see the game on TV if all the tickets aren’t bought first.) The NFL, like a needy girlfriend, says, "Hey, fans, you like us? Prove it." Then the league asks us to prove it again and again, week after week, year after year. I live within 75 miles of what should be John Elway Stadium, but Broncos fans are pretty much shielded from this stuff, right? Not all of them. One of my friends is as supportive a fan as the NFL can have: he's a Broncos season ticket holder and an NFL Sunday Ticket subscriber. That mean...
4 comments
Read more

Did CU ever win the Pac-12?

In 2010, I bet a college buddy of mine (who longtime readers may remember as the only other contributor to Hole Punch Sports) that CU’s football team would not win the Pac-12 in the next 15 years. Guess what? It’s time for me to gloat, because I was right. Why we were doomed Back in the day, a lot of people made the argument that CU should join the Pac-12 because we’d get so much more TV money there. Of course, given college football is the answer to the question, “what if you had a sport where multiple teams were like the Yankees, and you created a whole universe of haves and have-nots?”, then yeah, you want to be aligned with some of the haves. But the question in my mind wasn’t, “will CU be better off with more money?” That’s an obvious yes. The question I asked was, will CU be any more competitive in their own conference if they’re competing against teams who are also getting more money? I couldn’t see why they would be. The mathematical angle Legend has it that Cowboys runn...
1 comment
Read more

Super Bowl XLVI revealed!

The Patriots and the Giants. Things just work out sometimes. * * * Two new teams, the England Patriots and the York Giants, will play for the NFL title in Super Bowl Forty-Six in two weeks. I can't wait. The matchup comes too late, and after too imperfect of a season, to make up for the wounds inflicted by the Giants in early 2008. The Patriots' undefeated season, a 16-0 masterpiece in which they set the league's single-season scoring record, broke at the hands of the upstart Giants in that year's Super Bowl. The way the Giants won made their win feel especially flukish...Eli Manning, known more for his entitled attitude than his athleticism (the only player to which his moves have ever been compared favorably is his brother Peyton), somehow scrambled free of a Patriot pass rush in the closing minutes, and lofted a pass down the middle of the field to David Tyree, who caught the key throw against the top of his helmet. Then a touchdown pass to Plexiglass provided the wi...
3 comments
Read more