Jason Giambi Conundrum

Jason Giambi is a fraud, he injected steroids, which made him a better player than he likely would have been otherwise. To me that is deception. Now both he and the Yankees are paying for it through his lack of output. He is on the bench because he deserves to be on the bench. Joe Torre would have to be insane to write his name on that lineup card right now. If Giambi wants to get back on the roster on a frequent basis, he needs to earn his spot. Tino came back to the Yankees with the knowledge that he was going to be a back up to Giambi, but Tino has earned his role as the everyday first baseman, now Giambi must prove he deserves a chance to play. If he continues to be unable to contribute then, so be it, he will sit.

Giambi needs to go to the minors, F! his feelings, and the fact that he may be 'humiliated' by going down to the minors. This is a baseball team, not a new age retreat, his feelings are of no concern to me, or many fans who pay money to see the Yankees play. If he doesn't think his present situation isn't humiliating, he really is still fuzzy in the head.

He has squandered the good will afforded him during his return in spring training and the early part of the regular season. That too, he will need to earn back.

Giambi, go to the minors immediately, work on your hitting, improve, gain confidence if that is what you are lacking. Don Mattingly would have to be Jesus Christ at this point to get you hitting again, and I've yet to see Mattingly walk across the Hudson river. Go down to Columbus, and if you regain your groove, you can try to earn a position with the team. If you fail in the minor leagues, I guess then you are done, and the Yankees will be fine without you. Don't worry, you'll still get paid. You may have turned out to be a bad investment with poor long term results, but that's OK, the Yankees have lost money in the past, and will probably lose money on players in the future. At least they'll save some lunch money from the luxury tax on you.

---The difference between Tino and Giambi---
(from an article on Yesnetwork.com) Martinez, who agreed to a $3 million, one-year contract on Dec. 31, helped the Yankees win four World Series titles from 1996-00. No Yankee had homered in four straight games since Martinez did it from June 27 to July 1, 2001.

"I told him in the spring that numbers weren't important to me,'' Torre [regarding Martinez] said. "He never stops demanding things of himself. He suffers so much when he doesn't feel he's earning his keep.''

This post can also be found on the yesnetwork.com message boards where I posted it last night.